When we talk about the word “future,” many things come to mind: flying cars, space inhabitation, robots or even a future vacation that looms on the horizon. For us at EG, the word future starts by first looking at the past. Established in 2005 within a dark, tiny office in New York City – with two partners and a vision – EG was created as a boutique firm that was dedicated to providing a real estate consumer experience that was so much more dynamic than the status quo. Knowledge, insight, expansion and innovation were words imbedded within our DNA and would be defining words for the vision of generations to follow.
Now, with nearly 90 advisors across 13 markets and counting, EG continues to navigate with the word future as its north star and value to the customer as its core mission. As our firm forges ahead into the journey unknown, one thing we can be certain of is our promise to continually deliver an experience that is elevated above all else and pushes the boundaries of the extraordinary. Through our many years of representing the finest properties, in the finest locations and for the finest clientele, we’ve had the ability to curate what we refer to as the tastemaker’s palate; a trusted influence over the best that life has to offer. Consider EG your gateway to the life you want to live.
Editor in Chief TEAM LEAD, EKLUND GOMES ORANGE COUNTY
So, as we embark on this inaugural publication of ESTATE, we look forward to sharing with you the future according to the world of EG. Explore with us the latest in luxury indulgences that include a firsthand peek at the 2025 Cadillac Celestiq and the possible reality of 3D printed yachts. How about robot chefs and a customized diet to fit your individual genome? Discover the newest trending topics from NFTs to the increasingly popular pencil towers that are reshaping New York’s skyline. Even get a look under the hood of what makes EG the future of real estate brokerage — from an up close interview with celebrity broker and EG partner, Fredrik Eklund, to the inside secrets of our team’s processes and success stories.
We thank you for being part of our family and coming on this journey with us.
noun “the time regarded as still to come”
Eklund Gomes CEO Julia Spillman shares her favorite spots in the City of Light after a magical trip to Paris with her partners Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes.
A
THE SUPERSONIC RACE
A promising new era for smarter and faster air travel.
52 DESTINATION
THE SKY IS NO LONGER THE LIMIT
Traveling to the moon and Mars.
REACHING FOR THE SKY
Climbing to new heights, pencil towers are changing New York’s skyline one story at a time.
82 VIRTUAL REAL ESTATE
THE NEW GOLD RUSH
Real Estate Is Booming — Virtually ... in the Metaverse.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
What to know about putting your dollars into Bitcoin, Ethereum or other digital currencies.
STATE-OF-THE-ART STAYS
From coast to coast, hotels are impressing guests with the latest luxe amenity: technology.
NFTS 101
JOIN US ON THIS JOURNEY
Editor-in-Chief Seth Nelson introduces Estate magazine.
14 Q&A
CRYSTAL BALL
Eklund Gomes co-founder Fredrik Eklund discusses the future of the company and real estate.
A MODERN CLASSIC Eklund Gomes co-founder John Gomes makes it clear why he’s the man to follow for all things design and style.
THE FUTURE OF INTERIOR DESIGN
Merging high tech functionality with aesthetics will be vital into the next decade.
THE GOOD LIFE
EG agents share the places and products they can’t (or don’t want to) live without.
Can 3D printing take the helm in superyacht construction?
Everything you need to know about the latest crypto craze.
The six-time author and board member of The Association for Professional Futurists shares her insight into the beyond.
Cuisine goes boldly into the innovative future.
50 GLOBETROTTER
SOLO TRAVELER
Whether you’re on a long holiday or a weekend getaway, Knight Frank’s Stacey Watson advises how to pack, where to eat, and what — or who — to leave at home.
STUNNING HOMES FOR SALE
Don’t miss out on these beautiful properties on the market.
70 FIRST PERSON
GETTING TO KNOW THE EKLUND GOMES FAMILY
EG agents give us a glimpse into their work and lives.
108 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
TIMELESS DESIGN
A 10-year partnership between the founders of Eklund Gomes and Designer Paris Forino has resulted in a collection of breathtaking spaces.
112 CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
SURVIVE AND THRIVE
Ali Forney Center works to help homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
114 CLOSE-UP
DRONEHUB MEDIA
Elevating content one video at a time.
116 SUCCESS STORY
COLLABORATION IS KEY Agent Seth Nelson proves that a team effort is the best way to achieve success.
120 ANNOUNCEMENT
NEW NYC OFFICE AT 41 BANK STREET
EG moves into an iconic spot in the West Village.
122 ROOM WITH A VIEW CALIFORNIA
This parting shot will take your breath away.
