On Change
“If we want everything to stay the same, then everything must change!” - Tancredi, in The Leopard (Tomasi)
All of these headlines draw lots of clicks – and all have nuggets of truth—but as always the reality is more nuanced. If you’ve ever spent time with me over cocktails – and let me apologize if you have—then you’ve probably been subjected to my snappily-titled “Real Estate Drawing”
Not a real cocktail napkin.
This began as an interesting thought experiment sometime after Krog Street Market opened in 2014. We had spent eighteen months of pre-development obsessing about how to get people to come to Krog for just an hour or two, and now that it was up and running— and even though it was slammed— we were obsessing even more. We were managing staff and events (and napkins!), and it was much more like a running a restaurant or a hotel than any shopping center.
Somewhere along the line it occurred to me that the natural progression for a retail developer was not to obsess about getting patrons in for just an hour or two, but for an entire day or two. Like a hotel.
Right this way to the food hall
So then that thought continued: if you’ve gone to the trouble of getting guests to your project for a couple of days, how do you keep them there for a week? Or a month?
It seemed like the hotel folks needed to start running their properties like residential apartment communities, especially if they were going to keep up with the shared economy. Mix visitors with short-term guests and full-time residents. Make a real place.
Bringing back uniformed elevator operators would be highly experiential
And then one day at lunch with an apartment client and an office client (not the lead-in to a bad joke), the office developer complained that office trends — shorter leases, co-working, remote working— were threatening his core business. “But most people”, our apartment friend argued, “don’t want to work in their house. They want to work next to it.”
Apartment owners needed to start operating serious, thoughtful co-working spaces, both as a way to diversify income but also to increase rents (I’d argue that the apartment operators ought to be eating our collective lunches in every real estate category, but I’ll argue that in another note).
Open plan is what the kids want these days, right?
And so to complete the exercise, if new trends in how we work really are impacting traditional office space, then what do office owners do? While we have multifamily, hotel and retail clients, the majority of Revel’s fee work today is for institutional office owners who face this very challenge. And to them our message is consistent: obsess about branding and look + feel and experience. Curate your tenants. Focus on main + main locations. Sprinkle in some F+B . . . and think like retailers.
If you want to everything to stay the same in your corner of the real estate world, then everything has to change.
What we’re working on: We have been proud to help with the development of the Dairy Market in Charlottesville, a 28,000 sf food hall in a 1930s dairy bottling plant, and part of a larger mixed-use project (apparently I have a thing for milk bottling plants). Construction is underway, the first tenants have been announced, and the opening is planned for April 2020.
Back in Atlanta we’ve begun consulting assignments on three large office redevelopment projects, with two more potentially significant ones in the works.
Where We’re Eating
Where We’re Eating: Filipino Food is having its moment in the sun, and in Atlanta that means recent DC-imports Mia Orino and Carlo Gan with their pop-up restaurant Kamayan.
Follow them on Instagram @kamayan_atl for details on where they’ll land next. An excellent experience from two passionate restaurateurs.
What We’re Reading
What We’re Reading: You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice by Tom Vanderbilt Why do you like the food you like? Why are some songs more popular than others? What does your choice in clothes say about you?
At the crux of it all is the tension between new vs familiar, conformity vs distinction, and simple vs complex. The sobering truth is that you like what you like because someone told you to. A fascinating read.
What We’re Listening To
What We’re Listening To: Tuxedo III. “Disco-pop for summer pool parties” from two hard-working artists with numerous individual Grammy nominations.
Don’t take yourself too seriously: it’s 101° in the shade and if you're lucky your kids are at sleep-away camp. Roll down the windows and sing along. It’s the Tuxedo Way.
They are touring now, in Dallas on 7/31, Atlanta 8/2 and DC 8/4.
Drop us a line and let us know what’s keeping you busy, and if we can help you navigate the changes in your industry in any way.
Cheers,
G