More than 100 top developers, proptech principals and architects gathered at The Real Deal’s Future City retreat in the Bahamas to discuss and debate how technology is disrupting and transforming the real estate industry.
TRD publisher Amir Korangy kicked off the three-day, off-the-record event by introducing John Gilbert, chair of Prescriptive Data and former tech chief at Rudin Management. Nikki Greenberg, head of tech strategy at QIC Real Estate, followed with a “Space Odyssey” talk, which broke down how the new generation thinks about, chooses and operates in physical space.
Lendlease COO Denis Hickey, Fifth Wall’s climate tech head Greg Smithies, Moved.com president Caren Maio, Gravity Technologies founder Moshe Cohen, developers Young Woo and Michael Stern and Sealed CEO Lauren Salz were among the other speakers at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau.
Over the course of the retreat, discussion topics included electric vehicles and the tokenization of the blockchain, the metaverse, the decarbonization of the built world, how virtual and augmented reality are affecting new development condo sales and designing the future cities of the world. Speakers also covered how innovations in fintech are challenging traditional fundraising and how landlords are managing buildings without ever setting foot in them using proptech.
Attendees, who came from all over the U.S., hobnobbed with each other during speed networking and “cocktails and conversations.” Among them were Meridian Capital’s David Schechtman, Ackman Ziff’s Simon Ziff, ODA Architecture’s founder Eran Chen, and Latch founder Peter Weiss.
The roster of South Florida C-suite executives who attended the event included developer Dan Kodsi, architect Kobi Karp, Douglas Elliman Florida CEO Jay Parker, Two Roads Development Managing Partner Taylor Collins and Gonzalo Navarro of ArX Solutions and his brother, Patricio Navarro of Yupix.
Check out photos of the exclusive retreat above.