BEST-LAID PLANS
Since AFIRE first started publishing this journal in 2018, nobody could have foreseen the tumultuous years just around the corner. We had relative calm throughout 2019, and corresponding excitement about ascendent asset types and market opportunities. Then 2020 and 2021 happened, as a sort of 24-month year.
The world started to settle into a post-pandemic mindset throughout 2022, while still facing some of the latent challenges of the pandemic, including continued supply chain challenges, climate crises, and a global shift in live-work-play attitudes and preferences.
And now we’re in 2023, publishing our twelfth issue of Summit in the wake of several high-profile bank failures, inflationary stressors, and a sea-change in the dominant categories of commercial real estate, as office falls even further out of favor—for now (p. 6).
The main challenge of publishing this journal the past few years has been separating the sensational from the substantive.
But the shared philosophy of the AFIRE membership—to become better investors, leaders, and global citizens—and our collective practice of long-term (and in some cases, multi-generational) investment and value creation has served as a dependable editorial criterion, allowing AFIRE to continue publishing original insights and ideas with a shelf life that extends well beyond the next deal.
This consistency has not only allowed Summit Journal to mature and test new ideas, but also to earn global recognition as a leading association publication, even beyond real estate. For example, Summit earned its fifteenth top award in March 2023, this one from the International and European Association Awards, naming Summit the Best Information/Publishing Product. Judges noted that Summit is “a good magazine that looks appealing and well written. This is an example for all organizations that publish a journal.”
It sounds like we’re tooting our own horn here, but the real leadership and value of Summit comes directly from our contributors—researchers, experts, and thought leaders operating at all sides of the commercial real estate investment ecosystem.
And while their ideas might occasionally contradict each other (as they should), taken together, they represent key voices in the ongoing conversation to find and create long-term value in a world seemingly (and lately) defined by vacillation.
This latest issue of Summit Journal represents the latest entry in this ongoing conversation, providing insights (and potential solutions) for the nascent office crisis; timely reminders on cap rates, debt, and rescue capital; and perspectives on industry diversity, ESG, and other adjacent trends that will define the shape of real estate in the years to come.
Thanks, as always, for reading and being part of this vital conversation.
– Benjamin van Loon, Editor-in-Chief, Summit Journal
IN THIS ISSUE
AFIRE INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR SURVEY: Q1 2023 PULSE REPORT
Gunnar Branson and Benjamin van Loon | AFIRE
VALUATION CHALLENGE: SOLVING THE CRISIS IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE VALUATION
Matt Pomeroy, MAI and Jackie Bowie | Chatham Financial
CONVERSION CALCULATOR: LEGAL OR NOT, A DYNAMIC CITY WILL CONVERT UNUSED OFFICES
Jim Costello | MSCI Real Assets
UNDERWRITING ROADBLOCKS: CAN THE HOSPITALITY MODEL OF UNDERWRITING SAVE OFFICE VALUES?
Joshua Harris, PhD | Lakemont Group & Fordham University
VACANT SPACE: OFFICE-USING JOBS AND DEMAND INCONGRUITY
Stewart Rubin and Dakota Firenze | New York Life Real Estate Investors
HIKING TRAILS: SHOULD INVESTORS CONSIDER ALLOCATIONS TO FLOATING-RATE DEBT?
Dags Chen, CFA | Barings Real Estate
RECESSION PREPPING: HOW VULNERABLE ARE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INVESTMENTS
Martha Peyton, PhD | Aegon Asset Management
MEASURING GENTRIFICATION: USING DATA SCIENCE TO PREDICT THE IMPACTS OF GENTRIFICATION
Ron Bekkerman | Cherre + Donal Warde | Tenney 110 + Maxime C. Cohen | McGill University
THE FUTURE IS EUROPEAN: THEMES FROM THE OLD WORLD SHAPING US MARKETS
Brian Klinksiek | LaSalle Investment Management
CULTURE SHOCK: THE CHALLENGE AND IMPORTANCE OF TRANSLATING ESG ACROSS BORDERS
AFIRE ESG Committee
FINE TUNING: GLOBAL REACH AND LOCAL EXPERTISE CAN CREATE UNIFIED REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCES
Mark Zettl | JLL
ACCESSING SUCCES: EXPLORING DIVERSITY TRENDS IN REAL ESTATE TALENT
Zoe Huges | NAREIM
RESCUE CAPITAL: RESPONDING TO THE NEW REAL ESTATE REALITY
Andrew Weiner and Joshua M. R. Becker | Pillsbury
CONVEX CURVES: A REMINDER ON PRICE CONVEXIVITY AND CAP-RATE VOLATILITY
Joseph Pagliari, PhD, CFA, CPA | University of Chicago
