💸 CBRE Acquires Full Ownership of Industrious at $800 Million Valuation
👑 Queen of the New York skyline: ‘Things are going to get easier’
📈 Commercial Real Estate Firms Plan to Increase Hiring and Salaries in 2025
Data Viz
📚 Learn to develop a local real estate project, sell into owners, and raise capital
Developer

Data Viz of the Week: Visualizing Population Density

A Thesis Driven letter sparked a lively conversation about exurbs late last year. While they’re growth drivers, exurbs still represent a small percentage of population in many of North America’s largest metro areas.

See below for how our largest cities stack up when it comes to density. The most exurban cities? Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, and Grand Rapids (!)

Upcoming Thesis Driven Courses & Classes

Sharpen your real estate IQ on capital raising, selling into real estate owners, developing local real estate projects, and more.

Upcoming Courses

• January 28-29: Introduction to Development (🗽Live in NYC): A first-person POV simulation for aspiring developers to learn to source, underwrite and finance a local real estate project - Sign up

• February 10: Fundamentals of CRE (💻 Online): A bootcamp providing an insider’s view of “a day in the life” of key industry stakeholders, with real-world insights and applications - Sign up

• February 24: Fundamentals of Capital Raising (💻 Online): Insider’s guide to raising capital for real estate projects & platforms–from individuals, family offices and institutional investors - Sign up

• January 28-29: Introduction to Development (💻 Online): A first-person POV simulation for aspiring developers to learn to source, underwrite and finance a local real estate project - Sign up

Thesis Driven Classes—1-hour micro courses on specific topics—are now available on Eventbrite here!

Three Articles We Loved from Last Week

It’s not easy keeping up with everything. Here are three articles we loved from the past week that you may have missed:

1. (WSJ) CBRE Goes All In on Co-Working With New Deal

   CBRE Group, a leading real estate services firm, is acquiring the remaining 60% stake in Industrious, a co-working company, valuing it at approximately $800 million. This move underscores the growing demand for flexible office spaces as employees return to workplaces. Industrious operates over 200 locations across more than 65 cities and has adopted a profit-sharing model with building owners, differentiating it from other co-working firms.

2. (The Times) Queen of the New York skyline: ‘Things are going to get easier’

   Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region, remains optimistic about NYC’s commercial real estate future despite high vacancies and evolving tenant needs. She highlighted strong demand for premium office spaces from financial and tech firms and emphasized the need for supportive city policies to sustain investment. Reflecting on her work in transforming Times Square and Hudson Yards, Tighe underscored the importance of innovation and adaptability in driving the city’s CRE growth.

3. (Bisnow) Commercial Real Estate Firms Flip Back To Growing Head Counts, Salaries

   After a period of staffing cuts and hiring freezes, commercial real estate firms are reversing course, with new research indicating that more than three times as many firms plan to increase hiring in 2025 compared to those planning reductions. Entry- and mid-level positions are expected to see the most significant salary increases, reflecting a cautiously optimistic outlook for the industry.

Developer of the Week

Each week, we feature a different real estate GP doing something special.

This week, our featured developer is Groma, a buyer of small multifamily properties in the northeastern US. Groma is unique in their use of AI to streamline underwriting and management of 2-20 unit properties.

At Thesis Driven we’re bullish on small multifamily as it’s a gap in the institutional real estate markets, while both large multifamily (100+ units) and single family rental draw significant capital markets interest. But that might be changing!

Check them out here on the Thesis Driven database!

—Brad and Paul