The ICSC New England conference concluded this week with great success at the ever so floral-glamorous, Encore Boston Harbor.

As a member of the Program Planning Committee, I wanted to reflect on the event and share some insight for those that weren’t able to make it, or for those that only attended certain sessions or events.

We curated a program filled with outstanding speakers, varied sessions, and amazing networking events. The highlight for many, including myself, was the keynote by Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, whose insights and wisdom certainly left a lasting impression.

The conference featured several other standout moments. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Julie T. Fox and Lindsay Corsino on the Women’s Networking Breakfast with Pipeline, which brought in a full room of ladies. Additionally, the AI in Commercial Real Estate Workshop, where I worked alongside Stephen Harrill, CCIM, Michael Branton, Retail Growth Strategist , and Jill Szymanski, was super fun and I believe successful, shedding light on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence in the industry. Andrea Simpson‘s session on the brand creation of the new development, Lyrik Back Bay, was another highlight, speaking to the inspiration behind the brand. The boat cruise hosted by Marcus & Millichap and the post-event reception, hosted by The Wilder Companies, Hinckley Allen , and CohnReznick LLP, provided great opportunities for networking and just cheers-ing with industry friends.

Keynote: Beyond the Bench with NBA Boston Celtics Coach, Joe Mazzulla

Joe’s speech was both inspiring and thought-provoking.

He emphasized the importance of alignment and building a philosophy centered around employees, or in his case – the players.

According to Mazzulla, effective communication and breaking down barriers are crucial to achieving this alignment. He encouraged us to embrace vulnerability, confront challenges head-on, and maintain a balance between selflessness and personal ambition.

Mazzulla also discussed the significance of having interests outside of work, leveraging adversity, and inviting distractions as opportunities for growth.

His perspective on treating everyone fairly while recognizing individual differences was particularly ensuring as a strong leader.

He also shared his approach to dealing with media pressure, viewing it as an opportunity rather than a burden and even said they need the media.

He also stressed the importance of staying grounded and focused on what truly leads to success.

AI Workshop for Retail Real Estate — From Leads to Leases

Throughout the Workshop, several AI tools were discussed, each catering to different aspects of CRE. Tools like ChatGPT and Claudeoffer robust alternatives for generating content and automating communication.

Perplexity.AI, an “answer engine” similar to Google, provides precise answers sourced from a vast database.

Scranton.AIoffers intelligence from city and county council meetings, a valuable resource for understanding local regulatory environments.

Additionally, tools like Fireflies.AI, Read.AI, and Otter.AIwere highlighted for their capabilities in transcription and meeting summarization.

Stephen Harrill, CCIM emphasized the importance of crafting precise prompts when using these tools, like giving clear instructions to an intern. This approach ensures that the AI delivers the desired outcomes, making the user experience more efficient and productive. More to come on the AI session in my AI in CRE article coming out on Friday Aug. 2nd so stay tuned or sign up here.

Lyrik Back Bay: A European-Inspired Mixed-Use Plaza Transforming Boston

Representatives from Samuels & Associates unveiled the much-anticipated Lyrik Back Bay project. This European-inspired mixed-use plaza, described as both unique and vibrant, promises to be a transformative addition to Boston’s urban landscape. Moderated by Thomas Phillips of Brown Rudnick LLP, the session featured key insights from Greg Contente, Rachael Diharce, Emily Simard, Andrea Simpson, and Joel Sklar.

The Lyrik Back Bay development is built on a foundation of reconnecting neighborhoods, a concept that has been 25 years in the making, per Joel Sklar. The project aims to create a vibrant community space that ties together different parts of the city.

The team discussed the strategic acquisition of air rights over highways and parcels of land on both sides, which allows the site to serve as a gateway to Boston, not just for Back Bay but for the broader community. This legacy project has been meticulously planned, with input from local residents over the past decade, emphasizing the need for open, inviting spaces, particularly space focused on enjoying their local sunset.

Scheduled to open next week on Monday, July 29th with citizenM hotel (408 Newbury Street), the Lyrik Back Bay plaza includes notable features such as the hotel, which will boast a rooftop bar and views of the sunset from a second-floor viewing space.

