Monday, July 13, 2026

On Tap Today

  • New wave: the Z-Wave protocol is adapting to meet the growing needs of modern smart buildings.

  • Hudson News: Brookfield bets $3.5 billion on Manhattan's West Side as AI firms fill towers.

  • Vertical integration: Developers install vertiports for flying taxis that may not gain approval until 2028.

  • AI in real estate capital raising: A live workshop for capital markets professionals on how AI can transform your fundraising. Sign up

Essential Metrics

Daily Market Snapshot
S&P 500 7,575.39 +31.75 (+0.42%)
FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs 855.68 +3.52 (+0.41%)
10-Year Treasury 4.56% −2 bps
SOFR 3.53% −5 bps
Data as of market close July 10, 2026. SOFR reflects the July 9 trade date.
Word that Washington and Tehran will keep talking pulled oil lower on Friday and gave rate-sensitive assets room to breathe, while big tech and SK Hynix's blockbuster Nasdaq debut carried the S&P 500 up 0.42 percent to 7,575.39. The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index rose 0.41 percent to 855.68, for once keeping pace with the broader tape as the long end eased. The 10-year yield slipped two basis points to 4.56 percent, a modest reprieve for fixed-rate take-out math ahead of Tuesday's CPI print, which will help decide whether a second-half hike stays live. SOFR fell five basis points to 3.53 percent, trimming floating-rate carry for borrowers on bridge and construction paper for a second straight session.

Smart Buildings

How Z-Wave Is Expanding to Meet the Demands of Modern Buildings

The technology that determines whether a building works smoothly is often the technology nobody notices. Wireless protocols rarely attract attention until a lock fails to engage, a sensor drops offline, or incompatible devices turn an automation project into an expensive troubleshooting exercise.

Z-Wave has spent more than two decades solving those problems largely behind the scenes. Its sub-gigahertz frequency, mesh networking architecture, and mandatory device certification have helped it spread to more than 100 million devices across tens of millions of homes and buildings.

Now the protocol is entering a new phase. With its source code publicly available, multiple chip manufacturers supporting it, and a long-range specification opening new commercial and multifamily applications, Z-Wave is becoming more relevant just as building owners are deploying more connected devices than ever.

Read More
Fast Take

Tech Leasing Surge Pushes Hudson Square Portfolio to $3.5 Billion Valuation

Brookfield is negotiating to acquire a 10% stake in Hudson Square Properties and assume operating control of the 13-building, 6.2 million-square-foot portfolio. Trinity Church and Norges Bank Investment Management own the complex, which would be valued at $3.5 billion under the proposed transaction. Brookfield would become the long-term operating partner when the deal closes in the coming months.
AI companies have fueled leasing activity in Hudson Square over the past year. Anthropic signed a lease for the entire 16-story building at 330 Hudson Street, just south of the portfolio, and plans to more than double its New York workforce by the end of 2026. PayPal leased 261,000 square feet at Hudson Square Properties in late 2025. Office availability in the neighborhood fell 3 percentage points since the second quarter of 2025, while asking rents climbed nearly 20% to over $87 per square foot.
Google and Disney each opened headquarters of more than one million square feet in Hudson Square in 2024, establishing the area as a tech and media center. Office availability in Hudson Square stands at 17.1%, above the citywide rate of 14.1%, but tech firms are expanding beyond transportation-hub submarkets as high-quality space fills up. Trinity Church's ownership of the site dates to a 1705 land grant from Queen Anne of England; Norges partnered with the parish in 2015 to convert the printing-industry buildings into a modern creative campus.
 
