Stoked Broker

On March 1, Homes 4 Families honored CBRE Group Inc. at the nonprofit’s Hearts for Heroes Builder’s Ball fundraising gala, held at the Universal Sheraton in Universal City. The real estate brokerage actively supports the Woodland Hills-based organization’s mission to establish master-planned communities for military veterans that cater to their specific needs. Since 2008, Homes 4 Families has established 12 veteran communities in Sylmar, 12 homes planned in North Hollywood, and a 78-home community in Santa Clarita. Another community is currently under construction in Antelope Valley. Lewis Horne, president of the firm’s Pacific Southwest Division, accepted the award on behalf of CBRE at the gala. Horne spoke to the Business Journal about why CBRE is committed to helping organizations and causes such as Homes 4 Families, the current state of commercial real estate, and the success of his friend Rick Caruso, who refurbished CBRE’s Glendale headquarters at 234 S. Brand Blvd., a former Mason temple building, into the office tower where Horne works. Question: Why does CBRE support causes such as Home 4 Families? Our company is very supportive of our veterans and we have tremendous respect and appreciation for what they do but also we are committed to solving this housing crisis in this county. We really believe in Homes 4 Families. It really allows entry-level housing for our veterans. We have 53,000 homeless in our area, 7,000 of which are veterans. Unfortunately, with a 2 or 3 percent vacancy in homes, it’s just pricing them out. How would you characterize the real estate market right now? The market’s never been better — multifamily, retail, office, industrial. We’re currently in one of the strongest economies in the world right now. Yet we have this hole in our boat. People are simply being priced out. They’re one paycheck away from being put in the street. What’s the fix? Last year, we dedicated our intern to working with Gensler on alternative sites. This was for veterans and the larger homeless community. As a company, we look to play a role in addressing the homeless situation. It’s a multi-dimensional issue where we need entry-level housing, the veteran population is a material part of that population. It’s a challenging issue that’s more complex. You certainly have a compounding of homelessness, mental illness, addiction. We have 10,000 people living in their cars, 7,000 people living in the streets. Organizations like Home 4 Families are vital to addressing the lack of housing. These are not temporary homes; they’re entry-level homes that veterans can (later parlay into equity). I think they’re just critical. There’s got to be more corporate responsibility in our community. All of the (Measure) HHH dollars in the world won’t solve the problem. How come at a time when many people are saying that e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com Inc. are slaying the traditional shopping mall, developers such as Rick Caruso and Westfield are thriving? Rick is a close friend of mine. Rick told me that the greatest shopping retail centers in the world are on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, on Fifth Avenue in New York. These are organic streets that are classic; look at the streets of Paris. What Rick has pointed out is if you create an experience, if it’s just about that, you’ve lost. What Rick will do is create an environment that is safe, that you are experiencing that is part of your social community. What are the elements of successful retail locations? Rick has a comment, “I like moving to the center of town.” In history, you always have the town square and people are bumping into each other and the serendipity of running into someone you know. Rick is an incredible listener; it’s not just the customer on site. The best example I can give you is Pacific Palisades (home of Caruso’s latest retail center, Palisades Village, which opened Sept. 22). In the Palisades (Village), there are the same number of retailers as there are at the Grove and the property is a third of the size of the Grove’s. They’re curated so that you can go down, get a bite and see a movie but feel safe and comfortable. He builds things as if he’s building it for his family. He’s building something and keeping it. It’s going to be sustainable for generations. What is going to be the biggest game-changer in the near future? It’s technology, not just retail but also in office, multifamily and industrial. Technology is changing the way people live and shop and communicate. What CBRE has done, at our various buildings, there are no assigned positions, no assigned seats. I move to a different office every day. I work off of my laptop. How has this improved the way the brokerage runs? We’ve become an incredibly efficient and much more mobile company and we’ve broken down the lines of hard walls. We have 15 different services. …We own Trammell Crow. The old days, five or six years ago, of all sitting near each other today, it’s all mixed up now. People are smarter, there’s the serendipity of meeting other people with expertise. When we’re mobile, we’re more collaborative and we’re just a lot more efficient and it’s elevated our training to make sure our people are technologically advanced. Any other benefits? We’re eating our own cooking. We’re pushing the envelope (at CBRE). What Rick Caruso does with retail, we’re doing it with office. We just provided a service called Host (integrated services, amenities and technologies for the workplace) and Hana (flexible office space for large corporate clients) for coworking. We’ve got a wellness piece in our downtown office and with the flooring and lighting design, everyone has access to daylight. We’re also giving more to our clients. The buildings are more sophisticated, more technologically advanced. It’s about your ability to deliver the product 24 hours. You have to deliver more. If you’re just selling shoes, you’re just competing against Amazon and the outcome is not going to be good. We’ve reconstructed our company so that we have the ability to recognize changes and to incredibly and nimbly adapt. We have 90,000 employees globally. We now have 80 of these buildings all over the world. Companies used to be averse to change; today we’re a part of it.