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Welcome back to Sustainability Street. CPE’s podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.
While corporate America de-emphasizes "ESG," sustainability's role as a key financial lever in commercial real estate gets further cemented.
My guest for this episode is CPE Senior Associate Editor Anca Gagiuc, our lead climate and energy reporter. We discuss her findings on the topic from her article "Earth Day: Earth Day 2026: What’s Driving Sustainable CRE Decisions Now."
"Sustainability is no longer only about ESG, corporate responsibility or future goals," Gajiuc told me. "It is much more immediate now. It is showing up in NOI, asset value, financing, leasing and operating costs. The way I would build on that is to say that sustainability has moved into its next phase: competitiveness."Here are some highlights from our conversation:
(02:06) Sustainability enters its next phase
(04:32) Green premium and brown discount
(06:01) Impacts on liquidity and exit values
(08:23) The role of building performance standards
(09:55) Power changes the meaning of location
(13:30) The power divide
(17:30) Future-proofing amid rapid change
(19:28) Where health and wellness rank
(23:16) For further information -
Women now account for 31 percent of commercial real estate brokers in the U.S., up 10 percentage points over the past 15 years, according to CREW Network. While progress may feel slow, 2026 President Leslie Teskey sees reason for optimism.
In this episode of CREW Up, Commercial Property Executive’s Laura Valean sits down with veteran broker Teskey to discuss why brokerage remains one of commercial real estate's most challenging—and rewarding—career paths for women.
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Global commercial real estate sentiment was broadly stable in the first quarter, but the headline numbers mask an uneven picture across markets, according to the latest surveys released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London. The war in Iran, higher energy prices, renewed inflation concerns and shifting expectations around interest rates are beginning to filter through CRE markets in different ways.
"The global index that we produce barely moved and if you were to only look at that, you kind of reach the conclusion that nothing much happened, but that aggregate figure really does mask quite a bit of movement underneath," said RICS Head of Market Analytics Tarrant Parsons in this podcast.
Hosted by Executive Editor Laura Valean, this RICS Monitor episode touches on why credit conditions have become one of the most important indicators to watch, particularly as tighter financing could weigh on investment activity and values over the next several quarters.
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Ronald Dickerman says that real estate is part of his DNA. His family owned and operated apartment buildings in Boston, and when he was still a teenager, he’d spend Saturdays at those properties, vacuuming the halls and cleaning the pools. Back then he figured that he’d probably stick close to home and wind up working in the family business, but as it turned out, he was destined for much wider horizons.
As founder and president of Madison International Realty, Dickerman leads a company with an uncommon focus on the secondaries market and a footprint that encompasses offices on three continents. Since its founding a quarter century ago, Madison International has raised upward of $8 billiondollars from scores of investors.
In our conversation, Dickerman tells us how he came to focus on the secondary market and fills us in on Madison International’s latest corporate-level moves. From the perspective of nearly four decades in the business, he offers his insights on today’s key trends.
And, as an expert on international capital flows, he gives us his take on how the U.S. real estate market stacks up against the competition.
If you enjoy the Investment Matters podcast, I hope you’ll check out CPE’s Capital Markets newsletter, our free, twice-monthly roundup of the latest trends, analysis and data in commercial real estate investment. It’s easy to subscribe—just go to https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/subscriptions/.
Episode highlights:
(2:03) What’s in a name?(3:58) Building a business model(6:44) Corporate-level moves/partnerships(9:14) Top trends to unpack, at home and abroad(13:47) Adjusting to the new normal(15:54) Career origin story: CRE in the DNA(21:31) Capital flows and geopolitics(24:12) Will the REIT rollups continue?(26:56) Executive off the clock: staying fit in mind and body(28:25) Fulfilling “a global mandate”Follow, rate and review CPE’s podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to CPE’s recently relaunched YouTube channel!
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Distressed office buildings are becoming a defining part of the current market cycle, especially as higher vacancy, tighter lending conditions and slower demand continue to pressure owners. But distress does not always mean an asset is obsolete. In many cases, the challenge is financial, creating an opportunity for other buyers to reinvest and compete for tenants.Real Capital Solutions is one of the firms taking that selective approach. With over $5.1 billion in investment since 1984, the company is targeting assets with strong fundamentals but challenged capital structures, focusing on properties that can still perform well with the right leasing strategy and repositioning.In this episode of Step Into My Office, CPE’s Olivia Bunescu talked with Real Capital Solutions Founder & CEO Marcel Arsenault about Denver’s office reset and the firm’s approach to buying into distress. Arsenault touched on the idea that office is both an operating and a people business, what lenders still get wrong about the sector, which assets the firm is targeting and what office recovery will look like going forward.
