Tenant Experience Network (TEN)

In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Josh Berger, Vice President at Norman Bobrow & Co. Josh shares his views on the return to the physical workplace and on the Manhattan real estate market. I loved how Josh expressed his learned belief that ‘there is no one size fits all,’ and that every situation is unique. Savvy landlords see that helping their customers to attract and retain tenants is now a priority. While this phenomenon began pre-pandemic, it is certainly a bigger part of the conversation today. The question now is, what is really most important to tenants? Ping pong tables or conference centers? We both agree that Covid has awakened the real estate industry and that we can’t do business the way we always had. Josh really impressed me with his commitment to ‘helping people,’ particularly during the pandemic and his position that ‘it is never about the commission’.  

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Steven Rotter, Vice Chairman NY Investment Sales at JLL New York. After his first two years in the business, Steven really began to understand the importance of relationships and making connections as one of his keys to success. Over time he referred to that as “keeping the light on” and it has become a major contributor to his success. Steven is never shy about asking for an intro and has come to value the importance of caring about every deal, no matter what size. Working hard, building trust and being enthusiastic help breed success. There are certainly many changes continuing to emerge in CRE and in NYC specifically, but Steven feels strongly that businesses will continue to see NYC as an important location to have a physical presence, albeit with different use cases and purposes. Interestingly, a majority of the deals that are getting done today are with buildings that are offering new, or expanded services and amenities to attract new tenants. Now is the time to invest, and the benefits will accrue to building owners, employers and employees. Steven talked about how JLL is able to provide more data to support their clients and improve communications between stakeholders, and the importance that technology is now playing in the CRE space.  

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Bob Knakal, Chairman NY Investment Sales at JLL, with a career that spans over 38 years in NYC real estate. Bob shared his perspective on what makes anyone successful in what they do - drawing a connection to team sports, a competitive spirit and the notion of achieving personal excellence. Bob discussed his personal experience working through the pandemic and how his own thinking has evolved and changed. Bob believes that working in the office is more fun and hopes that people will continue to find their way back to the office and rediscover the many ways in which the commute can provide valuable time to read, listen to audiobooks or your favorite podcast. Developers are constantly trying to figure out what the “consumer” of CRE really wants today, and how this understanding impacts use cases and new amenities as a way to differentiate and be more competitive. Bob reveals how he first responded to the pandemic by using his new found time to actually drive and walk every single block south of 96th street, creating a lot of actionable data to help drive more activity for his clients. Bob’s knowledge and enthusiasm for CRE in NYC is second to none, and I learned so much from spending time with him.  

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Chad Griffiths, Industrial Real Estate Broker, Investor, and Host of the Industrial Real Estate Podcast. Chad likes to say that he eats, sleeps and breathes all things industrial. He admits that much of his success can be attributed to being resilient whenever he was faced with receiving ‘no’s over the course of his career. We both have a love and appreciation for building towers, and we discussed how the industrial sector is continuing to evolve. Chad shares his perspective on the office market in city cores, the opportunity for suburban office space to meet increased demand, and how industrial space is taking on different use cases to meet emerging needs. He believes that the building itself can be a significant determinant in making the physical workspace more appealing. Placing an emphasis on what tenants want can have a direct correlation to the value of that building. We both agree that people are the true asset in buildings, and they need to be engaged in a more meaningful way. Chad reveals that the industrial space has not fully tapped into the wave of new technologies that have hit the office and retail sectors. We both agree this new normal requires building operators to be more nimble to respond faster with more creative solutions. 

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Lisa Kirsch, Head of Strategic Initiatives at Landis. Lisa shares her career journey to the startup world… catching the “bug” as she likes to call it, and her early days in the proptech space. Her current role at Landis combines all that she loves… real estate, mission, and innovation. Lisa suggests that buildings are spaces that either attract or repel people. Each building and each company needs to figure out why people should come together in their space. All of the stakeholders need to figure out the “why” before they figure out the “what”. Lisa shares the impact that their new workplace has had on the Landis team. The key is offering everyone the autonomy to decide how and where they want to work. Like what flexible space providers do, Lisa believes that building operators need to move faster at providing turnkey solutions for occupiers. I loved how Lisa describes great tenant experience as solving your customers' pain points along their journey. Making the workday easier should be a major driver of better experience. Our conversation continued with additional insight into the ways in which Landis is working to make home ownership more accessible to more Americans.

