Like other commercial real estate sectors, retail has had more lives than a cat. Most recently, despite e-commerce and the Black Swan event of COVID, retail has triumphed again. This is mostly due to the sector’s incredible ability to identify and leverage what consumers deem to be relevant—which is ever-changing.
Retailers and retail real estate owners and operators are simply not afraid to think outside the box. People want pickleball courts? Let’s put some in this vacant big-box store. Pop-up boutiques are all the rage? This mall’s outdoor courtyard is the perfect spot for an indie market.
One thing we have learned from our Clients in the retail sector is how much they embrace innovative thinking in the face of challenges.
A Critical Clean-up
For example, not long ago, across the street from a mixed-use retail/apartment asset our Client Western National Property Management (WNPM) manages in Hollywood, California, a homeless encampment had cropped up at an abandoned property. The scenario had the potential to negatively impact the asset they manage and the surrounding busy neighborhood.
Although it was outside WNPM’s realm of responsibility, its team worked with the local city government and neighboring businesses to remove the encampment and clean up the property. Planters were installed and glued to the ground to prevent a recurrence, and an artist was commissioned to paint a mural at the site, transforming a situation of insecurity into an attractive area for future business. As a result, residents felt much safer, and no retail tenants moved out of the property—in fact, many renewed their leases after the cleanup was completed.
Captivating Customers with AI
Shoppers today are often in a hurry, and the retail industry is doing everything possible to capture and keep customers’ attention while they shop in person. The longer shoppers stay, the more they spend, so providing entertainment in retail and mixed-use spaces is more important than ever.
That was the challenge our Client, Outside the Lines, Inc. (OTL) was working to solve when they developed a new AI technology which we recently installed in a water feature at Mountain View Village, an 85-acre mixed-use development in Riverton, Utah. OTL used this AI technology to create an amenity that could do more than just engage the community in a nightly show with lights and music—they wanted it to be different every time they returned, so that they would want to keep coming back.
With the help of AI, they created a system that can mimic human movement by capturing guests’ movements with onsite cameras and AI object detection. The technology then instructs the water feature’s equipment to react with water, lights and/or sound, thereby mimicking human interaction in real time—and creating a unique experience for every visitor, every time.
This type of outside-the-box thinking is what allows retail to rise time and again. We can’t wait to see what’s ahead for this sector as it takes on challenges we haven’t even imagined yet.
