| A Weekly PropTech Newsletter bringing you industry updates from across the real estate spectrum |
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| As a property owner you know land, air, and mineral rights, but have you thought about your digital rights? This week BXP completed a commercial property sale that, for the first time, included a recorded transfer of digital rights, and it should be a wake-up call. Digital rights are the right to control and monetize the digital media that appears on, or is associated with, your real-world property in augmented reality and emerging AI environments. With AR experiences already commonplace (think Pokemon Go) and wearables like Meta glasses picking up steam, real locations are becoming canvases for digital experiences, ads, and overlays. If ownership and permissions are not clear, you risk third parties placing virtual content in your spaces, which means losing control over what visitors see and leaving new revenue on the table as this advertising layer grows. Want to pressure-test what this means for your portfolio and how you establish the permission layer to authorize, track, and monetize it? Let’s talk.
Also this week, a look at why real estate is uniquely unprepared for AI, a legal outcome that could impact the future of AI shopping, and more on Gen Z’s impact on the mall. Don’t forget to find us on LinkedIn where we also share these newsletters, and tag in a friend while you’re at it! |
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| In A First, BXP Sells Digital Property Rights [Bisnow] When the REIT sold the 140 Kendrick St. campus in Needham, Massachusetts, to Lincoln Property Co. and Cross Ocean Partners, the sale included the formal, recorded transfer of digital rights of the property. Digital property rights allow the owner to permit or prohibit digital or virtual content that uses the property as a canvas, typically through augmented reality.
Most real estate businesses ‘structurally unprepared for AI’, report finds [Property Week] Only 7% of respondents to the 2026 AI in Real Estate Survey, conducted in association with Remit Consulting and digital strategist Anthony Slumbers, said AI was fully integrated into their business, despite 93% saying their organisation now provided access to an AI service.
Amazon’s Win Against Perplexity Kicks AI Shopping Wars Into High Gear [The Wall Street Journal] Amazon may soon be able to lock its website down from outside AI agents, thanks to a recent court ruling. But the battle over how AI bots can shop on our behalf is just heating up. |
| Real Estate Is Insecure About Its Relationship With Data and AI [Commercial Observer] Artificial intelligence can be a godsend in collecting and analyzing data at commercial real estate firms. It can also jeopardize the security of that very data. Solving that conundrum is becoming increasingly important to both the firms and the vendors who want to service them.
How commercial property management firms are using AI — and hope to use it tomorrow [FacilitiesDive] Company leaders’ often vague predictions of how AI will be adopted are giving way to more fully formed strategies in the commercial real estate industry.
We Got Hooked on Fast, Free Shipping. Now Retailers Are Taking It Away. [The Wall Street Journal] Remember that package you ordered last week? It should be arriving any day now. After years of priming us to expect speedy deliveries, the ever-growing e-commerce economy is weaning us off them—and no one seems to mind. |
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| A New Generation of Mall Rats Has Arrived [The Wall Street Journal] Gen Z’s retail-spending growth is outpacing all other generations, according to data firm NielsenIQ, with the generation’s global annual retail spending expected to exceed $12 trillion by 2030. The cohort also spends a greater proportion of their discretionary dollars in physical stores than older generations, according to data firm Circana.
Sells Like Teen Spirit [Puck] Teen mall retail isn’t supposed to be working right now. Forever 21 just collapsed, Shein and Temu are under regulatory pressure, and Gen Z and Gen Alpha allegedly buy everything on TikTok anyway. Yet Edikted, the fast-growing brand is quietly making large gains—opening stores at a healthy clip with revenues.
All Eddie Bauer stores to close after failure to find a buyer [RetailDive] An auction for Eddie Bauer’s store operations scheduled for Friday has been canceled due to lack of interest, according to bankruptcy court documents filed this week. |
| Airport Shoppers Shift To Value, Convenience And Self‑Treating [Forbes] A new survey suggests travelers are becoming more value‑conscious in airport shops—unsurprising given the spiraling cost of air travel last year, with further increases likely as the geopolitical situation in the Middle East pushes costs higher. With travel budgets squeezed, passengers have less to spend in the terminals.
Fitness chains beef up at retail centers [Chain Store Age] According to McKinsey & Company, a large majority (84%) of American consumers now consider wellness a “top or important priority” in their everyday lives. Jack deVilliers, managing director at Regency Centers, has seen this trend play out in the commercial real estate industry firsthand.
Q&A: Is this the year of the landlord? [Chain Store Age] Three years ago, Elmsford, N.Y-based DLC Management acquired capitalization and went on a buying spree aimed at doubling the size of its open-air center portfolio. Its acquisitions haven’t ceased. |
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