How’s Biz?

In this podcast episode, we spoke with Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM, a scientist by background and real estate investor that entered the brokerage business in 2009 and hung his license with NAI Spring in Canton, OH. Fast forward to the present, and Bryce still works in the Ohio market and is affiliated with NAI Spring there, yet also, he was just made Vice President of Energy Services with Pittsburgh-based NAI Burns Scalo to run his energy-focused, commercial real estate practice in West Virginia and a portion of Southern Pennsylvania. Bryce works in the energy-rich Marcellus and Utica shale oil fields -- an area known as the Ohio River Corridor. The region is blessed with rail and river transportation services, and a world-class energy infrastructure because of its history of coal production and steel-making. The geography and natural resources created the basis for what has always been a manufacturing hub of the U.S., yet is fast-becoming the biggest energy-producing pocket of the U.S., in part because it is a one-day drive to 70% of the U.S. population. Listen to Custer describe his use of technical skills and knowledge of chemistry, electrical generation, power, polymers, plastics etc., and even SMRs, or Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors, and how these elements are driving demand for land and real estate facilities unlike ever before. His comments reinforce the notion that business likes certainty, and Custer is looking forward to both the upcoming presidential election to be over, and for 2025. Backed by the commitment and resources of NAI Burns Scalo, he thinks it will be a very good year. 

In this episode of How’s Biz, we invited three professionals from different industry sectors to discuss the state of the office market, and more specifically, how the ongoing remote and hybrid workforces and practices have operated since the pandemic. The panel discussion offered tips on successfully managing in this new era, as well as Return-to-Office mandates and how all this impacts the office market across the U.S.The panelists were:Jim Scalo, CEO of NAI Burns Scalo, based in Pittsburgh. Just before the pandemic, in 2019, he published a book, Work Them to Life: Upgrade Your Office Space to Win the Talent War.Toni Navy is a Future of Work Keynote Speaker and Global Workforce Consultant. She helps companies overcome the challenges of leading a global, multi-generational and hybrid workforce.Mike Robbins is a Keynote Speaker and expert on teamwork, leadership and emotional intelligence. He’s an author and former professional baseball player.The panelists discussed the ever-so-present topic of when, if and how workers will come back to the office 5 days a week, and whether or not the way workforces are operating these days is here to stay, or a temporary moment in time and just an extended consequence of the pandemic.  From a real estate management perspective, Scalo favors more of an all-hands approach to workforce management yet does so with carrots rather than sticks. One of his current mantras include the 3 Ms. According to Scalo, what matters most to employees is Money, Movement, and Meaning.He also used the acronym NOW: New Office Wins, to describe the current success of building owners and managers with new and newer office assets, as they have the most modern amenities and are most often in the best locations and hence, the most occupied. For example, while many cities are experiencing 20%+ vacancy rates, the top tier Class A buildings have single-digit vacancy rates.  All three panelists stressed the importance of building and maintaining corporate cultures among employees. They also talked about doing so in the current environment.Robbins, who has spoken at SIOR conferences and coached leaders at many companies, including real estate firms, addressed the top things corporate leaders should be focusing their people management on. He also spoke about the theme from one of his books—Bring Your Whole Self to Work. The book covers the responsibility of employees to be their most authentic selves to enhance their performances and the workplace as a whole.  Navy, who like Robbins, has worked with many Fortune 500 companies in HR, operations and leadership training roles, touched on some of the issues impacting recruiting, and the war for talent. One of the most pressing issues for management today is to prepare their staffs for the influx of Gen Z workers and an increasingly multi-cultural workforce. As The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers and even Millennials start to retire, the workplace of the future is going to look much different than the past. 

At the beginning of summer, 2024, NAI Global’s How’s Biz podcast connected with Bjarne Bauer, SIOR, Managing Partner at NAI Sofia Group Shanghai based in Shanghai, China. As anyone that has met or spoken with Bjarne would attest – at an NAI Convention or SIOR conference – he is always upbeat, informed, and articulate, as he was on this podcast. Listen and you will begin to understand why. When asked about how he navigates between Chinese commercial real estate owners and investors, local and state government agencies, with clients, occupiers, and business representatives from all over the world (particularly the U.S. and Europe), he used the word ‘humility’ to describe where that process begins. And goes from there.China’s economy was strictly locked down during the pandemic but has now fully reopened. Its residential real estate industry has made international news for the collapse and bankruptcy by some of the country’s biggest developers, but in the scheme of things, the 20% correction in pricing is small when one considers that housing experienced double-digit price increases for a decade leading up to the over-supply. The office market, like most international cities, is over-supplied, with vacancy rates running around 20% in its largest cities. Overall, however, the Chinese economy is still growing, albeit not at the same pace as before, and commercial real estate investment is quite active. With geopolitical tension in recent years, some capital did leave the country, but that is changing. Driven by efficiency and the fundamentals of capitalism, Western economies are investing in China again. Listeners will also hear about how business-friendly the Chinese government is. Foremost, with all the attention given to global supply chains since the onset of the pandemic, Bjarne’s insights as to how goods are actually produced, assembled, packaged and ultimately distributed between countries and consumers may come as a surprise, as there is a significant amount of nuance to manufacturing and supply chain management. Find out more about Bjarne Bauer and NAI Sofia Group Shanghai here.