Here’s what they discussed:
How’s the office market right now? (01:42)Office as an operating business, not a passive asset class (03:06)The lender pullback (05:21)Identifying real opportunities in distressed office (08:42)Financial distress vs. operational distress (11:28)Why is Denver different? (13:04)Neighborhoods and building types RCS is watching (14:38)Cap rates, cash flow and the role of lenders in the recovery (16:04)Why some obsolete office buildings may not be fixable (20:19)First moves after acquiring a distressed office asset (22:30)The outlook for Denver and the national office sector (25:19)Real estate is ultimately a people business (28:03) -
Life science real estate has been widely regarded as one of the most resilient sectors of the property market in the U.S. After a surge in new construction that started during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector is now faced with sharp-rising vacancies in some of the biggest clusters.Long-term drivers like talent, funding, onshoring and biomanufacturing still point to major opportunities, however. In the latest episode of Alternative Disruptors, host Tudor Scolca-Seușan talks with Colliers Executive Vice President Joe Fetterman about where this asset class is headed in 2026 and beyond.Fetterman discusses how the sector evolved in recent years, from the robust enthusiasm felt by investors in 2019 and 2020, to the interest rate increase period and the slow absorption levels in 2024 and 2025.There is hope for the future, however. Fetterman explains why the life science sector’s story is not black and white: while demand for R&D lab space has softened, biomanufacturing is gaining momentum due to onshoring efforts, the U.S. pharma consumption market and blockbuster drug capacity needs.The conversation also covers how investors find opportunities amid oversupply and potential distress, including the case of ‘reversions’ from lab to innovation use or office. Fetterman also touches on the rise of AI and its potential to disrupt the sector.In this episode, you’ll also hear about why the top clusters (Boston, San Diego and San Francisco) are bound to recover faster, as well as which emerging markets have the most potential to become a major hub and why.Here’s a breakdown of the discussion:* (00:00) Intro* (01:08) post-COVID reality check* (04:49) Labs vs. manufacturing split* (08:09) Where opportunity is now* (12:59) Demand drivers and capital* (18:53) Manufacturing durability and AI* (21:06) Top clusters and ecosystems* (24:19) Vacancy, oversupply and recovery* (27:43) Manufacturing location decisions* (30:29) Emerging markets* (34:04) 2026 outlook and wrap-up
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Welcome back to Sustainability Street, CPE’s podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.
Smart buildings have gotten really smart. In this episode, R-Zero Chairperson & CEO Jennifer Nuckles and I chat about how intelligent buildings have moved from advisory to actual operational control at a time when property owners are hyper-focused on improving NOI.
Today, intelligent, self-optimizing properties can automatically lower owners’ energy costs along with their carbon footprints. According to Nuckles, AI-powered building management systems have enabled energy to transition from “a fixed unavoidable expense to a controllable material driver of operating expense and valuation.”
These systems are also facilitating sustainability’s shift from an externally motivated activity to a line item with direct profit and loss and valuation consequences. “Sustainability initiatives are now indistinguishable from margin expansion initiatives, and the office of the CFO is really paying attention," Nuckles noted.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
(01:27) Nuckle’s sustainability journey(04:07) Energy costs and dynamic buildings
(06:04) Doing the math on smart buildings
(08:25) From static to real time
(10:15) Sustainability and smart buildings
(13:45) Why your data layer is so important
(15:47) Optimizing current assets over building new
(17:55) Cutting the cost of regulatory compliance
(19:49) How office and industrial are converging
(21:18) The next frontier in intelligent buildings
(22:02) More resources on technology trends
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Kansas City’s industrial market has seen a meaningful share of new deliveries translate directly into occupancy, with build-to-suit activity playing an outsized role in recent absorption.
In the third episode of Inside Industrial, JLL’s Kevin Wilkerson and Phil Algrim joined CPE’s Diana Firtea to discuss how disciplined development, competition for sites and power availability are influencing Kansas City’s next phase of industrial growth.
