Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 470

https://twitter.com/donnelly_b/status/1573283131637243904?s=46&t=BA0WheQxvvK33WQw8L1xhw

At the end of August, our office closed for two weeks so that we could shuffle a bunch of desks around. During that time, we all worked remotely. I spent one week working from home and one week working from Utah. Being in Utah in the summer was, of course, a great treat. Everybody appreciates having more rather than less flexibility in how they structure their workday.

But at the same time, being away from the office reminded me just how much I hate working from home. I hate the onslaught of calls and zooms that ensue when you're not proximate to the people you work with. I hate being distracted by the thought that I should probably do a load of laundry. And importantly, I also find that I have less energy.

One of the ways that extroverts and introverts are often defined is according to where they derive their energy from. The former is said to derive more of their energy from being around other people and the latter is said to derive their energy from being by themselves. Introverts need time to recharge. Of course, most people probably need both of these things. I certainly do.

But I think this is an important consideration as we all debate work-from-home policies. I enjoy being in the office. And I can tell you that our team overwhelmingly does as well. People were starting to get antsy during our two week hiatus. But not everybody feels the same way, which is why I wasn't expecting this (the above) Twitter poll result.

At the time of writing this post there were fewer than 200 responses. But even with limited data points, I was expecting more of a bell curve, with the majority of people doing some sort of hybrid thing. That is not the case here. The results were fairly equal with 5 days a week having a slight edge. My sense is that WFH is continuing to wane.

But I don't know, you tell me: What is your work routine right now and what would you consider optimal?

This Philadelphia Inquirer article is behind a paywall, but I can tell you that it speaks to the city's increasing use of modular construction for infill apartment buildings:

Building modularly can save 20% on total construction costs, he said. Projects can be constructed in half the time, and rental revenue comes in sooner. Workers build apartments in pieces in a factory as others lay the foundation. Factory work doesn’t have to pause for inclement weather.

Alterra Property Group has found that modular construction is cost- and time-effective when it builds between 100 and 500 units and between four and six stories. Under that, building on-site is more efficient, Addimando said. Above that, builders can run up against building code restrictions.

Consider this recently completed project, called LVL North:

• 1.5 acre site

• Site acquired in February 2020

• Construction commenced in June 2020 (was it already entitled?)

• Over 500,000 square feet

• 7 storeys

• 410 market-rate apartments

• Two levels of commercial spaces

• Over 300 parking spaces in a two-level below-grade parking structure

• Construction completed in 24 months (it's currently being leased up)

I am impressed by how quickly this was erected. Here in Toronto, it would likely take more than 24 months just to get through the rezoning process. Granted, a site this big in a central location next to transit would also likely beget multiple tall buildings.

But this form and scale of housing seems to be working for Philly. It is allowing the city to both build quickly and to experiment with emerging construction methods.

https://twitter.com/CyberBrokers_/status/1572224061119533056?s=20&t=qZlgoHSqui9npg4jr1fzLg

One of the most interesting things about NFTs is that some, but not all, come with very permissive licensing. What this could mean is that, as a holder, you are free to do whatever you would like with your NFTs, including creating businesses on top of them or using them for other commercial purposes. This is fascinating to me and I like NFT projects that adopt this open approach.

In the past, we have talked about Bored Ape Yacht Club owners creating things like restaurants on top of their NFTs . But here is another more recent example: An NFT from the CyberBrokers collection has just been signed to a Web3 record label called Player Zero . This is the company's first "Animated Virtual Artist", and her inaugural album is available for streaming here , as well as from places like Spotify.

This might sound kind of crazy if you aren't following the crypto space. But is it really? We already have virtual influencers with millions of followers, so why can't we have virtual pop stars being signed to digital record labels?

I don't know what this will ultimately mean for the holder of the above NFT, but imagine a world where the owner automatically receives X% of all the proceeds produced by the virtual artist. Now all of a sudden you have a cash flow stream that can be evaluated using traditional finance methods and an asset that can be valued and traded.

Full disclosure: I own multiple CyberBrokers.