Kathryn Hamilton
Spring brings a renewed sense of momentum — a season marked by fresh thinking, forward motion and possibility. That feeling carries through this issue, as the CRE industry continues to meet change with confidence, innovation and purpose. Across these pages, you’ll see how the industry’s priorities are sharpening. Industrial development is moving beyond speed and scale, placing greater emphasis on power availability, automation and smarter regional supply chain strategies. You’ll also step inside an ambitious innovation district where long-term vision, collaboration and community engagement are translating into lasting impact. As capital seeks opportunity, industrial outdoor storage is emerging as an increasingly attractive investment class, while owners across property types are making meaningful progress toward decarbonizing their portfolios.
New this issue, we’re launching a column that examines how technology is redefining commercial real estate, from everyday operations to long-term strategy. We also take a closer look at rent control-related legislative challenges in Massachusetts and highlight exemplary case study challenges designed to engage and inspire the next generation of industry leaders.
Telling the stories that shape our industry,
Kathryn Hamilton, CAE
Editor-in-Chief
In Brief
Notable facts and figures on the state of the commercial real estate industry, culled from media reports and other sources.
Office
40%
The share of all activity that downtown leasing for office space comprised in 2025. From 2020 to 2024, downtown leasing comprised just 30% of activity despite making up 35% of inventory. As CBRE’s “U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook 2026” noted under its office trends to watch, “We may find the market has underestimated the value of agglomeration and talent access offered by urban gateway hubs. We remain optimistic about gateway markets like Manhattan, San Francisco and Dallas, which are positioned to see continued leasing growth in 2026.”
22
million The number of square feet of coworking space opened in the United States in 2025, representing a 16% jump over the prior year and increasing coworking’s share of the office market to more than 2%, as reported by CommercialCafe. “Because about two-thirds of firms currently offer location flexibility to their employees, coworking operators are looking at increasing opportunities to fill the gap between fully remote and full-time, in-person office work, while also providing corporate clients an alternative to costly and more rigid office leases.”
32%
The rental premium that U.S. offices located in “lifestyle districts” can attract, based on research from JLL and noted in the company’s global real estate outlook for 2026. These districts are defined as having “access to amenities like entertainment venues, outdoor pavilions and waterfront attractions.” A recent JLL survey “shows that 67% of people want to work in a vibrant neighborhood, rising to 74% of 25- to 34-year-olds.”
Finance
37%
The percentage of commercial/multifamily mortgages that commercial banks continue to hold, totaling $1.8 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s report for the third quarter of 2025. The next largest investor group, at 23% and $1.11 trillion, is federal agency and government-sponsored enterprise portfolios and mortgage-backed securities. Life insurance companies hold 16% ($783 billion), while commercial mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligation and other asset-backed securities issues hold 13% ($642 billion).
Data Centers
$3 trillion
The amount of global data center investment that Moody’s Ratings projects over the next five years, fueled largely by Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Oracle, Meta Platforms and CoreWeave. The U.S. hyperscalers spent nearly $400 billion on data centers in 2025, a number expected to rise to $500 billion this year and to $600 billion in 2027. The majority of new data center capacity is already preleased to hyperscalers.
Industrial
$1.31
The gap in the average cost of a new industrial lease signed in the past 12 months ($10.07 per foot) and the national average for in-place rents, according to the Yardi Matrix national industrial report in December. In November 2024, the spread stood at $2.14 per foot.
Self-storage
179 million
The number of square feet of self-storage accounted for through adaptive reuse, representing approximately 10% of total inventory in the U.S. “More than half of all conversions, about 108 million square feet, came online in just the past decade, driven by rising demand for storage and a growing push toward urban infill and sustainable redevelopment,” according to a report from StorageCafe. Industrial buildings make up 41% of all conversions, followed by office buildings (34%), residential (17%) and retail (7%).
Sustainability
57%
The percentage of survey respondents planning to increase investment in energy efficiency for their facilities and buildings in the year ahead, making it the No. 1 infrastructure priority (up from seventh place in 2023) in the Siemens Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025. More than half of the 1,400 senior executives and government representatives surveyed also indicated their intention to increase investment in smart building technologies (55%) and building electrification (54%) over the next year.
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