Real estate taking the next step in technology

WeWork’s unparalleled technology has pushed the real estate industry to step up and figure out how to stay up-to-date.

At Dock 72 in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard, where WeWork will take space, there are plans for its own implementation of tech. Prescriptive Data, a subsidiary of the building’s co-owner Rudin Management, has created a mobile app to serve as tenants’ main portal.

The Dock 72 app will give tenants and employees access to the building, the ability to register guests, book fitness classes, book conference rooms and submit work orders.

The app’s data will give the property’s operators a real-time look into the patterns of its users in order to improve building services.

The real estate industry has long avoided technology implementation, but that is no longer the case.

“As we’re building smarter buildings the idea of connecting the building technology to something that is user facing is much more real and appealing,” said Georgia Collins, head of workplace experiences at CBRE.

CBRE recently launched its own technology platform called host, which is a mobile app that businesses can use to license and connect employees with one another.

Another real estate brand that is making a splash in tech adoption is Tishman Speyer, owner of Rockefeller Center and others. Just last year, it launched Zo, an app that connects tenants with amenities, such as fitness classes and food orders.

Michael Rudin says that the Dock 72 app will eventually be able to integrate other applications, such as Seamless for ordering takeout.

It is still up in the air whether WeWork will take part in the building’s app once it opens.