All the attention on industrial and retail
2017 has been showing continued signs of changing CRE trends. We are seeing further into the whole- e-commerce taking over the consumer markets concept, which leaves the retail sector in the spotlight.

My question being, is the future of office buildings brighter than anticipated? We have seen developments heading toward more "green" high end, healthy lifestyle oriented projects. With increased curb appeal and micro environment within, will office buildings become more service oriented, leaving the retail sector with an even bigger hit? Alternatively, will retail just continue attracting more service oriented tenants and absorb vacancy from the office buildings to stay in the game?

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[{"id": "dhnsjnk", "text": "who the fuk knows", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dho4nqw", "text": "The same argument can be made that office will head down the same path as people are saying Retail is going because of younger employees working from home. It's just challenging to make a smart prediction. Big box retail isn't going to get any better any time soon with certain exceptions, small space retail should be fine. I'm in Houston so my thoughts on office might be different than most. ", "replies": [{"id": "dhqs25g", "text": "Hines has a conceptual construction group that is designing office tower concepts that could be converted to condos or apartment easier than a traditional office design for this very reason.", "replies": [{"id": "dhqv6e2", "text": "That is very smart. Need to find a way to use these big box vacancies. Lots of expansion from the ones that are doing well but that will dry up at some point. My thought was to convert them to regional distribution centers for online retail but I can't find a way to make the numbers work so far. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dhpbsez", "text": "I dont think online shopping/amazon will dominate and be 60% of all retail sales. I think it will be more like 50% at most. I believe its far from that today, I read 10% last year but that seems low. There will always be demand for physical retail space, albeit smaller and with more tech integration and restaurants/scenery around. That being said, it only makes sense that high tech industrial space will continue to dominate for the next 10 years, is my guess. With more online shopping comes more fufillment centers and more technology means more datawarehouses. Low-clearing height industrial will be demolished and 300,000 sf industrial spaces will be demolished also. Like retail, that kind of space isnt necessary anymore, we arent a manufacturing nation.\n\nOffice, I dont know. I do believe that consolidated cities will stay consolidated and sparsley populated areas will stay dormant. There is so much open land in America and it takes a kind of phenomenal boom for populations to expand outside of the main metroplex areas. I really doubt more people will work from home. It is completely possible with technology but I believe employers want their employees to \"clock in\" so to speak, hold them accountable with a watchful eye and initiate a team environment. I also believe employees would struggle to be productive at home. Similar to retail, I think the need for office space will be much smaller as less employees are needed due to technology and outsourcing. Many office buildings will be demolished and turned into multifamily / multifamily-retail communities. ", "replies": [{"id": "dhphmdf", "text": "When you say that 300,000 sf warehouses will be demolished, do you mean everything below that size or above? Small flex warehouse units will always have their place. Distribution centers range from a couple thousand feet to 750K plus. \n\nI agree with all your other points. We have seen a lot of office building conversions in our market, and just recently had a big box grocery store get converted to a hospital. Office buildings do create the core of a city though, they move money and fuel consumption. ", "replies": [{"id": "dhq98dm", "text": "I meant larger spaces, especially ones that are older. Its difficult for owners to fill these spaces and make it work for a handful of tenants because of the logistics and space needs, clearing height etc. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "dhq9967", "text": "A creative conversion I saw lately was an old hotel that was renovated and turned into an assisted living facility. Never heard of that one before.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]