Real Estate Leader Spotlight Series: A conversation with Saeid Garebaglow

Saeid, thanks for joining us. What initially led you to Corporate Real Estate / Workplace?

As an architect, I wanted to have a greater impact on the decision making, strategies and execution of workplace and its impact on the people who use it. We spend a good amount of time in the office, and having an environment that supports the wellbeing and productivity of people is key to workplace experience.

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Being a Corporate Real Estate leader enabled me to collaborate closely with business management, to influence direction, and to create positive outcomes for the built environment.  

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Tell us about your most recent role. What functions did you oversee? How large was the CRE team? Where did the department sit within the organization?

As the director of real estate and workplace at Vialto, I was responsible for the real estate strategy, transactions, project planning and execution across the global portfolio. I worked closely with the business leaders across the regions to develop strategic plans and provide solutions tailored to dynamic business needs.

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As a small team of 9 CRE professionals, we managed a portfolio of 118 locations in 43 countries. The portfolio was a mix of leased and managed offices. Utilizing managed offices offered a great opportunity to adjust the portfolio quickly to align to business needs and manage risk.

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The CRE organization reported to the COO. Having access to the C-Suite enabled quick decision making and execution of the initiatives but also provided insights on the business direction.

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Tell us about your portfolio. What did it look like?

The real estate portfolio consisted of core leased locations such as New York City, San Jose, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, among others, and many large secondary markets. For most of the locations with 20-25 people headcount, we adopted a more agile approach utilizing managed offices such as Industrious, TEC, WeWork or other local providers. Managed offices (flex spaces) are a helpful tool in the CRE toolbox.

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Utilizing managed offices enabled a dynamic approach to the current challenges with hybrid or remote work. We adjusted the number of seats and length of the contracts using the key card and Wi-Fi access information. The data was shared with the COO and the management team to create a feedback loop with the business and the long-term real estate strategy.

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Could you share a story of a project or initiative you spearheaded that had a major impact to how your team managed the portfolio?

For a global portfolio of 118 locations and 43 countries, the challenge was having local knowledge of the markets, especially for the managed offices. What was the availability, pricing models, contracts, risks, locations, and quality of the spaces as it relates to the workplace experience.

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Partnering with Flex Office providers was key to capture market data, understand the offerings, and negotiate the best deals for the business. The partnership proved invaluable. On many occasions, working with the local business leaders, we opted for a local flex office that offered great value, amenities and workplace.

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What was your real estate tech stack? Are there any favorite processes or tools you think would be interesting for others to learn from?

As a “startup” company, we had to implement new tech to enable the team, manage data and the portfolio.

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Lease administration system was critical to managing portfolio risk. The rollout was challenging but successful. For a global portfolio and variations in lease nomenclature, dates and options, reporting was challenging. It became necessary to “scrub” the data, reconcile the terms and create reports that “normalized” the information. The portfolio strategy and decisions on timing and actions depended on trusted data. I implemented processes and best practices that ensured data integrity and subsequent planning of the portfolio could rely on solid information.

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What challenges do you see in the industry today? How do you think leaders need to evolve to address this?

We are all facing the same challenge: how to increase space utilization post pandemic. The very nature of how we work has changed. Workplace has become the social hub to meet, interact and exchange ideas but most of the heads down work is still at home or in a third place.

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Mandates have worked to a degree, but it is still about the intent and purpose of being in the office. Leaders are adjusting and building the flexibility into their team’s structure and ways to bring them together as needed.

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The biggest challenge is the impact of vacancies on the commercial real estate, the people and businesses who support the ecosystem. It is a symbiotic relationship. There is also broader social impact on the “Downtown” including services, transportation, security, and tax revenues to provide the services.  

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What’s next for the industry? What are you most excited about?

It is exciting times for the industry. Some of the antiquated processes are evolving and being replaced with a robust tools and technology. The cost to acquire and implement the CRE technologies is no longer a barrier.

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Huge amount of data on real estate, design, construction, and operations is becoming readily available.

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I am excited about how CRE is evolving to be nimbler, data driven and more open to change. The evolution of workplace we are witnessing will continue and evolve further!

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How can people get in touch with you?

sgarebaglow@gmail.com

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