JF 4084: Data Centers, AI Disruption and The Case For Small Bay Industrial with John Chang

The Best Ever CRE Show

Best Ever CRE

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 996 Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Chang breaks down the Urban Land Institute and PwC 2026 Emerging Trends report and what it means for commercial real estate investors. He walks through ULI’s top ten markets to watch, including Dallas, Miami, Houston, Northern New Jersey, Tampa, and Phoenix, highlighting where overdevelopment, insurance costs, and local policy risks could pressure performance versus where solid job and demographic trends still support growth. John also explores why he favors sectors like seniors housing, medical office, workforce apartments, necessity-based neighborhood retail, and small bay industrial over buzzy data centers, especially given AI’s long runway and the heavy power demands of server facilities. He wraps up by explaining why today’s combination of compressed lending spreads, elevated cap rates, and a coming construction slowdown could set investors up for strong risk-adjusted returns over the next three to five years if they position carefully now. Alternative Fund IV is closing soon and SMK is giving Best Ever listeners exclusive access to their Founders’ Shares, typically offered only to early investors. Visit smkcap.com/bec to learn more and download the full fund summary. Join the Best Ever Community The Best Ever Community is live and growing - and we want serious commercial real estate investors like you inside. It’s free to join, but you must apply and meet the criteria. Connect with top operators, LPs, GPs, and more, get real insights, and be part of a curated network built to help you grow. Apply now at ⁠www.bestevercommunity.com⁠ Podcast production done by ⁠Outlier Audio⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever noticed every investment pitch deck looks perfect, charts up and to the right,
0:05.0	bulletproof plans, great returns, but how do you know which projections are realistic and which
0:10.1	sponsors to trust? That's where SMK Alternative Fund 4 comes in. SMK reviewed over 350 opportunities
0:17.3	in the past six months and invested in just five high conviction deals. The fund gives
0:22.0	accredited investors access to recession-resistant real estate, industrial, multifamily, mobile home
0:28.3	parks, and private debt, with top operators. Avoid high individual deal minimums and gain
0:34.1	diversification through one allocation. SMK capital management, a family-owned firm with over 15 years of experience,
0:41.6	conducts rigorous due diligence on each investment to ensure strong performance potential
0:45.9	and capital preservation.
0:47.9	The fund targets a five-year hold with immediate cash flow, 11 to 16 percent annualized
0:52.8	returns, and tax benefits through 30 to 40% passive losses
0:57.3	in the first year. Alternative Fund 4 is closing soon. SMK is giving Best Ever listeners
1:02.6	exclusive access to founder's shares typically reserved for early investors. Visit smkcap.com
1:09.2	slash BEC to download the full fund summary.
1:12.7	All right. Welcome back best ever listeners to the Horizon podcast. This week, I am in
1:18.9	San Francisco. Yep, I'm in a hotel room again. This week, we have the Urban Land Institute
1:27.0	conference happening in San Francisco.
1:29.7	So I'm out here to just to participate in a council meeting with the Student Housing Council of the ULI.
1:38.5	So that's going to be a great opportunity for me to chat with those guys.
1:43.0	Granted, student housing is not my core expertise,
1:47.1	but I think I'll be able to add some value for those guys.
1:50.7	Now, Hassam Naji, the CEO of Marcus Milchap, was on stage,
	...

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