Wilkerson pointed to a string of large build-to-suit deliveries completed over the last 12 to 18 months, including projects for Ace, Amazon, Church & Dwight, Blue Buffalo, McKesson and Pimco Bakeries.
The guests also noted that speculative development has remained disciplined, with a limited pool of active developers and rising competition for development-ready land. They described how data center demand has pushed some land pricing above levels that industrial projects can underwrite, adding another variable for developers trying to pencil new starts.
On feasibility, they cited Kansas City’s strong electrical grid for traditional industrial uses, but said power constraints become more complex for manufacturing and data center projects, where Evergy’s energy study process can add meaningful cost and time early in site selection.
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When I want to get a handle on the big picture of commercial real estate investment, I always find it helpful to pick the brain of an executive from a global institutional investor. That’s why I jumped at the chance to sit down and talk with Mike Byrne, the chief investment officer & head of private equity and debt at AEW Capital Management.
AEW has been around for 45 years, and Mike himself has been with the company since 2003. During our conversation, Mike walked me through the big issues he’s tracking. He offers compelling insights about office, industrial, retail and multifamily—plus a few words of caution.
Mike also tells us about the formative years of his career, including the job that he says was “almost like getting an MBA in our business.”
And whether you’re relatively new to real estate, or you’ve been a professional for a while, Mike has thought-provoking ideas about building your career.
Just a brief note about the timing of this recording. We spoke shortly before the Middle East conflict started, so we weren’t able to address the potential impact on real estate finance and investment. But I think it’s fair to say that Mike’s observations about market dynamics still hold true.
If you enjoy this podcast, I hope you’ll check out CPE’s Capital Markets newsletter, our free, twice-monthly roundup of the latest trends, analysis and data in commercial real estate investment. It’s easy to subscribe—just go to https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/subscriptions/.
Hope you enjoy our conversation!
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Welcome back to Sustainability Street. CPE's podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.
Not so long ago, addressing embodied carbon in construction project was thought to be cost prohibitive. Increasingly, that is not the case.
My guests for this episode, are Rebecca Esau, a manager with the Rocky Mountain Institute's Carbon-Free Buildings Program, and Tolga Tutar, senior sustainability director with Skanska.
We discuss a report they've co-authored that demonstrates how developers are lowering embodied carbon cost effectively through early planning, available tools and more efficient materials. And we talk about how new developments in technology, circularity and carbon-storing bio-based materials will improve the business case for low-carbon buildings.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
(1:54) Zeroing in on embodied carbon
(5:23) Embodied carbon then and now
(12:17) Proving the case for cost parity
(20:26) Mass timber delivers savings
(22:02) New life for old buildings
(23:01) Elevating the bid leveling process
(27:36) The importance of early planning
(34:39) The next frontier in reducing embodied carbon
(41:03) For more information…Follow, rate and review CPE’s podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to CPE’s YouTube channel!
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In the inaugural episode of The Learning Curve, Kidder Mathews Senior Associate Tobias Hipp sits down with CPE's Mikayla Sciortino and shares his firsthand experience of what his career in industrial brokerage has entailed thus far and what has kept him going over the first few years.
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The first episode of Commercial Design Lab, a new podcast hosted by CPE Senior Associate Editor Beata Lorincz, explores how AI is beginning to reshape architectural workflows, from early-stage design and zoning analysis to building performance optimization. Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder & CEO of AI-powered architecture practice cove, discusses the limitations of traditional processes and the growing role of automation for architects and their practices.
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Sandy Sigal was a technology whiz kid long before it was cool. He was just 20 when his precocious skills earned him an invitation to modernize the accounting department for a homebuilding company.
It wasn’t too long before he discovered that that he had a knack for real estate as well as for programming, and by the time he was 21, he was building his first retail center.
Since founding NewMark Merrill in 1997, Sigal has become a prolific investor, developer and manager of retail centers, with holdings that encompass more than 100 properties valued at $3 billion.
More than 40 years into his real estate career, he still fosters technological innovations in the NewMark Merrill portfolio as well as through a venture that enables retail stakeholders to integrate online and social platforms with brick and mortar.
In this episode, our conversation ranges from the importance of community engagement for retail operators to AI and impact of economic trends that are impacting the sector.
