This week’s round-up explores how proptech could alleviate the financial burden of property owners’ vacant office space, manufacturing firms are bolstering the industrial real estate sector, a 200-MW Texas project is first to leverage IRA tax credit for stand-alone energy storage, and more.

• Proptech could serve as an economic regenerator to the rise in empty office space that has recently become a major financial liability for businesses. (Joe Dyton, Connected Real Estate Magazine)
• The global business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and accompanying real estate infrastructure that supports it should be aware of the potential impact of AI chatbots becoming capable of optimizing customer service with minimal human input. (Zain Jaffer, Forbes)
• Industrial real estate is being bolstered by manufacturing firms increasingly returning their operations to the U.S., which was already one of the hottest commercial property sectors in the last decade. (JLL)
• Despite the decline in construction backlog in January (0.2 months to 9.0), contractor confidence rebounded to a level not seen since the first half of 2022. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)
• Questions loom about whether the surplus of office space will continue over the long term and if office building owners can weather high vacancy rates until the market rebounds. (Dan Rosenbaum, Smart Cities Dive)
• A storage developer is developing a pair of interconnected battery facilities capable of supplying 200 MW into the Texas energy market, the first project to leverage an Inflation Reduction Act tax credit for energy storage. (Robert Walton, Utility Dive)

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