Tech's role in commercial real estate is continually growing, some developers say. Tech is no longer an amenity, it is now mandatory, according to G.H. Palmer Associates senior vice president Darrel Malamut.
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Drone pads and voice activation are among the new tech developments catching on, said Enenstein Ribakoff LaViña & Pham department chair Sal LaViña, who moderated one of the panels at our LA State of the Market event earlier this month.
Harman International director of business development Dave Wood said there is a certain ease with which everyone is using tech, since everyone is generally carrying a cellphone or a laptop.
As a result, corporate environments have to evolve for those technologies.
He said it is not uncommon to install USB cameras and microphones in a wall below a flat-screen TV for better conferencing experiences.
"So we can make that virtual meeting experience good enough we can limit some of the trips being made around the city," Wood said.
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Voice activation, thanks to the popularity of Siri and Alexa, is becoming more common in homes and starting to enter the hotel environment.
Regardless of how big a part tech makes in a project, tenants should always be the priority, panelists said.
"The goal is to keep tenants happy," Malamut said.
