Four Takeaways from the Inaugural Real Estate Innovation Symposium
New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Paul Profeta Real Estate Technology, Design and Innovation Center and the Martin Tuchman School of Management hosted their first “Innovation in Real Estate” symposium, a day featuring academic leaders, government officials and technology, real estate and construction professionals.
The theme of innovation was made clear early by Ron Bekkerman, strategic advisor and former CTO of Cherre Inc., a real estate data integration platform. Bekkerman, one of the earliest data scientists to jump into real estate, says his field is about repeatedly extracting actionable insights, and that real estate — a traditionally inert industry — is beginning to reconcile this fact.
"The world has changed already, and to be successful at real estate, you actually need to have data on pretty much everything. That's not something that the real estate industry is all that familiar with, and this is the change that I think we need to initiate,” said Bekkerman.
Dual-Purpose Parks for Environmental Resilience
Two case studies presented demonstrate successful brownfield remediation projects that are now green, active community spaces that also serve as environmental resilience sites.
A brownfield is any former or current commercial or industrial site that is currently vacant or underutilized and on which there has been, or there is suspected to have been, a discharge of a contaminant. Think abandoned gas stations or dry cleaners.
“Sites sit underutilized because of fear of danger, and a fear of costs. These sites languish for years,” explained Colette Santasieri, executive director of NJIT’s Center for Community Systems and the executive director of the NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT. Santasieri moderated the panel that showcased Lion Gate Park in Bloomfield, which formerly was contaminated from industrial use, and Hoboken’s stormwater mitigation planning with Northwest Resiliency Park.
Caption: Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia talked about the positive societal and ecological impacts of the park.
New Jersey’s Economy — Talent. Capital. Real Estate.
New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) CEO Tim Sullivan laid out this simple theme for the growth of the state’s economy. Sullivan’s keynote featured NJEDA initiatives, highlights on the state’s economic progress and strategies for building on momentum in key industries, like film and television.
“New York is full from a studio perspective, there is a huge uptick in the market cap of content production. There is business up for grabs, and this is an opportunity to take some market share,” Sullivan said.
More generally, the New Jersey economy has ranked inside the top 10 nationally in GDP growth since 2021, and is No. 1 in the northeast for private sector job growth in 2022. NJIT President Teik C. Lim sees the partnership opportunities between academia and industry as critically important for the future.
“We have to engage externally because we're not an ivory tower. External engagement brings time, talent and treasure to this campus. It enables us to produce better graduates because education today for our students is very holistic,” said Lim.
Sullivan teased one such public and private partnership that leveraged NJEDA’s ASPIRE tax credit program, the HELIX. The 12-story, 573,000 square-foot building will house three major components: The New Jersey Innovation Hub, a research, business incubator and innovation center; research labs for Rutgers University; and a new medical education facility for RWJ Medical School.
Property Technology is the Architecture of Real Estate Innovation
NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design’s Darius Sollohub moderated a panel which brought together engineers and architects to present where, and how, these two fields are playing a major role moving the innovation needle in the real estate market.
Prefabrication is one such concept, presented by University Lecturer Julio Garcia Figueroa, who used the rapid design and build process of NJIT’s Maple Hall residence building as emblematic of the benefits of prefab. Realized in cost, time and scope — three main principles of construction — prefab buildings are built quickly, safely and inexpensively. Figeuroa also showcased the M2CU, repurposed shipping containers that were developed during COVID for rapid deployment of a mobile medical facility, as another example of the utilization of prefabricated materials.
Mohamed Mahgoub, program director of NJIT’s Concrete Industry Management program, detailed many of the research efforts at NJIT to make concrete more sustainable. One such innovation is the ability to reuse concrete destined for landfills as an aggregate for new concrete. They were able to take concrete originally rated for 3,000 psi and use it as recycled aggregate in a 10,000 psi cement, thus avoiding the need to source new aggregate.
Newark-based architects Thomas Reynolds and Brandon Warschofsky showcased the use of new technologies in the development and design of architectural projects. The use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), augmented and virtual reality and the use of artificial intelligence is helping to reduce design iteration time, update documentation practices and create modular and robust design systems.
New Jersey Film and Television Industry to Join Billion Dollar Club
The revenue generated from film and television productions in New Jersey is projected to exceed $650 million in 2022, and it’s on track to become a billion dollar generator annually.
Steven Gorelick, executive director of the NJ Film & Television Commission, noted the dramatic change in economic activity after an updated incentive package was introduced in 2018 by Gov. Murphy — from $67 million in its first year, to $200 million in 2019, to over $650 million in 2022.
Larry Boresen, from Turner Construction, showed the work happening on the development of 1888 Studios in Bayonne. The 60-acre lot, a former Texaco Oil site, is set to begin construction this year. 1888 Studios, named for the year in which Thomas Edison invented the motion picture camera, will be the largest studio/soundstage facility in North America at 2-million square feet.
The facility design had sustainability and resiliency in mind: widespread use of prefabricated construction materials help create a sustainable project, and the site’s 10-foot elevation rise protects itself against flooding.
Talia Young, interim CEO of Newark Symphony Hall and graduate of NJIT’s Creative Placemaking certificate program, spoke about how sites like hers are perfect and the need for skilled workers will only increase in our community.
“NJIT is in the stages of developing curriculum to supply the growing demand for talented, skilled professionals to work in these industries,” said Oya Tukel, dean of NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management and the Profeta Real Estate Center’s acting director. “This symposium connects government, industry and academic professionals to reach mutual benefits for everyone.”