The development also hosts a variety of retail and office spaces, including 1001 Boylston Street, which will house CarGurus’ new office with 1,000 employees moving from Cambridge. The retail component seeks to attract high-end tenants from places like New York and Miami, with 37,000 square feet of retail space already 65% leased. Notable tenants include Pink Carrot, Rivian, Avra Estiatorio, Chicha San Chen tea, and George Howell Artisanal Coffee. Emphasizing the project’s cultural and artistic inspirations, the Lyrik brand draws from Boston’s rich musical heritage, featuring an 80-foot piano installation that played over 4.3 million keystrokes across one month.

The project’s ethos is encapsulated in the statement, “We didn’t build a building; we built an invitation.”Lyrik Back Bay is the first development of its kind in 40 years, following in the footsteps of Copley Place. This bold and confident project, inspired by the creativity and energy of Berklee and Tower Records, aims to create a soulful, inviting and musical atmosphere.

Upcoming events include the opening of citizenM as noted, a series of sunset viewing events, and the launch of an Urban Forest in December. As the project continues to unfold, Lyrik Back Bay is set to redefine the urban experience in Boston, blending culture, community, and commerce in a harmonious and engaging setting. Can’t wait to check this place out in-person!

Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Retail Real Estate: Insights from a Capital Markets Session

At the Capital Markets session, industry leaders gathered to discuss the current state and future prospects of capital markets in the sector.

The session, moderated by @Michael Riccio, Senior Managing Director at CBRE, featured a panel of notable experts including Chris Angelone, Co-Head of National Retail Capital Markets at JLL; Barry Carty, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions at Federal Realty Investment Trust; Katie Grissom, Head of Retail & Mixed-Use Americas at Nuveen Real Estate; and Eric Smookler, CFO and Co-Chief Investment Officer at WS Development.

Their insights painted a picture of a dynamic, competitive, and evolving market landscape.

And hats off to sub-committee volunteer chair, Aaron Huntley, whom made creating a diverse panel for this session a priority, all speakers were fantastic.

One of the primary takeaways from the session was the intense competition for high-quality retail acquisitions. As Chris Angelone noted, retail is currently a hot asset class with significant interest from investors. However, there is a shortage of high-quality assets available, leading to consistent transaction values. Angelone predicted an uptick in transactions as more capital, transitioning from “retail curious” to “retail serious,” enters the market. Barry Carty emphasized that while the fundamentals of retail real estate are healthy, success requires the right team and strategic approach, as the market is far from commoditized.

The discussion also touched on the impact of inflation and rising construction costson the retail sector. Barry and Eric highlighted that building new retail spaces has become nearly impossible due to the high costs, making smaller, less complicated deals more attractive.

Katie Grissom pointed out that the preferences of consumers, especially millennials who have migrated to the suburbs, are driving demand for convenience and immediacy. This shift necessitates a deep understanding of the end-user to ensure survival and success. Grissom also mentioned that Nuveen Real Estate had a record year in leasing, despite challenges in the full-service restaurant sector and the high costs associated with big box spaces.

Overall, the session underscored the resilience and adaptability of the retail real estate market post-COVID. Eric Smookler observed that both landlords and operators have emerged stronger, with the pandemic having weeded out weaker players.

The panelists agreed that a long-term view is essential for navigating the current landscape, which is characterized by high competition, significant capital inflows, and evolving consumer behaviors.

As the market continues to change, staying attuned to these dynamics will be crucial for investors and operators alike.

Fitness Event: A Workout with Planet Fitness

I wasn’t able to attend this one but heard really good things. It’s so nice having a fitness event to kick-start the day of dealmaking. Here are some pics I got from sub-committee member, Kass McInnis. And I believe it did not rain on, despite the scary sky.

This event was with National Lead Trainer, Teddy Savage, a rise and shine warm-up workout session. He moved the group through both a physical and mental mojo to increase strength, stamina, and endurance, and who doesn’t need that?!

Retailer Runway at the ICSC New England Conference 2024

Retail experts were brought together for the highly anticipated “Retailer Runway,” presented by Michael Branton, Retail Growth Strategist of Conviser Property Group. Michael served as the MC, guiding the audience through a series of presentations with one common family story that jumped from one retailer to the next based on their lifestyle and needs.

