The Week In News, But Shorter
July 13 -19, 2026

A Weekly PropTech Newsletter bringing you industry updates from across the real estate spectrum

Property developers in LA and NYC are already installing vertiports and chargers for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) even though FAA passenger certification likely won’t arrive until 2027–28, and regulatory, cost, and infrastructure hurdles remain. Retail property owners should still pay attention however: vertiports can be a premium amenity that brings high‑value visitors and new revenue streams, but require heavy upfront investment, fire/zoning/FAA approvals, and carry noise and safety risks. Before jumping on the bandage, running structural, regulatory and ROI feasibility studies would be wise. Is this something your considering at your property? Let us know over on LinkedIn.

Also this week, more on drone dominance, massive flagships vs. smaller stores, and which AI chatbots are consumers more likely to leverage.

Digital Meets Physical

Inside the U.S. race for drone delivery dominance [Reuters] Spurred by an executive order in June 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration has proposed new rules to speed the deployment of drones. It comes as American leaders see the nation as locked in a battle with China for drone dominance.

Survey: Two-thirds of U.S. households shop online weekly [Chain Store Age] E-commerce is becoming increasingly common, but the store is still a critical part of the consumer journey. Online shopping is now a weekly habit for two-thirds of U.S. households (86 million), up from two in five households in 2019.

In customer service, third-party generative AI tools are beating brand chatbots [RetailDive] Customers are three times more likely to use a third-party generative AI tool than a brand-owned chatbot for customer service. The number of consumers using third-party generative AI tools has doubled in the past year alone. However, there has not been a statistical increase of customers using company-provided chatbots since 2022.

Survey: Retail tenants continue to up investments in new technology [Chain Store Age] Artificial intelligence has established itself as a core management tool among retail tenants at the 125 Northeastern centers managed by Levin Management Corp. (LMC).

Walmart bets on AI and digital twins to shape its supply chain strategy [RetailDive] Before Walmart kicked off an effort to get AI into the hands of 2 million employees, the retailers supply chain team already relied on the technology to help get products where they needed to go. Predictive models always had a home within the supply chain industry, but the amount of data and AI tools teams have access to gives them stronger signals.

Consumers wary about AI shopping assistants but Amazon is changing perceptions [Retail Customer Experience] As the retail landscape shifts to a more automated, hands-off marketplace, the industry continues to prioritize investing in AI-powered shopping tech but not all consumers are on board.

PropTalk

California Developers Build Vertiports Before Air Taxis Win Approval [Propmodo] 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.

Retail Construction Holds Steady [WWD] According to new data from CoStar, retail construction in the U.S. remained “relatively steady” in the second quarter of 2026, but it remains stagnant at a post-pandemic low. The report found that where there was retail construction, it was occurring in a concentrated area.

Big-Box Retailers Have a New Strategy for Breaking Into Urban Markets [The New York Times] With their thirst for cheap, sprawling land, big-box retailers usually operate in the suburbs or on the outskirts of town. But in recent years, some have been ditching the traditional model of massive warehouses and vast parking lots in favor of smaller stores in cities and denser communities. A new strategy involves teaming up with affordable housing developments.

Placer.ai: Mall traffic grows with one format in the lead [Chain Store Age] The nation’s malls gained momentum in the first half of this year. All three mall formats had year-over-year visit growth the first half of 2026. Open-air shopping centers were the front runner, with visits up 4.7%, followed by indoor malls, up 1.9%, and outlet malls, up 1.0%.

Real Estate Companies Need to Rethink How They Spend on Technology in the AI Era [Propmodo] When S&P 500 companies are ranked by R&D spending as a percentage of revenue, real estate sits at the bottom alongside utilities and basic energy, effectively at zero. That gap has always been explainable, if not entirely defensible.

Ulta is betting $400 million that an NYC megastore will help it compete with Sephora—and that flagships still work [Fortune] When Ulta Beauty opens its first-ever flagship, a four-level megastore in New York’s Times Square late next year, the retailer aims to create a more fun and modern shopping experience, showcase its more upscale house brands, and place itself at the center of the beauty universe as it seeks to expand its influence.