The AFIRE Podcast

(Featuring Steve Weikal, Head of Industry Relations and CRE Technology, MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab) In the past two years alone, more than $50 billion has been invested into emerging proptech. As new businesses in proptech continue to expand, what should investors pay attention to? https://www.afire.org/podcast/mediatingre/ Although some experts suspected that proptech would face a slowdown in...

(Featuring Chris Happ, Tech Entrepreneur, Investor) The events of the past year have been the big push needed by the real estate industry to adapt to new technology. And with more than $50 billion in new proptech investments, the pace is quickening. Where can CRE investors find value in this rapidly evolving field? https://www.afire.org/podcast/unpackingproptech/ A few years ago, proptech was not...

(Featuring Elizabeth Stern, Partner, Mayer Brown, and Carl Risch, Partner, Mayer Brown) Border shutdowns as a result of pandemic policy have been a major sticking point for cross-border investment over the past year. What should investors know about travel into the US right now? https://www.afire.org/podcast/readytotravel/ As the COVID-19 vaccines are being deployed in the US and other countries,...

(Featuring Sabrina Unger, Managing Director, Research and Strategy, American Realty Advisors) The future of residential investments is all about demographics—and the forces behind them. https://www.afire.org/podcast/residential-investments/ With more and more time spent at home, capital appetite has grown for all things residential, with new living schemes entering the fray at a rapid pace. Yet no...

(Featuring Sunil A. Misser, CEO, AccountAbility) During a time of unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, how should businesses approach the “new metrics of performance?” And what do these metrics mean for the future of ESG in the real estate industry? https://www.afire.org/podcast/sustainabilitycast02/ We are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, as the pandemic, in particular,...

(Featuring Ben Wobschall, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Principal Real Estate Investors) Data center investments have proven resilient in periods of economic volatility—and they’re only going to become more essential and important into the future. https://www.afire.org/podcast/data-centers/ Once viewed as a niche real estate investment, data centers have risen in popularity as the need for...

(Featuring Sunil A. Misser, CEO, AccountAbility) During a time of unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, how should businesses approach the “new metrics of performance,” and how will ESG evolve in 2021? https://www.afire.org/podcast/sustainabilitycast01/ We are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and disruption, as the pandemic, in particular, is posing unique challenges for all businesses f...

(Featuring Jim O'Shaughnessy, Managing Director & Hotel Group Leader, Barings Real Estate) If history is a guide, the time to invest in hotels is when things look bleak. This appears to be one of those times. https://www.afire.org/podcast/checkincast/ Hotels and retail properties have borne much of the global pandemic’s brunt since the spring of 2020 with COVID-19 ravaging the US economy and drama...

(Featuring Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Global CEO, JLL Hotels and Hospitality) The pandemic has heavily impacted the hospitality sector, but a growing wave of non-traditional investors has shown heightened interest in getting a piece of the evolving industry. https://www.afire.org/podcast/franchisingcast/ While certainly not approachable to every kind of entrepreneur, hotel franchising can be a great wa...

(Featuring John Falcicchio, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, Washington, DC) As cities in the US adapt to a new normal, city leaders, planners, developers, and investors have a new challenge: to define the "new normal" of the built environment. And though it stands unique among American cities, Washington, DC could have answers for our collective urban futures. https://www.afire...

(Featuring Robert Sun, Leader of Product Development and Corporate Strategy, GTIS Partners) The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the advantages of single-family living. It appears to have accelerated an existing trend of migration to less dense, more affordable areas. https://www.afire.org/podcast/goldilockscast/ The US housing market began 2020 with favorable demographics-driven housing demand, bala...

(Featuring Brad Dockser, CEO, Green Generation) Just as the pandemic has accelerated changes in culture, it has underscored the symbiosis between the built environment and the natural world. What's the key to "greening" the next generation of commercial real estate? https://www.afire.org/podcast/sustainability-in-cre/ As industry professionals move back to the office, the dynamics of the "new norm...

(Featuring Robert Jue, CEO, Standard Real Estate Investments, Jerome Nichols, President, Standard Real Estate Investments, Shubhra Jha, Principal, Standard Real Estate Investments) The investment community can have an active role in an equitable economic recovery—but it will require the necessary discomfort of recasting the traditional risk/return framework. https://www.afire.org/podcast/recasting...

