The Boston area has long been known as a technology hub for commercial real estate office tenants, but its downtown was considered primarily financial, much like Wall Street in Manhattan, and its surrounding Financial District.

Much of what one hears about in the retail real estate industry nowadays is store closures, so it’s refreshing to learn about a company actually opening more locations. One of them is Half Price Books, which is doing so in a sector of retail that has gotten hammered over the years by Amazon and digital media.

While the focus has been on the U.S. downtown office market and its recovery for the past several years, it’s time for the suburban office market to step into the spotlight as it continues its comeback.

I have been compiling a comprehensive list of property and PropTech conferences around the globe in 2018, and boy, it’s been a big job. I think we’re looking about 70 events already, and info on more is arriving in my inbox every day.

Historically the primary focus of the vast majority of office landlords was to secure enough tenants to fill their buildings as quickly as possible. Their modus operandi was simple: persuade an occupier to sign as long a lease as possible, with a minimum rent-free period and on a maximum pounds per square foot rent, in the quickest way possible. Once the tenant signed on the dotted line the landlord could essentially not worry about that tenant/building until a lease event loomed large on the horizon.

The city of Minneapolis is in the spotlight as it prepares to host Super Bowl LII on February 4 at its new $1.1 billion, 1.75-million-square-foot U.S. Bank Stadium – the catalyst for the city landing the football extravaganza. It will host the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.

When considering a new software for your organization, there’s one major thing to keep in mind: your approach to rolling it out will be a major factor in your company’s success with the new solution. You only have one shot to launch this technology, and when you’ve invested considerable time into the purchase process, you want the rollout to go smoothly.

With the start of a new year, planning is top of mind. The commercial real estate industry is shifting from a property-focused model to a tenant-centric one and today's landlords and brokers know they must adopt new strategies to better attract, convert and retain their most valuable asset — tenants.

Last montht's acquisition of Aetna by CVS Health for $69 billion is a big deal for a lot of reasons. The merger of a major drugstore retailer with one of the largest insurance companies will likely introduce big changes for the healthcare industry by making it easier for consumers and employers to choose one place for routine care and prescriptions.

Urban Land Institute's 2017 Fall Meeting, its annual gathering of 6,000 real estate leaders – including developers, investors, architects, planners, brokers, academics, attorneys, and public officials – focused on topics ranging from the future of retail, new waves of workspace design, and the building boom in downtown Los Angeles where the conference was held.