Retailer Runway participants included:

• Ace Hardware– Jason Hipskind, Corporate Vice President, New Business
• Aroma Joe’s – Dave Tucci, President & COO
• Celebree School – Chris Kelleher
• First Watch– Jordan Murga, Real Estate Manager
• Harbor Freight Tools – Bill Gerhardt, Director, Real Estate East
• Moxies Restaurants– Glenn Moon, VP of U.S. Development
• Panda Express– Dorothy Fleishman, Real Estate Manager
• The Fresh Market– John Harmon, CCIM, Real Estate & Development Manager
• The Picklr Inc.– Chris Walker, Chief Development Officer
• Saatva – Chad Lundeen, VP, Real Estate
• Volta Oil and MPG Corp – DBA/ Garrett’s Family Market– Peter Garrett, President
• World Market – Brian Crossen, VP of Real Estate

For those who missed the session or wish to revisit the presentations, the detailed slides are available on the ICSC website here: https://www.icsc.com/attend-and-learn/events/details/new-england-2024/presentations.

A huge thank you…

…goes out to Nadine Cunningham, DES, and Amy Ferrone at ICSC, as well as my fellow committee members: Travis Ginsberg , John R. Pariseault, Lindsay Corsino, Michael Branton, Retail Growth Strategist, Jill Szymanski, Barry Porter, Aaron Huntley, Matthew Nadler, Sam Kallmerten, Thomas Phillips, Jamie Sullivan, P.E., Kimberly Sluter, Kass McInnis, Chris McMahon, David Steinberg, and Scott Warner. Their dedication and hard work were instrumental in making this year’s show a memorable and impactful event. We look forward to bringing even more innovative ideas and opportunities to next year’s ICSC New England conference.

This recap was written by Diana Perry of Rumphius Marketing, a modern boutique marketing agency focused on modernizing, beautifying and growing commercial real estate related brands.

🎉🎉 Celebrating Three Years! 🎉🎉 Today marks a new milestone – three years since the founding of Rumphius Marketing!

What an incredible journey it has been.

Reflecting on these past three years, I’m filled with immense gratitude for our amazing clients who have trusted us to help modernize, beautify, and grow their brands within the commercial real estate industry.

From the initial spark of an idea to seeing our vision come to life, it’s been a rollercoaster of hard work, a lot of late nights, and passion to help change and modernize the CRE industry. We’ve had a lot of learning experiences, celebrated more than a handful of successes, and continuously strive to exceed our clients’ expectations. Watching clients appreciate, value and share our work has been so rewarding.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this adventure – from our dedicated team to our supportive clients and partners.

Here’s to continued growth, innovation, and helping to modernize, beautify and grow more CRE brands in the years to come! 🚀✨

Attending the ICSC Las Vegas 2023 Conference was most definitely a good decision and a positive experience, despite initial skepticism about commercial real estate at the time I registered (mostly news instigated).

According to a recent ICSC Committee meeting I attended, ICSC Las Vegas attendance was up by 10% this year compared to the previous year, though no ICSC RECon in its heyday when the peak attendance was roughly 48k in 2006. But energy was high and people wanted to be there.

Some themes for the show from my point of view, being a CRE marketer in the industry for 17 years, included: AI, doing more with less, branding – a little goes a long way, the importance of social media and trusting your team.

Leaning into AI
Artificial intelligence was one of the most talked about topics across the three day event. Almost every session and every conversation I had included something about AI – particularly ChatGPT. While it was recognized that ChapGPT has significant potential for assisting with everyday tasks like fitness routines and grocery lists, caution should be taken when using it for industry-related content. The consensus was to lean into ChatGPT – use it as a tool but know you need the human touch to add nuances and business objectives. Additionally, there are potential copyright issues to consider. Make sure your head of marketing speaks with the company’s partners to ensure that they are on the same page regarding how to best use this new tech.

ChatGPT Screenshot

Doing More with Less
A growing trend seems to be doing more with less, sadly. Whether less people or less dollars. There was a panel dedicated to this very topic who shared a lot of company insight and tools they use to help get the job done.

Some tools and ideas that were mentioned included:

• Canva Brand Folder for keeping your brand consistent across a number of people creating content
• Amplify merchant events instead of programming everything on your own
• Use HubSpot for email marketing and be sure you’re constantly reviewing your non-open list so you can take them off and improve your analytics
• Don’t send ads via email, send information!
• Pocketstop – SMS marketing as well as center-wide emergency messaging
  While there were many ideas mentioned to assist in marketing your company, shopping centers and tenants, the biggest challenge the owners and developers on this year’s panels are facing is marketing plans and strategy – something tech tools can’t fully assist with.

