Welcome to the award-winning KensTrends. I was just named “Newest Blogger” in the Top 10+ CRE Blogs of 2018 by theBrokerList, a top online community of Commercial Real Estate Professionals. No, it wasn’t Best Blogger, Most Comprehensive Data Insights, or even “Top CRE People to Follow on Twitter”, which I made in 2011 under a different persona. But I’ll take what I can get.
I’ve managed to develop a bit of a worldwide cult following and people are stopping me at events to tell me they like what I’m doing. So I’ll continue to post my own somewhat quirky take on real estate, technology, buffalo cheese and whatever else pops into my head at 3 in the morning. Speaking of awards, this month I focus on an Academy Award winning movie and it’s impact on what I do. “Best Supporting Actor” is probably the Oscar equivalent of “Newest Blogger” but it looks just as good as “Best Picture” on my virtual mantle…
City Slickers is an Oscar winning comedy classic in which Billy Crystal and his friends battle mid-life crisis by joining a cattle drive across the Southwest. In the movie, we meet brothers Barry and Ira Shalowitz, ice cream moguls whose characters are based on the real-life Ben and Jerry. Barry’s claim to fame is that he can determine the perfect ice cream flavor to follow any meal.
What goes with sea bass, potatoes au gratin and asparagus? Rum Raisin! How does he know? “1,400 retail locations across the country, that’s how we know.”
So what does that have to do with commercial real estate? With years of research experience and hundreds of leases closed, I believe I can pick the perfect South Florida office building just like Barry can pick the perfect ice cream. Office space comes in all different shapes, sizes and flavors and you need the right flavor to compliment the way you do business.
Easy access to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, high image 15-20 employees? Presidential Circle in Hollywood. Downtown Miami, executive suite, lots of privacy, financial firm? Regus at The Wells Fargo Building. Glitz and glamour of Miami’s Brickell Avenue, small space, short-term lease? The Latitude. Live/work/play, access to 2 airports and all of South Florida? Main Street Miami Lakes. Tech startup, millennial employees, rapid growth, close to Mass Transit? WeWork at Miami’s Security Building. Friendly coworking atmosphere, lots of natural light, half-hour from Downtown Miami or West Palm via Lime scooter and Brightline Train? Pipeline Lauderdale.
Challenge Us!
But we go one better at Truss. While Barry has a great partner in his brother Ira, I have an even better partner in Vera. Vera is Truss’ artificial intelligence bot. Vera asks tenants where they want to be, how many people will use the office, how long a lease they are willing to sign, what type of layout they prefer and whether price or size is more important.
Vera then searches our inventory of over 12 million square feet of available office space and over 100 coworking facilities in South Florida, rating each space on a 1 to 100 scale. In each of our 9 (and expanding) US markets, Truss employs a seasoned professional broker who uses his or her experience and Vera’s technology to find our clients the best space at the best value. Vera makes sure I don’t miss any buildings and supplements my own market knowledge and experience with hard data. One of Vera’s most important features other than her great smile is that she provides our clients with full price transparency. Net lease, gross lease, modified, who cares. Vera is able to boil it all down to a monthly or annual cost to compare all alternatives on an apples-to-apples basis. Technology will never fully replace a broker, but a seasoned broker armed with the latest technology is a very dangerous creature indeed. Vera herself actually found a perfect space for a client for my client tour this morning.
Login to www.truss.co and Vera and your Truss broker will find the perfect flavor of office space to suit your appetite.
