Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #292: Painting Small Offices Green, $57M Added to Settlement Sum, REW Strikes First

Geek Estate Team

Mar 25, 2024 • 7 min read

Image generator: DALL-E Prompt: $57.5 million in settlement, showing a legal contract and houses in the background

What's covered in this week's GEM Crystal Weekly Radar:

Logan dives into the increasing demand for sustainable office space and how inventory appears to be falling short.
Compass "agreed to settle in its commission lawsuits" for $57.5 million.
Drew covers the first buy side compensation announcement by a website or IDX Vendor.

Geek Estate Blog Recap:

Transmission Recap:

Last week, Drew covered how innovation in lumber is underappreciated. Before that, Drew delved into the long and short of Zillbnb - what Zillow's announcement means for the future of short and long-term rentals.

CLIMATE

PAINTING SMALL OFFICES GREEN
By: Logan Nagel

*Description: Exterior shot of a small, seedy office building. Gorgeous large offices are in the background*

Recent data from JLL shows that global demand for sustainable office space, driven by occupier sustainability commitments, is on track to vastly outpace inventory. From 2024 to 2030, JLL estimates 15.7 million square feet of demand against 4.6 million square feet of supply, a shortfall of around 70 percent.

JLL further identifies three main occupier demands: lower energy intensity per square foot, electrified buildings, and clean energy sources. While companies like Lunar Energy and BrainBox AI are beginning to carve out niches in these categories, it remains to be seen what playbooks or “metas” may emerge to actually develop or renovate 11.1 million square feet of sustainable office space. This is particularly true for smaller spaces facing economic obsoletion, where the cost of upgrading HVAC components, windows, and energy systems are not worth the squeeze. These properties, if unable to secure incentive funding for capital intensive physical improvements, will be forced to rely more heavily on software, sensors, AI, and hardware deployments with low installation costs. Their performance will still trail buildings undergoing renovations, though, another blow to a property class already on the ropes.