Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 949

Earlier this week I deleted my Facebook account. If we were friends on the service and you can no longer find me, this is the reason why. 

Part of why I did this certainly had to do with privacy. I read Brian Acton’s (WhatsApp cofounder) account in Forbes this week. And I have been following many of the discussions  over the past year:

Privacy legislation is perhaps the only thing that could pose an existential threat to a business that’s entirely powered by watching and recording what people do at vast scale. And relying on that scale (and its own dark pattern design ) to manipulate consent flows to acquire the private data it needs to profit. - Natasha Lomas

But at the same time, I’m still on and use Instagram and WhatsApp (both Facebook companies), and I use Twitter pretty much every day.

So I am certainly not in a position to be smug about this decision. Hopefully this post does not come across that way.

The simple truth is that I had more or less stopped using the service. I had long ago turned off mobile notifications and so it had become more of a hassle than anything else.

Every now and then I would go on and find notifications and messages that I wasn’t responding to. 

So it had finally reached a point where I thought to myself: Why keep my data here (by the way, you can download all of your data from the site) and why check it sporadically if I’m not really deriving any value out of it? Simplify.

I enjoy Instagram because taking photos is one of my primary passions outside of real estate and design. And I enjoy Twitter as a source of news and mostly civil conversation. 

I am easy to get ahold of. I don’t need Facebook for that. Any of the social links at the top of this page (if you’re reading this post on the web), will get you there.

A friend of mine flipped me this New York Times article today talking about the rapidly growing interest in proptech and about Opendoor – a topic and a company that I have written about many times before on the blog .

Here’s a snippet about proptech:

The hauls are part of a race by investors to pour money into technology for real estate, or what Silicon Valley now calls proptech. Having watched tech start-ups upend old-line industries like taxis and hotels, venture capitalists are casting about for the next area to be infused with software and data. Many have homed in on real estate as a big opportunity because parts of the industry — like pricing, mortgages and building management — have been slow to adopt software that could make business more efficient.

On the Opendoor front, which is the largest/most valuable company in the proptech category, they have now raised over $1 billion. By the end of this year they plan to be in 22 cities across the United States.

Interestingly enough, they have started experimenting with other business models, beyond just buying and flipping homes. They now circumvent agents and sell some homes directly to customers.

But Eric Wu, the CEO of Opendoor, believes that you can’t automate proper advice and so that will remain. The role of agents is simply about to shift from “administration” to that of “advisory”.

I have been arguing for years that the home buying and selling process is ripe for change. And what we are seeing today is really the start of that.

According to the NY Times , real estate tech startups raised $3.4 billion in funding last year. Some firms, such as Fifth Wall Ventures , are entirely dedicated to the space.

This is money betting on change.

Photo by Grant Lemons on Unsplash

Today, the Slate Canadian Real Estate Opportunity Fund I announced a new name for its 40 storey tower at 700 2nd Street in Calgary: Stephen Avenue Place . 

It also announced that it has partnered with Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality and Concorde Entertainment Group to create three new dining destinations at the property: a top floor restaurant, a food hall, and a high-energy restaurant/bar/patio at street level.

Here are a couple of excerpts from today’s press release:

Stephen Avenue Place offers 620,000 square feet of rentable space at the nexus of the historic Stephen Avenue Walk and 2nd St. This classic of the Calgary skyline will undergo a significant renovation – from its public-access ground floor to exclusive tenant amenities and top-floor restaurant – that will reposition it as a modern hub for energy, innovation, business, dining and shopping.

The acquisition and renovation of Stephen Avenue Place is part of Slate’s growing investment in Calgary. In the past 18 months, Slate has increased its footprint in Calgary to 2.3 million square feet with the purchase of 21 office properties, including 12 downtown.

“We are thrilled to acquire and develop such a high-quality property in downtown Calgary that offers businesses, diners and shoppers the very best in location, amenities and access,” said Slate founding partner Blair Welch. “Stephen Avenue Place will undergo an extensive renovation to fully reflect the way we work and live now, while respecting and celebrating its history and future as a Calgary landmark.”

For the full press release, click here . And to learn more about Stephen Avenue Place, including leasing opportunities, click here .

Disclosure: As many of you already know, I work for Slate Asset Management L.P. I am responsible for the company’s ground-up development efforts.