This week was the annual ICSC RECon in Las Vegas, or “the Super Bowl of Retail,” as it has been nicknamed. This is an annual favorite trip for me, a chance to see old friends and make a few new ones. It’s also an opportunity to see what’s on the horizon for the industry, and …
The tariff wars between the U.S. and other nations, particularly China, have been a roller coaster, for sure. President Trump says he was able to reach an agreement with China last weekend. As I understand it, we will lower our tariffs from 145% to 30% and China’s tariffs on U.S. goods will drop from 125% …
When we first launched our business in 1984, we were the definition of low tech. There was no email, all our phones were landlines and there was no scheduling software. Hard copy plans were the only option. As I consider how our processes have evolved over the years, most of it is for the better, …
I recently read an article generalizing the types of leaders you often find in a construction setting. It discusses the importance of creating a mix of people who are great at coaching, pacesetting, being autocratic, and working as servant leaders. These are all vital to a company’s success, but the one that really resonates with …
This week, Robbie Cather from our company attended the annual CenterBuild conference in Phoenix, a two-day event sharing ideas and learning. Perhaps the most interesting thing he shared was a stat from Williams Sonoma regarding the relationship between bricks & mortar and e-commerce. When their company closes a physical store, online sales in that market …
It seems like Gen Z has been one of the most talked about generations. They are the first “digital natives” and probably felt the biggest social effects of the pandemic because it fell right in the middle of their formative years. In the construction industry, Gen Z has the ability to make a huge difference …
We’ve been attending the annual Spring ICSC conference for many years, and it’s always a decent view of the what’s happening in the “retail world.” We have been seeing a dramatic shift in the favor of the landlord, and that was definitely a big topic of conversation this year. We are also seeing a certain …
A little more than 4 years ago, the pandemic turned the traditional office model on its head. After everyone got proficient at remote logins and Zoom, we spent the next couple of years discussing if offices were a thing of the past. Turns out, they are still relevant. A recent study of people in professional …
Over the last decade, maybe even longer, retail has been an interesting case study. We’ve written a lot about bricks and mortar vs online sales and how that will affect our industry in the future. The pandemic heightened predictions that physical stores were set to become a thing of the past. It’s true that distribution …
A few years ago, I met Joe Zidle, a leader at Blackstone, and have followed his posts since. He wrote an interesting article recently, sharing his take on the trajectory of generative AI, as a bubble or the way of the future. He talked about the exponential growth of data on the Internet, snowballing by …
We recently listened to a webinar about ChatGPT, a hot topic right now. To get you up to speed, GPT means “Generative Pre-Trained Transformer,” and it’s the framework for artificial intelligence. ChatGPT currently has more than 100 million users, gained in just 3 months. It took Google 1 year and 2 months to reach the …
This spring, we completed another adaptive reuse redevelopment, this one including a “pocket park” and amphitheater. Pocket Parks are generally recognized as public park spaces that occupy less than one acre of land. The concept originated in post-WWII Europe as a way to rebuild public spaces a little at a time, even though they were …