Doing More with Less Panel ICSC Las Vegas 2023

Branding – A little goes a long way
One of the most fun sessions I attended was with Chad Cress, Chief Creative Officer of DJM Capital. Chad’s major point at his session on Tips for Placemakers, was a little goes a long way. He talked about things you can do at your centers to include digital and physical foot traffic. He works with tenants to create repeatable activation at their centers. It’s all about knowing the individual community and what they care about, he said. Some of their ideas included: run clubs, cars and coffee, markets, movie nights, and even vintage surfboard swap meetups! Aside from events, he said even murals help – why not turn your customers into your biggest marketers?!

Branding – A little goes a long way – DJM Capital – ICSC Las Vegas 2023

A lot of what they do can’t simply be covered by triple nets, you need to hire local talented staff and have a robust social media team.

Wow, are they doing something right! Their marketing and branding was impeccable. I even noticed their photography on the show floor in their booth, it was so different and eye-catching from the rest of the imagery on the show floor.

ICSC Las Vegas 2023 – DJM Capital, City Center DC booth graphic

Social Media
There is always a lot of talk about social media at the show. Who’s doing it, who’s doing it well and who’s doing it…weird. Time and time again it was said that social media is a full time job, and it truly is. Even with my own business, Rumphius Marketing, it’s extremely difficult, almost impossible for me to handle it myself. Tools like Canva and ChatGPT certainly make it easier but it’s really the strategy, ideas, scripts and descriptions that take up the most amount of time. It’s especially important to know your analytics – you might learn that you get more referral traffic on a social platform you don’t even have a profile on vs. one you’re investing staff time on. Make sue you know where to invest time and resources. Rumphius Marketing Instagram shown below. Follow here.

Trust Your Team – CEO Insights

“Trust your team” was a key theme throughout the CEO Industry Insights panel at the brand activation area. “Leadership is what happens when we’re not there,” mentioned one of the panelists. Throughout the pandemic it was understandable that we were all working from home but what CEOs didn’t realize was that the pandemic was going to change the workplace forever – employees didn’t want to come back to the office full time and as one CEO mentioned, they got a lot of pushback from their teams – people wanted more flexibility. One CEO mentioned they let their teams decide how to be most productive, you must trust your team.

One CEO said he thinks “hybrid work will be no longer and it will go back to the way it was in the next few years.” If you know any Gen Zers, I’d beg to differ. In my opinion, there is no way you’re going to get things “back to the way it was,” especially as the Boomers transition out and the younger generations take over. We’ve all had a glimpse at what it meant to be a better family member and not just a workaholic and we’re not going back. They did admit that “the new generation is wired differently, we need to understand how to make them engaged”.

I also sensed a bit of fear from the group around AI, which is completely warranted. They mentioned “AI can’t replace brokers or leasing folks, they just have to become next level advisors.” I’d agree that AI can’t replace the broker but it sure can enhance their capabilities by leveraging this technology.

Thought this group of CEOs did a great job. However, I was pretty disappointed and actually found it sad that they didn’t have a woman CEO or President on the panel.

I didn’t attend but heard the keynote, Andy Reid, NFL Coach spoke all about teamwork and leadership as well. (I’ve never been a fan of sports keynotes at ICSC unless they actually have experience in the industry.)

ICSC Las Vegas 2023 – Diana Perry & Deb Hazel

Things I learned

• New Term – “Over employed” – When someone is doing three jobs at the same time utilizing AI
• ChatGPT Security – Don’t include the name of any of your shopping centers!
• Quote – “If you’re not at the table you’re on the menu” – Angela Sweeney, CRRP of Imaginuity/Pylot mentioned this in her session, Doing More with Less. Originally by Michael Enzi. Kind of a creative slap of reality…I liked it.
• Email Marketing – The average open rate for CRE is 12%
• Organized Crime – There is more organized crime happening than I realized (especially after attending a panel discussion about it). Awesome retailers in locations that need them are shutting down because it’s becoming unsafe. Ulta mentioned their concern isn’t even financial, it’s emotional – making sure people have the resources they need after an incident has happened…sad
• Take Chances – On three occasions I rode taxis with strangers and had really good conversations that might lead to us working together.

My Conference Recommendations for ICSC

• Include a major keynote on the last day of the conference so people stick around to the end
• Change sessions to be on Mon, not Sunday, no one wants to go to a conference on a Sunday
• Make sure you always have at least one woman on every panel

One thing this industry never forgets is the power of meeting face to face. See ya next year ICSC Las Vegas!