Conference: Real Estate Repositioning
Speaker
Roberto Sablayrolles: Global Creative Director / Principal at CBRE and Streetsense.
Conference Insight
Roberto Sablayrolles, creative director at Streetsense, shared his insights with an audience eager to know about the latest trends of the built environment.
Roberto Sablayrolles, creative director at Streetsense, shared his insights with an audience eager to know about the latest trends of the built environment.
Streetsense, a collective of more than 150 people spread across the world, sets out to unlock the intrinsic value of properties by turning them into destinations, which are places that resonate with people. The objective is to generate ‘long-term experiential and economic value’.
For the creation of these destinations, Streetsense first deploys in-depth research and analysis to create a vision, which in turn sets the tone for a common strategy that architects, brokers and/or developers can get behind.
Sablayrolles showcased the most recent projects of Streetsense according to the different categories to which they belong: residential, public, urban redevelopment, workplaces, and retail.
Residential
The Apollo serves as an example of a residential project that was successfully repositioned, not only from the branding standpoint, but also from an interior design one. Even though it was situated in a ‘rather sketchy area’, it managed to attract retailers such as Whole Foods and coworking space provider WeWork, the latter of which even named the facilities as ‘WeWork Apollo’.
Roberto emphasized the role of ‘organic’ social media presence, posted by real customers or tenants.
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The availability of data would put the industry in a much better place to plan for the future.”— George Vella
This presence has a direct correlation with economic value, as evidenced by the price per square feet, higher than that of surrounding developments. Even though those have a much larger budget to allocate, their follower count is 10 times lower.
Public Buildings
When it comes to public buildings, Sablayrolles exemplified Streetsense’s methodology with their project in Grand Central.
They analyzed the different ways to access the space, other competing retail areas, as well as the current rent paid by the tenants, their perception, visibility, and current and potential performance in terms of revenue.
Urban redevelopment
The recently finished Aldgate Place served as an example of an urban redevelopment project undertaken by Streetsense. Its historical background offered an amazing opportunity for ‘storytelling’, which is a crucial factor when it comes to repositioning an area or an asset.
“
The availability of data would put the industry in a much better place to plan for the future.”— George Vella
Roberto underlined the emotional aspect of the guest’s journey throughout the day and throughout the week, which must take into account how to deliver on the brand promise of the place. This determines the kind of retailers one should be approaching from that point on.
Workplaces
Here, Roberto chose Paramount Plaza, a case study that also took place in a ‘sketchy’ area. Koreatown, in Los Angeles, has recently become a destination, following a similar process to Wynwood in Miami or Soho in London.
Streetsense’s approach to this place was to reposition it from a ‘tired’ property into office buildings, which were still not trendy in the area.
They created a destination by adding a plaza between the two buildings, and zoning out different areas of private, semi-private, and public interaction.
Retail
Finally, Streetsense’s ongoing project in Barcelona intends to create synergies between sidewalk, mall, and courtyard in order to attract visitors, particularly local residents.
“
The availability of data would put the industry in a much better place to plan for the future.”— George Vella
A glass top allows these different spaces to be permeable by getting rid of the concept of front and back, which will make it feel almost like a street of Barcelona. The reclaimed backyard could become activated by events, thus becoming a destination in the neighbourhood.
Full presentation here
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