Fast Take

California Developers Build Vertiports Before Air Taxis Win Approval

Residential and commercial developers in Los Angeles and New York are installing vertiports and electric charging infrastructure ahead of Federal Aviation Administration certification for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Reuben Brothers Group converted an existing heliport atop its Park Elm luxury towers in Century City into a landing pad through a partnership with Joby Aviation and Blade Air Mobility, marketing the amenity to buyers paying up to $78 million for penthouse units. Archer Aviation purchased the master lease of Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles County and plans to build a network of a dozen landing sites across the region. Stephen Ross entered a partnership with Archer to site vertiports at Hard Rock Stadium and other properties as part of a proposed Miami-area network.
The FAA launched its eVTOL Integration Pilot Program in March to run trials in eight locations, but the most optimistic projections for full certification place it in 2027 or 2028. Current regulations treat eVTOLs as helicopters, restricting them to existing helicopter routes and landing sites approved by the FAA. Los Angeles holds an advantage because 1970s building codes mandated helipads on tall buildings for fire safety, and the city launched its Urban Air Mobility Partnership in 2020. Companies like Joby, Archer and Beta Technologies are testing prototype models and raising billions of dollars to develop small multi-rotor electric vehicles with roughly 100-mile ranges.
Infrastructure challenges extend beyond regulatory approval. San Francisco International Airport concluded in a recent study that its helipads sit too far from terminals and that charging infrastructure costs would serve too small a population. Most existing helipads are privately held and many do not fully comply with FAA design guidelines, while building new ones requires navigating fire regulations, zoning approvals and special permits. New York City banned rooftop helicopter service in 1977 after a fatal crash atop the Pan-Am Building killed five people, and the city has seen a surge in noise complaints from increased helicopter traffic in recent years.
Capacity and cost questions remain unresolved even as developers commit capital to landing infrastructure. Blade transported roughly 100,000 passengers last year across its New York City and South Europe routes, one-sixth the daily volume passing through Penn Station. The company currently charges $195 or more per person for helicopter flights from Manhattan helipads to airports or the Hamptons. Archer was named the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, contingent on FAA approval. Beta Technologies is pursuing cargo and emergency medical applications in rural areas before entering the passenger market, and has placed more than 50 eVTOL chargers at rural airports.

Overheard

Popular Articles

This Is Not My Dad’s Leasing Funnel, But He Would Have Adopted It Immediately

Leasing automation helps property managers convert fewer leads into more signed leases by reducing friction, improving showings, and boosting efficiency.

https://propmodo.com/this-is-not-my-dads-leasing-funnel-but-he-would-have-adopted-it-immediately/

The Pfizer Building Scare Shows Why Office Conversions Are Engineering Projects First

The Pfizer building scare does not undercut office conversions, but it does expose why structural engineering must sit at the center of adaptive reuse.

https://propmodo.com/playbook/the-pfizer-building-scare-shows-why-office-conversions-are-engineering-projects-first/

The Technology Keeping Watch on Manhattan's Buckled Skyscraper

When structural columns buckled at 235 East 42nd Street in Manhattan this week, first responders turned to drones, tiltmeters, accelerometers, and LiDAR to monitor a building too dangerous to enter.

https://propmodo.com/the-technology-keeping-watch-on-manhattans-buckled-skyscraper/

Spatial Branding Is Turning Offices Into a Company's Most Powerful Storytelling Tool

A growing number of companies are using spatial branding to translate brand identity into the physical environment of their offices, turning wayfinding, art, and material choices into tools for storytelling, orientation, and culture building.

https://propmodo.com/spatial-branding-is-turning-offices-into-a-companys-most-powerful-storytelling-tool/

Will Easier Conversions Delay Office Housing or Just Prove the Model Works?

School, hotel, and mall conversions are accelerating, but whether they're starving office-to-residential projects of capital depends on whether the conversion market is efficiently sequenced or genuinely crowded—evidence suggests the former is more likely.

https://propmodo.com/will-easier-conversions-delay-office-housing-or-just-prove-the-model-works/

The Cushman & Wakefield Cyberattack Is a Wake-Up Call for Commercial Real Estate

When two of the world's most prolific cybercrime groups simultaneously claimed attacks on Cushman & Wakefield in May 2026, the incident revealed how exposed commercial real estate firms are to social engineering attacks.

https://propmodo.com/the-cushman-wakefield-cyberattack-is-a-wake-up-call-for-commercial-real-estate/

What Owners Are Really Looking for in a Property Condition Assessment

Property management firms are losing clients silently through inadequate inspection reporting that fails to demonstrate active asset management.

https://propmodo.com/what-owners-are-really-looking-for-in-a-property-condition-assessment/

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