Property Management Companies Use AI To Make Their Humans More Effective
While artificial intelligence is gaining ground in the commercial real estate world, Dallas-Fort Worth’s property management sector is focused on how the technology can help its existing workforce.
Companies like Prologis have embraced the technology as a tool that can help its employees be better at their jobs, according to Regional Vice President Alicia Pillows. Tasks that used to take property managers hours to complete can now be automated through AI, allowing Prologis staff members to get in front of customers more often.
"AI is going to impact every single person in this room in some capacity," Pillows said during Bisnow’s 2026 DFW Property Management Summit on Thursday at the Renaissance Dallas Addison Hotel.
As roles evolve with technology, DFW property managers are utilizing AI to improve customer service and provide immediate assistance to tenants in need. Staff members have used the tool to be more effective and ready to help customers, who are also utilizing the technology. AI can also assist property managers in identifying which tenants may be considering leaving their current space.
Industrial S2 created an internal AI tool to help its personnel assess retention risk among current tenants. Payment behavior has long been the No. 1 indicator of a possible issue, but the company’s AI tool also incorporates data that comes from places other than financial spreadsheets, Managing Director of Property Management and Leasing Stephen Bailey said.
"The most powerful data we have comes from the property management team," Bailey said.
Property managers on-site can have conversations with personnel or even observe changes in the fullness of the tenant’s parking lot, which are factored into the AI tool’s retention score.
Pillows said boots-on-the-ground property managers are a company’s most valuable asset for understanding tenants' behavior shifts.
"I don't think that any move out should be a surprise if we have the ears open and flags flagged with these behavioral changes," Pillows said.
Data and effective communicators are powerful assets for property management companies, but Stephen White, executive vice president of asset management and operations at Centennial Real Estate, said one without the other isn’t always effective.
Automating tasks is something Brandywine Homes USA has also begun, as CEO Jackie Lee said the technology makes her staff members more effective. It also gives them more time to focus on bigger tasks and more complex decision-making roles.
AI can provide clarity and the sense of instant gratification that many people have come to expect due to the ease of mobile apps and online shopping. When customers submit a work order, Lee said they want to know who is coming, when they will arrive and what will be done.
"Providing that sort of transparency and clarity to residents is something that's absolutely paramount," Lee said, adding that customer satisfaction with that clarity has even been reflected in Brandywine’s retention rates.
Customers can instantly schedule an appointment or get AI-assisted triage for emergencies. The technology has also proven useful in helping potential tenants find answers to simple questions they don't want to take the time to look up themselves — things like whether pets are allowed and how much the security deposit is.
"AI can help you do that and then push up the hotter leads to your agents or to your property managers to then contact the resident or the prospect," Lee said.
Of course, that usage goes both ways, as Lee said tenants are becoming much savvier with AI helping them do their homework.
Industrial S2 has seen that firsthand, Bailey said. Tenant requests and responses have gotten much more sophisticated thanks to their use of AI tools.
"I'm like, 'Man, this guy sounds like an attorney. This is awesome. I thought he fixed bumpers, but he's really, really well versed in the Texas property code,'" Bailey said of an email that seemed to use AI tools in its crafting.
DFW property management firms have also used AI to build and maintain a sense of community among their tenants.
Stream Realty’s The Quad project in Uptown Dallas features 345K SF of office space. Its AI systems will call an elevator to the parking garage after a tenant drives in and adjust the temperature settings in employees’ offices to their preferences before they arrive.
AI has also helped power Texas' data center boom. And the Lone Star State is on pace to surpass Virginia as the nation's largest data center market by 2030, according to a JLL report.
