COVER FEATURE
Smart Buildings
KEEP GETTING SMARTER
Can commercial real estate professionals afford not to invest in smart technology ?
Daniel Galvan , CCIM , President at Coldwell Banker Commercial Rio Grande Valley in Texas , has a listing two and a half hours away in Laredo , TX . Instead of making the long drive , he has smart access to the building from anywhere .
His prospect arrives at the property and lets Galvan know . " I pop it up , see them on my camera , disarm the alarm system , and unlock the door ," he explains . " They walk right in . I ' m chatting with them while they ' re touring . They walk out . I reset the alarm ." There ' s no wasted time on the road .
Or maybe your building has technology that allows it to anticipate weather patterns and automatically adjust the HVAC system .
Maybe you ' ve installed face recognition access control in your apartment building . In the event of a fire , your building autonomously triggers sprinkler systems , closes fire-resistant doors , and communicates with emergency services .
Perhaps you own a hotel with room delivery robots and voice control , allowing guests to turn off lights and control temperatures from their beds .
Or maybe you have an automated parking garage that works like a big vending machine . Once a vehicle enters the structure , a lift hoist stores it on one of its parking decks . When the driver is ready to leave , they touch the car ' s key fob to an electronic pad , and the machine immediately retrieves the vehicle . The garage can accommodate significantly more cars than a traditional structure .
Futuristic ? No . These are real-life examples of smart building technologies or " intelligent infrastructure ."
12 | CCIM . COM