1. Adaptive Reuse
2. Transportation
3. Future of Office Space
We were discussing how telecommunications could change where people would be working from. In other words, being able to work from your home instead of a corporate office could be a game changer. One aspect to look into would be the less of a necessity for an office building to employ your workers. If constant surveillance is not a top priority for your business to operate successfully then there really is no need for a home base if each person can access a database and email to be able to be in contact with the company's resources and personnel. If major telecommunication companies ever got to this point, major compounds and facilities would become vacant and there would be no need for new infrastructure to be built. If the facilities go then you would have to agree that any community that was centered around it would go as well. If someone is only living where they are because of distance to work then there is nothing to keep them where they are currently at. It is not like I see this happening in the next five or ten years but it would an interesting phenomenon to see play out. It would not be a great time for commercial real estate players by any means.
We also discussed transportation and its effect on development. In San Francisco, their trolly lines are the most popular form of transportation for residents and tourists. The one thing that I get from this is that no one wants to ride a bus if they don't have to. I do not know when or how the stigma came about but for as long as I can remember, which isn't that long, it has been around. Missouri is actually thinking about implementing a trolly line in St. Louis due the amount of success San Francisco has had. One big aspect of creating a trolly line and thus trolly stops is the major development that will come with it. If trollies become a major hit many investors would want to build things around these newly created hot spots. Another kind of transportation we discussed are speed rails. Like a trolly line major development would be centered around each hub. One thing a speed rail would bring that a trolly line couldn't is allowing people to live farther away from work due to such an easy way of commuting back and forth. Also the amount saved on gas or a car payment could be substantial.
Adaptive Reuse has been talked about numerous times throughout this course but we hit on it again tonight. Many cities are trying to make their once popular attraction become popular again but due to being used in a different way. This can be seen from an old brewery or warehouse being turned into luxury condos or apartments or mix income housing. The building I am currently typing this in (my classroom) was once a garage shop and then a farmers market and now a small campus, the UTA Fort Worth center. If you have a creative side in real estate and have the financing for such a project this is a great way to make some money. Yes there are risks, such as if the adaptive use concept really doesn't work or actually finding the resources. In contrary, every project is going to have its risks when its real estate whether commercial or residential.
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