Lauriane Halle's been given what may appear to be an extraordinary task: Take Europe's biggest annual real estate industry gathering and replicate it in the United States — just seven months from now.
Making it even tougher, she's got to do it as the economy looks like it's close to a recession and corporate travel budgets are getting scrutinized.
But she says she's confident she can make the group's inaugural Mipim show in New York a success because it's during times such as these that commercial property professionals need information, and connections, that can be picked up at large conferences. And the pandemic has shown the advantage of meeting face to face and the value of serendipity in chance encounters that aren't possible on a Zoom screen.
"The amazing strength of events and in-person meetings is that people are looking for answers," Halle said in an interview. "People are looking for ways to improve the performance of their portfolios and assets. And they might be looking as well for inspiration, what other countries are doing, the testimonies, concrete-use cases. I think people can get a lot of value by participating in these in-person events."
For proof, Halle, who's based near Paris, points to the global Mipim conference held in mid-March in Cannes, France. Some 23,000 delegates attended that show, a 15% increase over the 2022, a big move toward the kind of figures Mipim saw before the pandemic. As that show's setup was underway in October, the organization decided to try Mipim New York.
"MIPIM NY will bring together prominent leaders across the entire real estate lifecycle to not only discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the real estate industry but chart a path forward that puts ideas into action to find concrete solutions to move forward and construct a better built world," she said.
RX, the event producer of the Mipim show, said last month the Mipim NY show would launch this fall with a two-day conference Nov. 29-30 at the Javits Center in Hudson Yards. Mipim is organizing the show in partnership with venture capital firm MetaProp.
All Eyes on New York
Mipim will center on what's happening and working in the largest commercial property market in the United States.
“New York is the real estate capital of the world, with unlimited resources for tech and innovation, Nicolas Kozubek, managing director for MIPIM, said in a statement. "The city allows MIPIM to bring a new prism to the global real estate community,”
For Halle, who grew up in Versailles, France, and spent a lot of her professional time in mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore, New York has emerged as one of her favorite cities. It's also one that commercial property professionals across the globe watch and want to know about, she said.
"Everything is bigger. So if you talk about it in Manhattan, of course it will interest people from Canary Wharf (in London). It can interest people from La Défense in Paris," Halle said. "Everybody wants to hear about what is New York doing."
The conference will tackle topics such as retrofitting older properties, the financial climate and how environment, social and governance initiatives could affect owners and investors. The conference also will include off-site tours and the Mipim Awards ceremony.
Prop Tech Roots
Mipim had a relatively minor presence in New York with its annual show limited to property technology. That's the field Halle worked in for several years before joining RX as Mipim NY director in September. Mipim realized an opportunity existed to expand that show because of the worldwide interest in New York City real estate.
"When I was talking about it with our partners, I saw that there was so much potential to make the show bigger," she said, especially coming out of the pandemic.
She expects the broader show to appeal to more people in the real estate industry, especially with the chance to for a glimpse behind the curtain of Manhattan real estate.
"The level of service delivered to tenants and occupiers by the building's owners is unlike anything I've seen in other markets worldwide," she said. "Being able to organize events in partnership with the biggest CRE players worldwide, and the most innovative ones arounds subjects like sustainability, decarbonization, tenant experience or retrofitting is the exact reason why I joined the team a few months ago."
Halle and her team are working to finalize the Mipim NY agenda and persuade people to attend. The money companies spend on a trip to the show, will pay off, she said.
"Yes, it might be harder to negotiate with your CFO and to get your plane to New York," she said. "But I think at least people who come, and it's the same in Cannes every year, they come because they know that the ROI is unmatched and that the lead they will get and the people they will meet will bring them a lot of value for the rest of the year."