NEW YORK CITY—Given the consistently high water marks the city has achieved in a number of metrics, from job growth to tourism, “New York City's in a virtuous cycle,” RXR Realty's Seth Pinsky said at this year's RealShare New York conference Thursday. However, Pinsky pointed out, one byproduct of this success is a challenge in producing enough supply to keep up with demand, especially when it comes to affordable apartments. Moreover, he said, “our infrastructure is literally crumbling,” and not only transportation infrastructure.

The challenges and opportunities arising from the disruptors that have manifested in each of the major property sectors drove the conversation in the conference's first two panels. Pinsky, EVP and fund manager, metro emerging markets with RXR, offered one possible solution for keeping up with growth: look beyond the city limits to suburbs that are well served by transit.

And speaking from two different vantage points—brokerage and ownership—Douglas Elliman Real Estate's Faith Hope Consolo and Westfield's Michael McNaughton—each charted the ways in which new thinking has helped keep retail offerings relevant to would-be shoppers. “You have to have the pulse of the neighborhood,” said Consolo, chairman of retail leasing, marketing and sales with Douglas Elliman. A shotgun approach no longer suffices, she added.