{"id":1004737400,"date":"2024-11-15T05:35:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T13:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004737400"},"modified":"2024-11-19T05:05:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T13:05:18","slug":"cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times\/","title":{"rendered":"CREtech Special Report: Practical Tech in Tough Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/a>
JLL’s Jonathan Lemmond, Columbia University Assistant Vice President of Engineering and Energy Sean Scollins and Jennifer Chalos of Arup debunk retrofitting myths with Mike Kazmierczak of Schneider Electric. Photo by Gabriel Frank<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The message put forth by panelists across CREtech New York 2024\u2019s second day was clear: using technology for nearly every aspect of operations may seem appealing, but it only truly makes sense when it aligns with the specific goals, resources and tenant bases that the stakeholders are serving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These sentiments were seen the most in discussions about retrofitting properties to be more energy-efficient, sifting out practical uses of artificial intelligence when it may be unnecessary, as well as in discussions about the most practical investments for climate-concerned venture capitalists.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myths and facts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the decarbonization front, a panel of sustainability leaders debunked myths around the high costs and feasibility of retrofitting office and multifamily buildings, with a focus on New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Lemmond, senior director of sustainable operations at JLL, pointed to regulations such as Local Law 97, as well as grants from New York State\u2019s Energy Research & Development Authority as creating the perfect opportunity for retrofitting mechanical systems and implementing clean energy-focused technologies<\/a>. \u201cThe capex invested in these actions results in lower operational costs, higher energy security, as well as regulatory resiliency and improved employee attraction,\u201d Lemmond said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LISTEN TO: <\/strong>Sustainability Street: Inside CRE\u2019s Flood Insurance Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But a lot of these high costs can be avoided if owners and operators are able to accurately monitor their energy consumption. \u201cThe reality is that this myth of it being expensive and complex can easily become a truth unless teams are using a data-informed process to make strategic decisions,\u201d said Jennifer Chalos, a senior sustainability consultant at Arup. At the same time, Chalos advises stakeholders to do the best they can, acknowledging the difficulties of replacing a gas boiler with expensive and heavy heat pumps. \u201cIt\u2019s a journey, it can be implemented over time, and it doesn\u2019t have to be all or nothing,\u201d Chalos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, retrofits may not be a choice for some owners and operators, given that two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies have significant decarbonization goals, according to Lemmond. To this end, Lemmond sees some decarbonization initiatives as stemming more from the energy consumption habits of landlords and tenants than a particular BMS or the installation of heat pumps. \u201cThese changes may not be a tech-solvable issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate tech investors share many of these views, seeing adaptability and speed to market as the most promising aspects of a start-up, especially as the country has already exceeded its 1.5 degree Celsius worldwide average temperature increase. Now the focus is shifting from prevention to adaptation. \u201cWe\u2019ll blow past 2 degrees; we not only need to be thinking about how we need to reduce carbon emissions<\/a>, we also need to be thinking about adaptive technologies,\u201d advised Raj Singh, managing partner at JLL Spark. \u201cSome of these strategies are quite risky, and I really hope that we can avoid some of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI: sifting through the hype<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Experts<\/a>
Scott Rednor of Red Bear Capital and Jason Greenstone of Cushman & Wakefield discuss AI’s most worthwhile uses with Kate Jarvis, founder & CEO of Fifth Dimension AI. Photo by Gabriel Frank<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another area where panelists were more sober-minded than sales-oriented was in the investment and implantation of artificial intelligence platforms across operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Rednor, managing partner at Red Bear Capital sees artificial intelligence<\/a> as being best suited for augmenting existing technologies and facilitating the analysis of data akin to that mentioned by Chalos, rather than an outright replacement for them. \u201cOur products and services that we are building in the ecosystem are for working with real estate companies, not trying to displace them\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This extends the brokerage side, where the panelists advise making AI more of an improvement and a way of combining for Microsoft or Google productivity programs and CRMs, or as Cushman & Wakefield\u2019s Jason Greenstone put it, \u201cmaking it a cohesive product vs. a Band-Aid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine if an AI platform is the right fit, Greenstone suggests sorting possible solutions into one or two platforms: nice to have and need to have. \u201cSolving a permitting problem is a need to have if you\u2019re McDonald’s and opening stores, but a CRM is something that you likely already have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where AI becomes more of the latter, however, is in more competitive tasks such as foot traffic monitoring. \u201cFor instance, if someone would ask for traffic counts, we would place four people on different corners of the street,\u201d Greenstone said. Now, operators can just use Placer.ai<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the technologies\u2019 rapid evolution may lead to uses of AI becoming the deciding factor for the adoptions of certain proptech solutions over others. \u201cIt will happen the minute someone walks into a pitch and loses it because a client says, \u2018we picked them because of the AI technology’,\u201d Greenstone predicted. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using AI for nearly every aspect of operations may seem appealing, but it\u2019s crucial to be selective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3012,"featured_media":1004737402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21808,23891,21742,21785,21786,51037],"tags":[35449,32799,32796,47198,52519],"class_list":["post-1004737400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-national","category-latest","category-property-management","category-sustainability","category-trends","tag-arup","tag-cushman-wakefield","tag-jll","tag-jll-spark","tag-red-bear-capital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCREtech Special Report: Practical Tech in Tough Times - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using fewer, yet more meaningful technologies will always yield better results than adopting every platform under the sun, according to panelists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CREtech Special Report: Practical Tech in Tough Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using fewer, yet more meaningful technologies will always yield better results than adopting every platform under the sun, according to panelists.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-15T13:35:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-19T13:05:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/11\/CREtechAI-e1731678563717.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1081\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabriel Frank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cretech-special-report-practical-tech-in-tough-times\/\",\"name\":\"CREtech Special Report: Practical Tech in Tough Times - 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