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Ryan Elazari, Senior Director at Empire Management. Ryan shares his journey to commercial real estate and his early stopover in the banking industry. Ryan is all in on CRE, from his work experience to teaching real estate entrepreneurship, and from investing in proptech to his endless reading and listening of industry-related content, including the writing of Dror Poleg, and in particular, his book ‘Rethinking Real Estate’. Building operators need to accept the fact that we are now living in a new normal, and what that means for the industry. Ryan believes strongly in the connection between healthy buildings and tenant productivity and retention. Office buildings need to take a hospitality approach to engaging with tenants to improve communications, ensure that everyone is aware of all activities going on in the building, and provide a way for them to feel connected to their entire building community. All of this led Empire Management to adopt HILO’s Workplace Engagement Platform across two of their properties in Midtown Manhattan. With the CRE industry’s current focus on sustainability, Ryan is closely watching the impact of climate tech and the ways in which tenants are driving some of the developments and advances.

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Laura Fishback, Dallas Leader Property Management, Senior Property Manager at Avison Young. Laura shares her journey to commercial real estate and being recruited for a Business Development role by Avison Young in Dallas. For the past 2 years, Laura has grown the team from one to 9, and their properties from one to 15 — all while living and working through a pandemic! In preparing for the return to office at their buildings, Laura explains that they polled tenants to better understand what they needed to facilitate the return to work for their employees. She shares that learning, as well as her thinking around amenities and community connection being a critical driver of tenant engagement. To meet emerging needs, Laura and her team continue to evolve their product offering by creating smaller, more flexible spaces, while recognizing the importance of the health and wellbeing of their buildings. Laura adds an unabashed promotional pitch for the value of having the HILO platform available in their buildings, and the ways in which their tenants continually benefit from connecting to everything their building community offers on HILO.  

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with David Sturner, Principal & Senior Managing Director at Banyan Street Capital. David shares how the pandemic affected Banyan’s business and created an opportunity to pivot in their business by converting office spaces to residential. David firmly believes in the adage ‘adapt or die’ because he understands that markets will change and we must continually be thinking about what needs to be done in order to keep up. We discuss the paradigm shift that is taking place in the New York office market, and David’s thoughts on the long-term impact of how buildings are used, and how building operators must compete by adopting hospitality service and new technologies to drive future success.

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Michael Emory, President & CEO at Allied. We learn about Michael’s initial connection with the city of Toronto, first attending law school, and then entering the world of real estate. Michael shares his early experience with the adaptive reuse of existing structures, and how that informed Allied’s future business and transitioned them from inspired amateurs to real estate professionals leading the evolution of office space that focuses on the needs and aspirations of human users. All of this laid the foundation for Allied to consolidate distinctive urban office space, and take a more humanistic approach to provide workspace. Michael’s self-acknowledged enthusiasm for life and his business is infectious. He contends that people cannot continue to live and work in isolation from one another. Furthermore, if buildings are located in urban neighborhoods that are mixed-use and amenity-rich, they are more appealing to the people that use the buildings. The question to be answered is how tenant experience is delivered. Michael believes it will require a more meaningful level of engagement between the building operator and their tenants.

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Brian Rosen, President & CEO | Canada at Colliers International. We learn about Brian’s non-traditional journey to commercial real estate and his experience bringing teams together to create opportunities where 1 + 1 = 3. We discuss the long term nature of the industry and the role that buildings will play in supporting their business partners. Brian goes on to say, “the best operators are investing in amenities and engagement with the tenants and community, and that’s why tenant experience apps are going crazy.” Our conversation also addresses the importance of ESG as just one example of delivering on what tenants want—and how this same attention to environmental concerns was an early impetus to the development of HILO, in order to reduce print communication and move buildings toward digital connectivity. Brian is not quite ready to give up on the notion of “location, location, location” as a critical driver of real estate decisions, but he does believe it’s critically important for properties to have a vision and a commitment to technology, tenant experience, and connection to community and amenities.

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