ast Thursday, we were honored to co-sponsor Solomon McCown’s inaugural panel event “Square Footage,” with the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Held in Splacer’s Spacious Brownstone located in the heart of Greenwich Village, the panel discussed the future of the commercial real estate business. Our CEO and Co-Founder, Adi Biran, was one of the panelists, alongside Eugene Lee, Head of Property Acquisition & Business Development for Knotel, and Dror Poleg of DP&CO, and the panel was moderated by Solomon McCown’s CEO Helene Solomon.
The panelists discussed the current trend of flexibility in the real estate industry. Whether it is residential or commercial spaces, renters are looking for options that fit their immediate needs without the risk of a long-term commitment. Dror Poleg said, “Socioeconomic changes drive people to look at more flexible solutions that are suitable to them.”
Adi focused on how millennials are redefining the conventional ways of how we share space. In the past, the goal was to own physical space or material things but technology has changed that. Adi mentioned how Airbnb created a new way of thinking about sharing space. “There’s a beautiful synergy that happens when you open your space to shorter-term rentals and opportunities,” said Adi Biran.
Adi went on to discuss how there is a shortage of space in urban areas, and therefore millennials are now thinking of how to reuse the space that already exists, “At Splacer, we say space is just a container, it becomes whatever program we decide to do in it.” Adi demonstrated how the historic brownstone that hosted the panel could also be used as a venue for a cocktail reception or a classroom.
The panelists all agreed that with technology, the sharing economy will only continue to grow.
