Live from the BOMA Expo Floor: Day 1
The BOMA International Expo floor, with over 450 exhibitors, opened to great celebrity fanfare today—or, at least with some good impersonators without having to go to Hollywood. Here, we snapped Kidder Mathew’s Cini Apostol, Britney Spears, Kidder Mathew’s Jane Hughes, and Tiegs Property Services’ Shannon Tiegs.
Suzanne Waldron—who works in human behavioral change—is from Perth, Australia, and this is her first trip ever to the United States. Here, she’s joined by Katy Perry and fellow Austalian Peter Merrett of JLL. (If Katy’s “Hot and Cold” isn’t one of the best examples of human behavior, we’re not sure what is. Although, if a property manager were singing it, it’s probably because the HVAC system is broken.)
Lady Gaga poses with FBL Financial Group’s Mike Quick and Iowa Farm Bureau’s Jeff Pardun.
If you’re breathing a little easier as you walk through the Green Pavilion, it may be from all the drought-resistant plants featured at SouthWest Landscape’s booth. Here, Paul Hansen shows us some lavender as Bob Hansen holds up a stipa plant. Other plants commercial property owners are embracing include grasses, aloe, and kangaroo paw, they say. Bob adds they’ve been working on hundreds of bids per week since California Gov. Jerry Brown has introduced the “grass for cash” program, which gives rebates to property owners who switch out grass for such plants and embrace features like drip irrigation.
At the Technology Pavilion, we snapped Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq’s Charles Gravelle trying to sink a hole-in-one while MRI Software’s Phillip Miller and Anthony Piunno give a thumbs up. MRI offers accounting and property management software, and Anthony tells us it’s all about smart buildings today and the ability to integrate with them. Mobile is also a huge trend, so they’re making sure the software is compatible with smartphones and tablets so that executives can easily look at their portfolio’s financials on the go. MRI gives them the ability to drill down to specific buildings and look at each asset’s accounts receivable, net operating income and other metrics.
We don’t want to mess with AlliedBarton’s John Valdez, Corey English, Tad Garabedian, Jordan Lippel and Mike Smidt. Security’s their game, and Tad says that customers are putting more of a focus on value than price, because they want peace of mind. AlliedBarton has been seeing particular growth in the government services, healthcare and commercial real estate vertical markets sectors.
Mars Drinks’ Frank LaRusso and Kimberly-Clark Professional*’s Richard Marriott stand in front of some of their offerings, including Mars’ FLAVIA Barista. Richard says one trend is balancing tenant satisfaction with sustainability and operating efficiency. For instance, its Kleenex and Scott products are now softer and made with plant materials like bamboo and wheat straw, helping reduce solid waste. Frank says his business is focusing on the collaborative space trend, and successful spaces have the five Cs: central location, connectivity, comfort, CNN (or other entertainment) and coffee. The latter is where Mars steps in, and the variety its FLAVIA Barista offers means employees are not leaving the office to get an espresso or latte—they want as little hassle as possible. Bonus: the Barista uses 100% recyclable products.