Dan Leahy is a founding Partner and Executive Vice President of NAI Hiffman.  He is also the founding member of NAI Global Logistics (which has evolved into the NAI Global Industrial Council). He is annually one of the most successful industrial and logistics advisors/brokers to serve the Chicago marketplace. He is also one of NAI Global’s Top 10 Producers for 2023, where he finds himself in familiar territory, as Dan is consistently one of the highest performers throughout the platform. The secrets to his success are partially revealed by his methodologies and work/life balance. Foremost, he is a thinker, planner, and goes about his business methodically. That’s not to imply he operates robotically. In fact, he has been able to successfully balance family, friends, work and play.  His warm (and family man) personality comes through when he talks about the softer skills associated with successful brokerage work, especially his emphasis as an advisor first, real estate transaction manager second. Understand his background a bit, and none of this comes as a surprise. He was a standout golfer as a teenager and still plays competitively today, for starters. Anyone that knows the game of golf and what it takes to be good at it knows that there is a lot of thought connected to each swing of the club, as well as before one addresses the ball and prepares to strike it. Golf also requires a great deal of practice, and perhaps even more patience. Overcoming adversity, failure and rejection during and after a round of golf is a whole other matter! Yet his real differentiator was his career before he got into the commercial real estate business – a little more than 25 years ago now. Dan Leahy was a management consultant and corporate advisor on business strategy, technology and other key factors for companies and businesses to thrive, gain efficiencies and increase profitability. And as a young man he recognized that the road warrior life of leaving town on Sunday and returning Friday nights, week-after-week, was not the future he wanted. One day he “cold called” Dennis (Denny) Hiffman, the NAI Hiffman founder and Chairman Emeritus, for what Leahy thought would be a brief informational meeting that turned into a couple of hours and the unofficial launch of his new career. And the rest is history! Listen to the podcast for some great insights on how you can up your game as a professional in any industry, though especially commercial real estate.###Gary Marsh is a writer, marketing and public relations advisor with a 38-year career in commercial real estate that has included commission-based outside sales, journalism covering the commercial real estate industry for a business publication, corporate communications, and since 1998, principal of Marsh Marketing. He has provided public relations and writing services for NAI Global since 2016. 

With flexible office space making up 8% of occupancy in London – a number that is expected to surpass 10% fairly soon, James Horrocks, MRICS and the Senior Director of Global Occupier Services with NAI UK joined his new colleague, Alex Cooper, Senior Director of Flexible Offices with the firm, to talk about NAI UK’s new enterprise, CORE Working. Like the other business operations of NAI UK and COREP, CORE Working provides advisory services to companies seeking serviced offices – a distinction from traditional office space wherein most companies sign leases for 5-10 years and often face significant capital expenditure (CapEx) or fit out/tenant improvement costs prior to occupancy. Alex Cooper was recruited specifically to launch CORE Working just 6 weeks prior to the podcast recording. Cooper and Horrocks discussed the forces that led to the new business unit. Prior to a focused discussion on the new enterprise, Horrocks provided an overview of recent NAI UK Corporate Services work and talked about how well the firm’s integration with NAI Global has gone since joining over two years ago. Flex or co-working office demand has soared since the pandemic, with hybrid work patterns becoming part of the reason for greater occupancy of flex, or as Cooper says, ‘serviced’ office space. The U.S. parallel to the growth of flex demand is the current flight-to-quality trend, and strong preference for highly Class A space with a plethora of amenities. The same thing is happening in London with demand rising for prime space. Flex is really taking off, with Horrocks asserting that companies of all sizes must now consider flex space when choosing office occupancy. By comparison, flex space was previously considered an alternative, or temporary bridge to more permanent office-lease commitments. With CORE Working, NAI UK has positioned itself to be the UK’s leading provider of serviced office space and occupier requirements. Listen to the podcast to learn why.-How's Biz? is hosted by Gary Marsh, one of the foremost PR experts on commercial real estate in the U.S. Marsh has served dozens of businesses in real estate and hospitality in a variety of relationship-based media relations roles, advisory services, creative content development, networking and business development to generate new business and grow the top line of his clients’ companies.

