Commercial Spotlight | Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) Spring Conference
Two of the most renowned designations in commercial real estate are the CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) and the SIOR (Society of Industrial and Office Realtors). The CCIM designation focuses on education in investment real estate and requires extensive course work along with a substantial portfolio of experience showing proficiency in the field. This designation is comprised of office and industrial real estate leaders that are at the top of their industries, worldwide. Last [month], I had the pleasure of attending my first SIOR conference with over a thousand attendees, including many of the most accomplished brokers specializing in the industrial and office markets.
The 2025 SIOR Spring Conference was held in Las Vegas, and I had an opportunity to talk to agents from all over the country, as well as agents from Australia and Columbia. There were engaging discussions on tariffs and the economy with guest speakers lecturing on best practices, client engagement, and artificial intelligence. It is always great to get together with other brokers and have a learning opportunity to enhance my knowledge and skills in the industry. There were many interesting topics, and I will not go into all of them, but I wanted to highlight a round-table discussion on tariffs and a speaker on Artificial Intelligence, both of which I thought were particularly engaging.
Hearing firsthand from brokers about the effects tariffs are having on their business at the Tarriff Round Table discussion was enlightening. On the positive side, some brokers are actively working with companies from Mexico, Canada, Europe & Asia to open factories in the US. There is a Swiss company looking for manufacturing space to make Swiss chocolate and avoid import tariffs. The Chinese owned company, Temu, is seeking locations in California and Ohio to bring some manufacturing to the U.S. market. Some brokers noted that manufacturing buildings in their areas that had been vacant for a long time are being purchased by companies from other countries that want to begin or expand their U.S. manufacturing. On the negative side of tariffs, one broker discussed a brand-new building sitting vacant because the company that planned to expand their domestic manufacturing had to cancel their machinery order, when the price of the new equipment (made in China) went up tenfold. Agents in port cities said they had warehouses sitting vacant as shipments are being cancelled. Other brokers mentioned loans becoming more expensive because of increased risk (and cost) to manufacturers. Overall, thoughts on tariffs were mixed, and the unintended consequences of tariffs were intriguing. One broker noted it was currently “a game of musical chairs”, both domestically and internationally, with some Chinese companies buying factories in Vietnam to avoid the tariffs on goods made in China.
The speaker I found most interesting was Dex Hunter-Torricke, who focused on “Disruption” or major changes that can shake up the future of the way we live and do business. One example he gave is the shift in the way we get our information. Influencers, people on social media with thousands, if not millions of followers, are where many people get information. They are trusted by their supporters and people are shifting away from traditional media companies for their news and information. He cited a study that found “trust” is at an all-time low of 50%, where businesses have the highest level of trust and the media ranked the lowest. This shift was facilitated by the advent of two other disruptors: the internet and smart phones. No one can deny these innovations have significantly changed the way we live and do business.
Hunter-Torricke talked about Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the next disruptor and suggested we devise a strategy for adaptation. He said if we cannot figure out how to use it for our benefit, we will be left behind by our competitors. He gave several examples of how AI was already changing business and told us about a meeting of programmers who were hired to write a new app for a company. While sitting in the room discussing the project, one programmer prompted AI to write the code and AI was able to create a new app in about 5 minutes. Before AI, it would have taken this group of programmers one to two months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If we look at all the growth in our knowledge and learning over the past century and we apply this type of exponential learning, we will quickly see its application being used to research and solve issues such as:
- Nuclear Fusion: By upscaling small fusion experiments, scientists would be able to create unlimited clean energy.
- Complicated surgeries: Robots like the DaVinci surgical robot will perform a wider array of complicated surgeries.
- Self-driving cars: San Francisco is already using self-driving cars for taxis. By studying and improving on the issues, moving to a society of driverless cars will be possible.
- Labor for building trades: Brick laying robots and rebar tying robots are already being used in the Middle East and China. They can work 5-10 times faster than humans. 3-D Cement “printers” can produce foundations and walls. By scaling these types of technologies, we will be able to solve our housing shortages.
- Batteries: Cell phone batteries will last 6 months, and electric cars will have much larger ranges on a 5-minute charge.
- Air travel: Mach 10 airplanes will be able to get people anywhere in the world in 90 minutes.
As these futuristic ideas become reality much faster than we imagined possible, it will reshape every job and industry, just as the iPhone did. It will change real estate decisions and where we choose to live and work without the need for both to be in the same vicinity.
Hunter-Torricke concluded by suggesting we devise a personal disruption strategy to plan for the future. It is interesting to think about how these advancements might change the world and much faster than we ever imagined possible.
Dan Stiebel, CCIM
