10 of 2022’s Biggest Commercial Real Estate Trends
While commercial real estate is typically viewed as a long-term investment — both for property owners and the businesses that lease space in their buildings — it’s certainly not immune to the influence of trends.
And 2022 was perhaps more trend-oriented than most years in the industry. As the world finally began to fully emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the commercial real estate industry reckoned with a highly altered landscape across asset classes.
From the emerging possibilities of the metaverse; to repurposing retail space in a culture firmly committed to online shopping; to drawing inspiration from some of the radical approaches that architects and designers are taking to educational facilities, these are 10 of the trends that had a significant impact on commercial real estate in 2022 and will likely continue to make their presence felt in the coming year.
What is ‘Virtual Real Estate’ in the Metaverse?
If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the concept of the metaverse in general — let alone comprehending what a virtual world has to do with commercial real estate here on Earth — this three-part deep-dive is for you. From potential uses relevant to CRE to caveats for curious investors, this series will help neophytes take their first virtual steps into a bold new world of real estate possibilities.
Ready To Get in the Game? 3 Top Uses for Esports
When Monumental Sports & Entertainment, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals, opened a “first-of-its-kind” 14,000-square-foot competitive gaming studio in downtown Washington D.C., LoopNet looked at the potential uses related to Esports for retail property owners seeking a new kind of tenant. Whether your space is best suited to a training facility, retail location or competition venue, this article outlines the benefits as well as challenges and costs associated with this increasingly popular entertainment medium.
Why Building Owners Are Going From ‘Gray to Green’ Roofs
As office building owners seek opportunities to distinguish their properties in a competitive landscape — and office tenants explore methods for attracting remote workers back to their desks — activating once under-utilized outdoor spaces has become increasingly popular. But these green spaces aren’t just about relaxation or aesthetic appreciation; they can also have a meaningful effect on the operational and environmental facets of a property.
Why Farms Are Fetching Record Prices
Whether it’s resulting from an increased desire for pastoral beauty in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, or just investors looking for a new opportunity to achieve meaningful yield, it seems that a lot of LoopNet’s readers had the farming life on their minds in 2022. With the value of farm sales nearly doubling from 2020 to 2021, it’s perhaps unsurprising that this was LoopNet’s most-read story in 2022.
Indie Coworking Spaces Unleash Canada's Rural Potential
Speaking of the country life: as many office workers relocated from cities to more rural environs during the pandemic, a burgeoning wave of coworking spaces rose up to meet them. As their urban counterparts struggled to adjust to the impact of COVID-19 on the coworking model, these rural Canadian coworking spaces sought opportunities to build communities and provide resources for a distributed workforce.
Back to School: 10 Ways New Education Facilities Teach Us About Smart Building Design
LoopNet returned to the classroom to uncover the trends that are most affecting the design of educational facilities and how those models can be applied to other asset types. As concepts such as designing for neurodiversity and prioritizing sustainability become progressively more critical in everything from offices to industrial spaces, there’s a lot to learn from the architects and designers focused on the educational realm, whose projects often are at the vanguard of a more humanistic approach to the built environment.
Why Your Next Meeting Could Be at an NBA Game
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged many companies to take a more creative approach to how they bring employees together, and KPMG’s new “ignition center” at the Capital One Arena, the home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Wizards in downtown Washington, D.C., certainly exemplifies this trend. While office building owners rush to add amenities to their properties in an effort to attract and retain tenants, entertainment venues look to get into the game by offering a unique alternative for offsite meetings and collaboration opportunities.
Fertility Clinics, Pet Spas and Other Emerging Retail Concepts
It’s no secret that many retail properties are struggling in an era dominated by online shopping. This article reveals some of the emerging retail concepts that may just be “Amazon-proof,” including stores devoted to DIY cannabis growing and numerous health and wellness-focused uses for both humans as well as their furry friends.
New Developments Bring a Wide Array of Hotel Opportunities to Once Overlooked Suburbs
The suburbs may not be where most people expect to find trendy new luxury hotels, but LoopNet discovered that outside of Montreal a wave of new hotels catering to suburban “pandemic refugees” and those that want to visit them are upending hospitality paradigms. More than just hotels, though, these new developments bring an array of retail, restaurant and spa experiences to their environs, as they seek to become a new kind of “downtown.”
How Canada’s First Cowarehousing Space is Growing by Adapting
In this article, LoopNet discovered that the benefits of this model can go beyond cheaper and smaller spaces, by creating opportunities for collaboration and fostering support that can help a burgeoning business continue to grow.
