The buildings with keyless entry intercoms include Helios (Equity Residential) in Seattle.
SEATTLE—According to market research company Gfk, more than half of all US consumers are now using smart home/Internet-connected devices to control or automate functions such as entry, temperature and lighting. But the multifamily industry has been much slower to adopt this technology, reluctant to make the investment when there's no way to predict the ROI. That's finally beginning to change, at least when it comes to new construction.
“We're starting to see many of our owners trying new things,” said Sherry Freitas, Greystar's managing director, real estate strategic service. “They dabble a little bit in the latest and greatest, like smart locks or smart thermostats.”
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
