Send us Fan Mail

September Roundtable  conversation explores significant real estate investment opportunities, particularly the permanent expansion of Opportunity Zones and the rise of data centers as a critical asset class. It contrasts these opportunities with major challenges, including the erosion of private property rights through "anti-landlord" regulations, major cybersecurity threats, and economic headwinds like rising interest rates. The speakers also offer advice on career development, emphasizing workforce training for skilled trades, the value of professional associations, and the importance of personal reflection and civic engagement.

Your Roundtable Hosts:

- Andreas Senie, Host, Founder CRECollaborative (CRECo.ai), Technology Growth Strategist, CRETech Thought Leader, & Brokerage Owner

- Saul Klein, Realtor Emeritus, Data Advocate & Futurist, Original Real Estate Internet Evangelist, Executive Editor Realty Times, Inc

- Chris Abel, Vice President Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut, Board Member SMPS—Society for Marketing Professional Services CT

- Rebekah Carlson, Founder & CEO Carlson Integrated, LLC, Past President NICAR Association, Brokerage Owner

- Professor Darren Hayes CEO Code Detectives, Professor Pace University, & Top 10 Forensic Cyber Security Specialist nationwide.

- Dan Wagner, Senior Vice President Government Relations at The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc.

Important key ideas: 

• Opportunity Zones (OZs): The OZ program has been made permanent and improved, with new "qualified rural opportunity funds" offering enhanced tax benefits. OZs are a key strategy for revitalizing underserved communities and offering investors preferential tax treatment.
• Erosion of Private Property Rights: Tenant-friendly ordinances in cities like Chicago are making it difficult for landlords to manage properties, seen as a fundamental threat to the real estate industry and the US economy.
• Data Centers as a New Asset Class: Data centers are driving land value, tax revenue, and employment, but their development requires significant community education to overcome local opposition ("NIMBYism").
• Major Cybersecurity Breaches: A massive breach at a service named "Nexus" has exposed the personal data of 170 million people. Additionally, a lesser-known credit agency, NCTUE, holds data on 222 million people, highlighting widespread data vulnerability.
• Economic Headwinds & Adaptive Reuse: Rising interest rates and $1.2 trillion in maturing commercial loans are creating distress, especially in the office sector. This distress presents opportunities for adaptive reuse, such as converting office buildings into data centers.
• Workforce Development: There is a critical need and opportunity in the skilled trades and for workers who can build and manage new infrastructure. New pre-apprenticeship programs in high schools (e.g., in Connecticut) are emerging to address labor shortages.
• Industry Advocacy & Networking: Professional associations like the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), NAIOP, and ICSC are vital for advocating for property rights, business development, training, and deal-making.
• Career Reflection & Personal Growth: Understanding one's past career journey through reflection and journaling is essential for setting future goals and professional development.

The decay of private property rights

The panel's sharpest exchange centers on Chicago's proposed Protect Renters Ordinance, which Becca Carlson calls "absolutely appalling" — harmful, she argues, to owners and renters alike. Dan Wagner walks through the mechanics: a landlord would owe a problem tenant five months' rent upfront to move an eviction forward, and leases would auto-extend indefinitely so long as rent is paid, quietly rewriting what a lease even is.

Saul Klein places it in a 30-year California arc in which tenant rights have steadily superseded owner rights — and warns that California legislation has a habit of migrating to the Northeast. The group's read: restrictive regimes make private property a worse investment, and investors are already leaving New York and Chicago. Dan closes the segment on NAR's role as the industry's non-partisan advocate, with a Code of Ethics dating to 1913.

Opportunity Zones and the refinancing wall

Dan Wagner makes the case for Opportunity Zones — over $84 billion invested since 2017 and roughly 20% property value appreciation in designated tracts. The newer Qualified Rural Opportunity Fund targets communities under 50,000 people, halving the substantial improvement threshold to 50% and offering a 30% basis step-up at five years, triple the standard. The core mechanic is unchanged: defer tax on reinvested capital gains, and go entirely tax-free at ten years.

Then the red flag. The 10-year Treasury sits at a one-year high of 4.6–4.8%, the Fed is signaling higher-for-longer, and commercial mortgage rates have pushed to 5.7–6.6%. Roughly $1.2 trillion in commercial loans originated at 4.6–4.9% is maturing into that market — a two-point repricing, with distress concentrated in office.

Trades revival and the data center boom

Chris Abel announces the Plainville Trades Academy, the first pre-apprenticeship program of its kind embedded in a Connecticut public high school. Recognized by the state Department of Labor and NCCER, the four-year program gives its first 16 students 500 apprenticeship hours and a direct route into construction. Other districts are already asking how to replicate it.

On data centers, investment is up 57% on AI demand. Andreas Senie points to Loudoun County, Virginia, where data centers carry over 60% of the local tax roll and stabilize homeowner taxes. The panel treats NIMBYism as largely an education gap, insists developers earn their welcome by mitigating generator noise and other real impacts, and frames domestic capacity as a national security question relative to China.

Cybersecurity and AI's double edge

Professor Darren Hayes details a breach at Nexus affecting 170 million people across North America — 153 million driver's licenses, 10 million ID cards, and millions of additional sensitive documents, reportedly for sale on a Russian site. He flags smaller credit bureaus most people never freeze, including NCTUE with records on 222 million individuals, and the rise of info-stealer malware built to harvest browser-saved passwords.

The AI conversation lands on the same duality: jobs displaced in areas like customer service, new roles created elsewhere, and institutions struggling to adapt — New York City schools have banned AI use through middle school. The panel's takeaway is that the risk is real and so is the progress; the job is learning to navigate both.

. Practical advice or actions

• For Investors: Consider Opportunity Zones, especially the new rural funds, for tax-advantaged reinvestment. Explore alternative property valuations (solar, data centers) using platforms like LandGate.com. Invest in sectors with inelastic demand ("dogs, continued care, and diapers").
• For Landlords: Stay informed about local ordinances concerning tenant rights, as they are becoming increasingly restrictive.
• For Everyone (Cybersecurity): Use a secure password manager (e.g., Bitwarden) and enable two-factor authentication on all accounts. Place a credit freeze with the three major bureaus and also with lesser-known agencies like NCTUE.
• For Business Owners/Developers: When developing projects like data centers, proactively educate the local community on the benefits to gain support.
• For Career/Personal Growth: Dedicate time to reflect on your career path and keep a journal. Intentionally build professional relationships by attending industry conferences (ICSC, CRE Tech) and joining associations like ABC.
• For Civic Engagement: For the upcoming November 2026 elections, research candidates to understand who will best support your industry and vote accordingly.

ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE:

Your all in one comprehensive view of what is happening across the real estate industry -- straight from some of the industry's earliest technology adopters and foremost experts in Technology, Marketing, Capital, Construction & Cyber Security in Real Estate

Join us live at 6 PM EST on the 1st Thursday of each month, across all major social media channels and wherever you get your podcasts.

This three-part show consists of:

Part I: Introductions and what's new for each panelist and the business sector

Part II: Sector Focus on the past month's most prominent news and paradigm shifts

Part III: What does all this mean for real estate businesses, and what you can do for the next 30 days

Learn more at https://welcome.creco.ai/reroundtable

#datadrivenbusiness #businessmanagement #commercialrealestate #crecollaborator #CRE #CommercialFinance #RealEstate #cpace #CommercialRea

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel where there is a host of additional great content and to visit CRECo.ai the Commercial Real Estate Industry’s all-in-one dashboard to connect, research, execute, and collaborate online CRECo.ai. Please be sure to share, rate, and review us it really does help! Learn more at : https://welcome.creco.ai/reroundtable