Sigal also takes us inside his commitments to the nonprofits that are closest to heart—among them, the camp for underserved kids that he says changed his life.
Follow, rate and review CPE’s podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to CPE’s recently relaunched YouTube channel!
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Industrial real estate is being reshaped by a new set of operational and technological demands. As supply chains evolve and occupiers adopt automation, factors such as proximity, power availability and labor dynamics are becoming central to both facility design and investment strategy.
In the second episode of Inside Industrial, CBRE’s John Morris discusses how these dynamics are influencing the sector and what they mean for the future of industrial assets.
Morris serves as president of Americas Industrial & Logistics at CBRE, overseeing one of the industry’s largest platforms, with more than 800 professionals advising occupiers and investors across supply chain strategy, labor analytics, transaction services and project management.
“It's about proximity to the end user in really every regard,” Morris said, pointing to the growing importance of inventory location as delivery expectations continue to accelerate.
He also highlights how labor constraints are driving automation, how power availability is emerging as a key factor in site selection, and why newer, automation-ready buildings are gaining a competitive edge over older stock.
Take a listen as Commercial Property Executive’s Diana Firtea explores these themes with Morris in the latest episode of Inside Industrial.
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At a time when capital markets remain volatile and fundamentals continue to shift, property appraisals are no longer a straightforward exercise. In this episode of FTI Experts’ Hub, Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Valean sits down with Mark Dunec, co-leader of Real Estate Valuation Services at FTI Consulting, to unpack a common challenge in today’s commercial real estate market: diverging property valuations.
While differences in appraisals are often most visible in litigation settings, they can also stem from deeper issues, ranging from inconsistent assumptions and flawed methodologies to a fundamental misunderstanding of the valuation problem itself, according to Dunec.
If you’re a CRE professional navigating refinancing, acquisitions or asset management decisions, this episode will offer you a timely and practical look at how valuations are being formed today, and how to avoid costly surprises in an increasingly complex environment.
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While gains have been made in areas like pay equity and flexibility, the commercial real estate industry continues to stall where it matters most: advancement. Women now represent roughly 38 percent of the workforce, a figure that has remained largely unchanged for two decades, according to CREW Network’s latest benchmark study. The issue, believes CEO Alison Beddard, is not pipeline, but structure.
In this episode of CREW Up, Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Valean sits down with Beddard for an open conversation about both progress and persistent gaps for women in commercial real estate.
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As the flexible office sector continues to evolve, hospitality, service quality and disciplined growth have become its backbone. That’s exactly the approach Quest Workspaces has been following since 2010, when CEO Laura Kozelouzek founded the company. Now, she operates 14 locations in Florida and New York and has expanded the company’s portfolio to 310,000 square feet of premium space, mostly in Miami.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Senior Associate Editor Olivia Bunescu invited Kozelouzek to share her experience in the field. In this episode, she reflects on her early path into the business, the lessons she learned building a company around service and client experience and the realities of growing a flex office brand in a competitive market.
From leadership lessons and common mistakes to company culture and market discipline, the episode offers a closer look at the strategy behind one of the region’s longstanding workspace operators. Kozelouzek also shares how she stayed true to a hospitality-first model, why adaptability remains a must and her outlook for Miami’s flexible office sector.
Here’s what they discussed:
Laura’s early journey in flexible workspaces and hospitality (01:24)Building a company around people and service—not just space (02:35)What surprised her about the flex office industry early on (07:00)What being a woman-owned company has meant in practice (09:00)Balancing charisma with clarity (11:25)How she scaled Quest Workspaces—adding process and data without losing hospitality (13:35)Why adaptability matters in South Florida coworking (19:15)The market challenge she sees most: undisciplined growth (25:15)What “premium” means in Miami today (26:30)Her outlook for Miami office demand, from Brickell to downtown (31:00) -
After the U.S.'s nearly 20-year stretch of little to no electricity load growth, we’re now shifting into an age where new investments are needed to sustain the pace of demand from AI and hyperscale data center users.
Current U.S. data center market trends point to ever-increasing levels of development complexity, with gigawatt-scale campuses now a reality. Tom Traugott, SVP of emerging technologies at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure joins us on this second episode of Alternative Disruptors to discuss this new paradigm, breaking down what the baseline will be from 2026 onward.
