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Eight Must Reads for the CRE Industry Today (Feb. 22, 2022)

A group of 29 former CoStar employees talked to Insider, alleging the company surveilled and humiliated them. Medical tenants continue to snatch up vacant retail space, reports The New York Times. These are among today’s must reads from around the commercial real estate industry.

  1. Inside the mass exodus at CoStar, real estate's biggest data firm, where 29 current and former staffers say the company surveilled and humiliated them “Twenty-nine current and former employees said CoStar embraced steps that might seem out of the playbook of an authoritarian regime to make sure they didn't abuse their newfound autonomy working away from the office. They said CoStar surveilled workers, fired some for arbitrary or seemingly minor infractions, and attempted to censor or discredit criticism.” (Insider)
  2. To Fill Empty Retail Space, Landlords Tap Doctors and Dentists “The pandemic has accelerated their embrace of retail space. Taking advantage of depressed rents, medical providers are opening facilities in storefronts on city streets and moving into malls and shopping centers in suburban and rural areas, sometimes occupying the hulking shells vacated by big-box and department stores.” (The New York Times)
  3. Smokin’ hot Midtown office tower defies pessimists “Both transactions coincided with completion of an estimated $35 million to $40 million capital improvements program. The upgrades include a new lobby with a high-end barista stand and a fitness center. The entire 16th floor, previously used for offices, was converted into a 20,000-square-foot tenants’ amenity floor boasting a conference center and food and beverage facilities.” (New York Post)
  4. The Price of Worsening Sea Level Rise for CRE “Along with the rising sea level, commercial real estate will have to contend with the increased flooding that will result from higher sea levels. By 2050, the increase in tide and storm surge heights will cause a shift in coastal flood regimes and as a result, major and moderate high tide flood events will transpire as often as moderate and minor high tide flood events currently take place.” (Commercial Property Executive)
  5. How Office Landlords Saved Face with COVID Lease Concessions “A boost in free rent was the most common pandemic lease concession offered by landlords to incentivize new tenants into renting space or negotiating a renewal. Free-rent concessions when the pandemic first struck went up by 30 percent compared to 2019, according to CompStak, an analytics platform that uses a crowd-sourced model to gather real estate data. Furthermore, the average number of months in which landlords offered free rent in the second quarter of 2021 was 4.6, a stark increase from roughly 3.5 months in the same quarter in 2019.” (Propmodo)
  6. Inside Subway’s Turnaround Plan “In response, he slashed corporate staff, renegotiated contracts, and centralized functions such as advertising and culinary standards. As part of that effort, last summer the Milford, Conn.-based chain overhauled its menu, calling it the biggest culinary change in its nearly 57-year history.” (The Wall Street Journal)
  7. Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso’s real estate empire poses possible conflicts of interest. Here’s his plan “On Friday, he said his chief development officer, veteran real estate executive Corinne Verdery, will take over his role as chief executive of his eponymously named company Caruso if he is mayor. Caruso, 63, said that he would be completely divorced from operations and that Verdery would be best-suited to run the company even after he was out of office.” (Los Angeles Times)
  8. College Seniors Prepare to Enter a Work World in Flux “DealBook spoke to 10 seniors who are graduating from universities across the U.S. about how they envision the trajectory of their careers — where they’ll work, how they’ll work and what factors might influence their choices. Their goals, interests and outlooks vary, but nearly all anticipate careers that are less linear and more dynamic than those of generations prior.” (The New York Times)
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