Between Two Bricks: A Guide to the Top News in Real Estate Tech (#9)

A guided tour of the best stories in real estate with a slant towards new technology and its impact on the future of buildings, neighborhoods, and cities.

Happy Thursday! This week I'm thinking about what the service and operations mix will look like across buildings in the near future; more closures in the co-living space; the fast-increasing importance of using sensors; and changes across the proptech competitive landscape both big and small. I'm also still thinking back to technology's role in making cities more affordable.

Things to read about this week:

• Outsourcing Cities, Coffee Offices, Reviving WeWork, and Shorting Campuses - "Most landlords don't need to do more. They need to do less. At the moment, they are (happily) dealing with the asset-facing side of the business and (reluctantly) dealing with the customer-facing side of it. Let someone else handle the customers. Share the revenue. Everyone will be better off for it."
• Stay Alfred, VC-backed hospitality startup, closes for good - "Ending weeks of speculation and rumor, CEO Jordan Allen said revenue dried up during the coronavirus pandemic, and in March, the firm failed to raise $30 million in funding that would have let it stay open. It was also unable to sell off assets."
• Occupancy Sensors Can Serve as the Brains of an Office’s COVID-19 Response - "Occupancy sensors can serve as the brain of the COVID-19 response operation, helping target cleaning, management attention, or other simple yet effective solutions to where they’re actually needed."
• Katerra CEO steps down from construction startup - "Katerra CEO and co-founder Michael Marks is stepping down from the Softbank-backed construction startup to work full-time as managing partner for one of its investors. Marks, who founded the California-based company alongside longtime friend Fritz Wolff and Silver Lake’s James Davidson in 2015, will be replaced by Katerra’s chief operating officer Paal Kibsgaard, the company announced Tuesday."
• “Normal is over”: As Covid-19 surges, so does proptech - "'There’s this whole tension of wanting life to go back to normal,” said Amazon's Kent Woodyard. “Normal, I think, is over. A part of that new normal is an elevated level of digital interaction and purchasing.'"
• City Council Caps Delivery App Fees at 20 Percent During Emergencies - "The New York City Council threw a lifeline to restaurants struggling during the coronavirus pandemic and passed a bill that would cap the amount of fees apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats can charge them at 20 percent per order."
• CoStar Buying Ten-X for $190M - "CoStar Group said Wednesday that it plans to acquire digital transaction platform Ten-X for $190 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter. 'Together, Ten-X and CoStar plan to create a new end-to-end commercial real estate platform, combining LoopNet and CoStar’s unmatched online audience of buyers with Ten-X’s clear leadership in online auctions for both performing and distressed assets,' said CoStar Group CEO Andrew Florance. Florance added that combining the two companies’ complementary capabilities is expected to create 'significant benefits for brokers and the institutions they represent by exposing their properties for sale to the biggest pool of potential bidders on the most trusted digital transaction platform and delivering fast and reliable trade execution.'"
• The PropTech Solution to Aging - "Today, there are 39.5 million seniors in the United States over the age of 65, including 5.6 million over the age of 85. Many seniors are experiencing daily life with growing concerns and PropTech offers innovative technological solutions through commercial real estate that can help reduce the challenges that confront the aging population."
• Flex Zones Stimulate Local Economies by Reopening Main Street Businesses - "Pullman sits on the board of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, which piloted a one day demonstration of a flex zone concept just last week. 'We used four parking spaces and striped them to indicate they weren’t in use. We added signs for curbside pick-up and used astroturf to extend the curb and designate an outdoor eating area,' Pullman explained. The pilot was successful, and it generated a good deal of interest from other cities who also want to get back up and running safely. 'These cities want to support their local businesses on main street, and flex zones do that by helping customers feel comfortable to sit down and enjoy a meal while still maintaining a safe distance from others,' said Pullman. "
• Lion Capital Takes Minority Stake In Real Estate Startup REX For $25M - "REX, a licensed residential real estate brokerage using AI and big data, announced today it has received a $25 million investment from Lion Capital in exchange for a minority stake in the company."

Things to come back to from the past:

• Tech-Enabled Rental Companies Are Breaking Down Rent vs. Own Mental Barriers - "With millennials accounting for the largest number of renters in the U.S., and Generation Z following close at their heels, the industry needs to consider this generational shift toward convenience and immediacy that breaks down barriers and offers simple, tech-enabled on-boarding services. After all, millennials are seeking similar experiences in nearly every other aspect of their lives favoring service over ownership. As demand swells, it’s become clear that owner-operators must consider new solutions that align with the fast-moving, ever-changing lifestyles of their prospective renters. "
• Technology’s Role in Making Our Cities More Affordable - "Technologies are expensive to build and often take years before they can become profitable. This means that many companies developing tech solutions rely on investment to get them through their delicate early stages. Investors take these risks in order to be part of highly valuable tech platforms and thus can add additional pressure for companies to pursue a profit motive, even if it comes at the expense of a public welfare. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Profitable investments and socially conscious technologies are not mutually exclusive, especially in the property industry. "

Updates from Hello Alfred:

• Coronavirus training by text message: How some companies are keeping workers informed
• Hello Alfred makes grocery deliveries personal, provides full-time jobs
• New Grocery Delivery Service Will Pick Up Anything for $25 a Week
• How NYC Tech Companies Are Supporting Their Communities
• How to Get Grocery Delivery in NYC (and other cities) Right Now
• Adapting to the new norm: how Hello Alfred pivoted its business model in the face of a pandemic (webinar)
• Across the world, organizations are coming together to confront COVID-19 in their own way. Here’s a quick glimpse at what our team has learned in the process
• Doing our part to show support for those affected by COVID-19 by offering our new resident experience app FREE to building teams and creating an Employee Assistance Fund to support local small businesses and front line workers nationwide
• For the third consecutive year, Hello Alfred has been named one of FastCompany’s Most Innovative Companies
• Forbes has honored us as one of America’s Best Startup Employers 2020
• A Slice of Modern Life: How Our Lives Have Changed Over The Past Five Years