Kevin Goeller (pronounced Go-Ler), CCIM, SIOR and Principal with NAI KLNB in Tysons VA, is one of NAI Global’s Top 10 Producers for 2023. He and his team have two areas of concentration. Positioned in the Office/Industrial division of their company, the entire team is scouring for new development sites and existing industrial developments as well as buildings. As land specialists, they divide and conquer their respective disciplines. A corner perfect for a new mixed-use development is pursued by one of the team, while an appropriate industrial development site gets the attention of Kevin or one of his colleagues. Their geography centers around the Washington, D.C. suburb and is located in Northern Virginia.However, some 20 years ago, Goeller began shifting his focus to the emerging niche industry of data center development, and now he is recognized as one of the foremost commercial real estate experts in the U.S. on data centers. He spearheads an effort to create and build what are frequently called data farms, or server farms, because data centers house hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of computer servers that run America’s technology. It is ironic because Goeller started out as a farmer, growing crops of food for human and animal consumption, in the farmlands and countryside near his current residence. This is where so many data centers now populate the terrain. We are at a critical juncture in the U.S., because there’s a lot to what’s going on right now with energy demand in this country. The 10-year run on data center development, expansion and ongoing demand for them is straining the power grid like never before. And now, the system is further complicated by the emergence of AI, and more demand on energy supplies.“Regarding power in America:  We are out. There is not one location in the U.S. that can deliver 50 MW immediately.”That’s a line in an email Goeller sent to NAI Global’s Industrial Council, when the group was following up on a discussion about data centers. This podcast delves into the growth areas of data centers, and much more. And it’s fascinating, particularly given the significance of the subject matter to our society. 

Access the NAI Global 2024 Market Facts & Trends report here.

Tony Machabee, CCIM, a Senior Director with NAI Alliance in Reno, NV, serves as the NAI Global Veterans Council Chairman. The Veterans Council is a recently established practice group of NAI Global (launched in late 2023) and is already comprised of some 30 or so men and women commercial real estate professionals that previously served in nearly every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Machabee had a distinguished, 30-year career with the United States Air Force (USAF), culminating as a Colonel, pilot, 152nd Operations Group Commander of the Nevada Air National Guard and the USAF Senior Director for FEMA Region 9. He also served as an advisor to Congress and National Guard Bureau that helped broaden the authority of the National Guard State Partnership Program and elevating the position of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Machabee also played a critical role in the institution of the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) program for the Nevada Air National Guard.Machabee’s work with the USAF National Security Emergency Preparedness directorate, its close coordination with the Federal Emergency Response Agency (FEMA), connected him to the commercial real estate industry in the arena of industrial and logistics requirements associated with disaster response. Along with his long-time friendship with a successful broker with NAI Alliance, Machabee turned to commercial real estate for his post-military service career. In this podcast, Machabee relays some of the transferable skills from the military to CRE and also the formation of the Veterans Council.

Lauren Larson is with NAI Affinity in Ft. Collins, CO. At the beginning of 2024, she was promoted to Managing Broker for the Northern Colorado-based office, where she is responsible for her own book of business (she’s a teammate with company CEO Ryan Schaefer and President Jake Hallauer, CCIM) and also manages the other brokers at NAI Affinity, providing guidance so that each of them achieves their respective goals as measured by key performance indicators (KPIs) and principally, revenue. She started her career at the company while still a sophomore in college, and has been on an accelerated path in commercial real estate ever since. Last year Lauren was asked to join NAI’s national self-storage investment sales group based out of NAI Horizon in Phoenix, AZ, and more recently was added to NAI Global’s National Logistics Team, based in NAI James E. Hanson’s Teterboro, NJ, office. Learn more about Lauren in this podcast.

Amber Brandhagen is a Principal and Chief Operating Officer of NAI Global Wireless (Wireless), an NAI Global member and one of several specialized commercial real estate service providers operating under the NAI Global umbrella of offices. Her business represents property owners and landlords to establish cellular tower infrastructure that is subsequently leased to cell phone carriers throughout the U.S. In fact, approximately 80% of their business comes from NAI Global offices in the continental U.S. and broker referrals, making Wireless one of the most opportunistic fee-sharing and revenue generating members with NAI Global. Amber also chairs the NAI Global Women’s Alliance, and recently traveled to the CREW Convention in Atlanta (with 1,700 attendees!) and also to the Commercial Real Estate Influencers Summit (CREi) meeting in Orlando, where guest speaker Rod Santomassimo, CCIM (and founder of The Massimo Group) wowed the audience on his take of AI’s impact on the CRE industry.Like most of us in the CRE industry, her career path to commercial real estate was indirect. She grew up in a small gold mining town in Nevada and moved to Southern California immediately upon graduating from high school, and eventually met her mentor and business partner, commercial real estate broker and veteran David Moore. At the time, he was with NAI Capital and based in its Inland Empire office. In her 30s and the mother of two young children, Amber is a fine example of the Next Generation of leadership at NAI Global. She can be reached at 760.902.9592.