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Frameworks and definitions for agentic AI, commercial real estate development, and the technology transforming the built world.

Agentic Development

Agentic development is a new model for real estate development where autonomous AI agents work alongside human domain experts to execute development workflows end-to-end. Unlike traditional AI copilots that assist with individual tasks, agentic systems independently research, analyze, and produce deliverables across the full development lifecycle — from site selection and due diligence to underwriting and investment committee preparation.

Agentic AI in Real Estate

Agentic AI in real estate refers to autonomous AI systems that can independently execute complex commercial real estate workflows — researching markets, analyzing properties, producing financial models, and generating deliverables without constant human direction. These systems go beyond chatbots and copilots to act as virtual analysts, underwriters, and researchers.

AI-Native CRE

AI-native CRE describes commercial real estate firms and workflows built from the ground up around artificial intelligence, rather than retrofitting AI onto legacy processes. In an AI-native firm, AI is not an add-on tool — it's the foundational operating layer that shapes how deals are sourced, analyzed, and executed.

AI Operating Partner

An AI operating partner is a service model that combines autonomous AI agents with human domain experts to function as a scalable extension of a real estate development team. Unlike traditional consultancies that bill by the hour, or SaaS tools that require internal teams to operate, an AI operating partner delivers completed workflows and institutional-grade deliverables.

AI Site Selection

AI site selection uses artificial intelligence to identify, evaluate, and rank potential development sites across large geographic areas. By processing thousands of parcels against zoning, environmental, infrastructure, demographic, and financial criteria simultaneously, AI site selection compresses what traditionally takes months of manual research into days.

AI Due Diligence

AI due diligence in commercial real estate uses artificial intelligence to automate and accelerate the research, analysis, and reporting that precedes a real estate investment or development decision. AI systems can process environmental records, zoning codes, title documents, financial data, and market comparables simultaneously — producing comprehensive due diligence packages in hours instead of weeks.

Desktop Due Diligence

Desktop due diligence is a preliminary analysis of a real estate opportunity conducted entirely through remote data sources — without physical site visits or third-party field reports. It's used to make early-stage go/no-go decisions before committing to the time and cost of full due diligence. AI has dramatically expanded what's possible in desktop due diligence by processing vastly more data sources than manual approaches.

AI Underwriting for CRE

AI underwriting in commercial real estate uses artificial intelligence to automate the financial modeling, sensitivity analysis, and return projections that inform investment and development decisions. AI underwriting systems can produce institutional-grade financial models in minutes — incorporating market data, comparable transactions, construction cost estimates, and financing assumptions.

CRE Automation

CRE automation refers to the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and intelligent workflows to streamline and accelerate commercial real estate operations. It encompasses everything from automated data ingestion and market monitoring to AI-powered analysis, reporting, and portfolio management. The goal is to eliminate repetitive manual work so CRE professionals can focus on high-value decisions.

Proptech

Proptech — short for property technology — is the broad category of technology companies, platforms, and tools that are transforming how real estate is developed, managed, transacted, and experienced. The proptech ecosystem spans everything from listing platforms and virtual tour software to AI-powered development tools and smart building systems.

Data Center Site Selection

Data center site selection is the process of identifying and evaluating locations for new data center facilities based on power availability, fiber connectivity, water resources, zoning compatibility, natural disaster risk, labor markets, and tax incentive programs. With the explosion of AI compute demand, data center site selection has become one of the most competitive and time-sensitive activities in commercial real estate.

Data Center Due Diligence

Data center due diligence is the specialized investigation process for evaluating potential data center sites and existing facilities. It goes beyond standard commercial real estate due diligence to include detailed analysis of power infrastructure, fiber connectivity, cooling resources, environmental constraints, and the regulatory landscape specific to mission-critical technology facilities.

AI Data Center Development

AI data center development refers to the full lifecycle of planning, designing, and constructing data center facilities optimized for artificial intelligence workloads. AI data centers have fundamentally different requirements than traditional facilities — higher power density per rack, more sophisticated cooling systems, and infrastructure designed for GPU clusters rather than conventional servers.

Power Analysis for Data Centers

Power analysis for data centers is the process of evaluating electrical infrastructure capacity, utility reliability, interconnection timelines and costs, redundancy options, and energy procurement strategies for current or planned data center facilities. As AI workloads drive power requirements to unprecedented levels, power analysis has become the most critical factor in data center site selection and development feasibility.

CRE Market Research

CRE market research is the systematic analysis of commercial real estate market conditions — supply and demand dynamics, demographic trends, economic indicators, comparable transactions, and competitive landscape — used to inform investment, development, and leasing decisions. AI has transformed CRE market research from a time-intensive manual process into an on-demand capability that can synthesize thousands of data points in hours.

AI Property Analysis

AI property analysis uses artificial intelligence to evaluate the physical, financial, regulatory, and market characteristics of commercial real estate properties. By integrating data from GIS systems, public records, financial databases, and market platforms, AI property analysis produces comprehensive property assessments that combine physical analysis, financial modeling, and market positioning.

Zoning Analysis

Zoning analysis is the process of evaluating a property's zoning designation, permitted uses, development standards (height, density, setbacks, parking), overlay districts, and entitlement requirements to determine what can be built and what approvals are needed. AI-powered zoning analysis automates the review of complex municipal codes and identifies development constraints and opportunities faster than manual research.

Environmental Due Diligence

Environmental due diligence is the investigation of environmental conditions and risks associated with a commercial real estate property or development site. It encompasses contamination screening, flood zone assessment, wetland delineation, hazardous materials evaluation, regulatory compliance review, and Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessment coordination. AI tools have accelerated the initial screening phase dramatically.

CRE Data Platform

A CRE data platform is a centralized system that aggregates, normalizes, and connects commercial real estate data from multiple sources — property records, market analytics, financial data, regulatory information, and proprietary datasets — into a unified layer that powers analysis, reporting, and AI-driven workflows.

Test Fit Analysis

Test fit analysis is the process of determining whether and how a proposed building program can physically fit on a development site within zoning and regulatory constraints. It includes massing studies, floor plate layouts, parking configurations, unit mix optimization, and preliminary site planning. AI tools can now generate and evaluate multiple test fit scenarios rapidly, accelerating early-stage development feasibility.

Investment Committee Memo

An investment committee memo (IC memo) is the formal document presented to a real estate investment firm's decision-making body to recommend or evaluate a potential transaction. It synthesizes market research, financial analysis, risk assessment, comparable transactions, and deal terms into a structured narrative that enables informed investment decisions. AI can now draft IC memos by pulling together outputs from upstream analysis workflows.

AI Agents in Real Estate

AI agents in real estate are autonomous AI systems designed to execute specific commercial real estate workflows independently. Unlike chatbots that respond to prompts, AI agents take goals, plan multi-step approaches, access data sources, perform analysis, and produce structured deliverables. They function as virtual team members — site sourcers, analysts, underwriters, and researchers — that work alongside human professionals.