“I think the industry has started to recognize that there's four dimensions that can slow down AI. Those are chips, data, networking throughput and power. Power is the lowest ceiling we’re encountering right now.”
Unlocking new megawatts, or even stranded ones, will take a new approach to capex investment. From regulatory realignment to utilizing on-site generation and flexible loads, the data center sector is getting ready to solve these challenges from all angles possible, or, as Tom puts it, the “all of the above approach".
Here’s a breakdown of the discussion:
(00:00) Introduction(00:50) Meet Tom Traugott(01:17) EdgeCore’s strategy shift(05:11) The power wall & unlocking gigwatts(09:27) Grid flexibility playbook(11:32) What energy alternatives are viable?(14:03) Nat gas now, nuclear later(19:24) Speed economics pressure(20:58) New AI scaling laws(25:59) Bottlenecks: cooling, supply chains, labor shortage(30:56) Community relations(33:16) Liquid cooling reality check & heat risks, redundancy(39:21) Sustainability offsets & the grid(44:27) Three bold bets for 2026(50:05) Closing thanks & outro -
Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.
For this episode, I am talking about data centers and sustainability with Suhail Tayeb, an investor, developer and the director of the Center for the Sustainable Built Environment at New York University's Shack's Institute of Real Estate within the School of Professional Studies.
As data centers proliferate across the country, there's been backlash from communities and environmentalists about the speed at which they've consumed land, power and water.Some concerns are valid, Tayeb said, but the reality is much more layered. Well-planned projects digital infrastructure projects have gotten lumped in with poorly sited and poorly communicated ones.
"Talking to people, letting them know what's going to happen, what are the effects, what are the impacts," he said. "That's what determines whether these projects are responsible or disruptive."
Tayeb explains how data centers differ from traditional real estate, and that, as data centers transition from their speed phase to their strategy phase, how they source their energy and justify their presence locally, will make the difference between success and failure.
Here are the key topics our conversation covered:
(1:24) Student and teacher of sustainable construction(4:23) Why data centers are not really real estate at all(9:26) Exit the speed phase; enter the strategy phase(10:55) Data centers and power generation(14:48) Innovations in sustainable construction(18:51) Recommendations for data center developers -
Lisa Pendergast leads one of the industry’s most influential organizations and is a top capital markets analyst to boot, but she discovered her professional passion almost by accident. An English major with her eye on law school, she was hired as a writer by a major institutional investor. The opportunity to learn the finance business from brilliant minds proved to be, as she puts it, “the cheapest MBA anybody ever got.”
Fast forward a few decades, and Pendergast serves as president & CEO of Commercial Real Estate Finance Council. Before taking on her current role, she was a member of the organization’s Board of Governors and served as its 2010-2011 president. She’s held senior positions at Jeffries LLC, an affiliate of Leucadia National Corporation, as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland.
In this conversation, she shares takeaways from the organization’s recent national conference in Miami, describing the event’s upbeat mood. She reveals insights from CREFC’s latest national sentiment survey, and discusses why this ellwether indicator is approaching its record high.
Also during this podcast, Pendergast discusses today’s key policy issues and how CREFC is informing regulators about the issues that hamper the industry. As one of the top securitization experts in the business, she gives us her take on the state of CMBS and CLOs.
In this conversation, she shares takeaways from the organization’s recent national conference in Miami, describing the event’s upbeat mood. She reveals insights from CREFC’s latest national sentiment survey, and discusses why this bellwether indicator is approaching its record high.
Also during this podcast, Pendergast discusses today’s key policy issues and how CREFC is informing regulators about the issues that hamper the industry. As one of the top securitization experts in the business, she gives us her take on the state of CMBS and CLOs. Take a listen!
Episode highlights:
(1:05) Top takeaways from Miami(3:27) Asset performance insights(5:51) Maturities and the Fed’s next moves(8:09) Taking the pulse of CRE finance(11:38) Economic indicators to watch(13:04) Office-to-resi conversions: NYC and beyond(17:17) “The cheapest MBA anybody ever got”(22:09) CLOS on the rise(24:51) CMBS and federal policy(29:45) Navigating regulator relations(34:03) New path for the GSEs?(36:55) How the GSEs can address affordability(38:10) Executive off the clock: the garden and the links - Visa fler