(Featuring William Maher, Director of Strategy, RCLCO Fund Advisors, and Ben Maslan, Managing Directors, RCLCO Fund Advisors) Though leverage is an important part of capital funding, it’s important to ask LPs if (and how) they should take control of their real estate leverage. https://www.afire.org/podcast/leveragingcontrolrclco/ Leverage is widely used in real estate as an important part of the c...

(Featuring Shumeca Pickett, Founder, Principal, Alfred Dewitt Ard) The events of the past year have driven businesses to confront racial inequity, but some still shy away from the challenging language needed to make real, restorative, and economic progress. https://www.afire.org/podcast/confrontingthemythcast/ . . . so what should leaders in the real estate industry do to meet the moment? Corporat...

(Featuring Ed Wagoner, CIO, JLL) In the post-COVID built environment, understanding building users at all levels will be critical to asset and investment performance. But how exactly is the “user” changing, and what does that evolution mean for investors? https://www.afire.org/podcast/uxandcre As employers return to office, amenities will matter. But as a result of the pandemic, the “value” of eve...

(Featuring Richard Florida, Urbanist, Author, Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto) As the cities cautiously re-open into the late phase of the pandemic, writer and urbanist Richard Florida believes that metros have a unique opportunity to reimagine and redefine what a “central business district” will look like in the new normal. Community is key. www.afire.org/podcast/pos...

(Featuring Richard Florida, Urbanist, Author, Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto) As the cities cautiously re-open into the late phase of the pandemic, writer and urbanist Richard Florida believes that metros have a unique opportunity to reimagine and redefine what a "central business district" will look like in the new normal. Community is key. https://www.afire.org/pod...

(Featuring Andrew Weiner, Real Estate Practice Partner, Pillsbury) Non-US-based investors face the disclosure regime of the Corporate Transparency Act. What do you need to know? https://www.afire.org/podcast/corporatetransparency/ Non-US-based investors that own or invest in US real estate have never been free from disclosure requirements. But the disclosure regime has historically been relatively...

(Featuring Vincent Cicciarelli, Growth Lead, JLL Spark) As proptech continues to transform commercial real estate, discoveries happening on the venture side provide key insights on the future of ESG, portfolio optimization, cost savings, and human capital. (This podcast episode is part two of a two-part conversation. Listen to the full conversation at https://www.afire.org/podcast/jllsparkproptech...

(Featuring Vincent Cicciarelli, Growth Lead, JLL Spark) As proptech continues to transform commercial real estate, discoveries happening on the venture side provide key insights on the future of ESG, portfolio optimization, cost savings, and human capital. (This podcast episode is part one of a two-part conversation. Listen to the full conversation at https://www.afire.org/podcast/jllsparkproptech...

(This podcast episode is part two of a two-part conversation. Listen to the full conversation at https://www.afire.org/podcast/ethicsfrontandcenter01/) While discussed in universities, business schools, and corporate mission statements, ethics need to be front-and-center during times of crisis and uncertainty. What should this look like in the world real estate investing? In this new episode of th...

(Featuring Bill Himmelstein, CEO, Tenant Advisory Group) The global pandemic has disrupted our ability to meet together in-person with clients, colleagues, and collaborators—but according to Bill Himmelstein of Tenant Advisory Group, this is a beginning for how we can redefine relationships, and not the end. https://www.afire.org/podcast/new-way-to-network/ In this new episode of the AFIRE Podcast...

(Featuring Mike Hu, Managing Director, Gaw Capitol Partners) With travel limitations, empty offices, and remote working, the routine operating procedures for cross-border investment faced seas of uncertainty over the past year. As the world returns to a new normal, what's next for international investment? https://www.afire.org/podcast/afirepodcast43/ In this new episode of the AFIRE Podcast, host...

(Featuring Tracy Loh, Fellow, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking, Brookings Institution) So much has changed with the global COVID-19 pandemic, but the honest concern is, will real estate be ready to embrace a new change? https://www.afire.org/podcast/real-estate-reset-2/ In this new episode of the AFIRE Podcast—the second of a two-part conversation—podcast host and A...