Fredrik Eklund John Gomes
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Sally J. Clasen, Laurie Davies, Karen Feld, Natalie Hope McDonald, Katie McElveen, Jay Moar, Jake Poinier, Jill Schildhouse, Stephanie Thurrott, Tanya A. Yacina, Erin Zilis
Steve Zepezauer
Scott Sanchez
Tiffany Thompson
Tracy Powell
Tina Leydecker
Taryn Metkovich
JOHN GOMES
JULIA SPILLMAN
Agent Seth Nelson sits down with real estate power broker and Eklund Gomes co-founder Fredrik Eklund to discuss the future of the company and real estate. Watch for the inside scoop!
NELSON: We are here today with my partner, my friend, power broker, Fredrik Eklund, and we’re talking about the future of real estate.
EKLUND: I’m still calling myself a witch. When I was, like, five years old, basically the same age as my kids now, I used to dress up as a witch, a male witch that could see into the future. Still in business and per sonal, I always feel like I can see into the future, I always know sort of what’s going to happen. It’s a very good quality. So you can ask me anything about the future.
NELSON: I always say in order to talk about the future, we must first understand how we got here in the past. Let’s talk about 2021, a ban ner year for Eklund Gomes, almost $4.6 billion dollars in transactions. That’s a huge feat. How do you do those numbers in a year?
EKLUND: We don’t call our selves team members, we say family members, and I always say, and I will say it until I die, that’s more important than the num bers. It really is. And maybe because of the family is why we’re getting these crazy
numbers. Because of the camaraderie, we take care of one another, we travel together, we go to din ners together. I mean, do we fight here and there? Maybe, but we don’t allow any negativity. And we don’t allow people to compete within the team because God knows there is so much competition going around in the industry, between teams and companies. So that is the real reason why we could do those crazy big numbers. And why we continue to beat those numbers. I don’t think I’ve
ever seen or heard of a real estate entity, team or com pany that call themselves — without even exaggerating, without trying to be cute or anything — family. We do. By the way, there’s nothing gim micky about that. I came to New York, without my family back in Sweden, I felt very lonely. I’ve talked about this, it’s been highly publicized. I wrote about it in my book that I didn’t have anybody. I mean, literally nobody. In real estate as you know, the highs are high and the lows are low, it’s very a lonely industry. I started the team with John, my best friend, because I didn’t have a family. And when I went into the office in the morning, I could see my family members, a very small family at the time. And now we have a very big family. It really starts with that, it’s a real thing. I want it to be less about me, less about John, less about the founders. If we’re talking about 2.0, I want all the family members to feel like co-founders.
NELSON: Let’s talk about the future of Eklund Gomes. Right now, the team is in four states, entering a fifth with Nevada, 13 markets. What does expan sion look like?
EKLUND: Well, I am just one voice. We’re the co found ers, John and I, but it’s really all of us that make these decisions. I really believe in this circular sort of organiza tion, not a triangle, we’re all making these decisions together. Where we are right now, I’m really, really proud. And I don’t say that lightly. Because if I knew how hard it was to do this expansion, we might not even have
done it. I mean, God knows we’re so happy that we did it. We’re capitalizing being in the best markets with all the wealth moving around. We had no idea that the expan sion pre-COVID was going to be so important for us when different markets changed, and sub-markets like Malibu, the Hamptons, Palm Beach exploded. We’re in a really, really good place, we are in 13 sub-markets in four states, we’re going into, like you said, a fifth state, and we’re in all the right places and our developers, our sellers, our buyers are very much the same. We have the best condo buildings under devel opment or on the market with some of the best hotel flags in the world. I really feel like we’re in the center of this informational money storm, and coming out of this incredibly historic year ‘21 into ‘22. And we’re already beating ‘21’s numbers. So to answer your question, with
a lot of passion, as you can hear in my voice, we don’t want to double or triple in size. We want to be the best of the best. We have our own brand, and our own family energy, and that model is going to help us immensely moving forward.
NELSON: Eklund Gomes is situated in the most dynamic markets: Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Orange County, Brooklyn, Florida, Austin, Houston, Dallas. Do you think the pandemic has fueled the system that we’ve created and how that’s going to then expand into the future?
EKLUND: I mean, listen, we didn’t plan what was going to happen. I guess, you know, we capitalized on what was happening during the pan demic. There was so much wealth being redistributed. Some people say there was a sort of East Coast migration to Florida. There were a lot of people going into Texas, on
a whole different level than we had ever seen before. I already mentioned Malibu, the Hamptons, Palm Beach, Palm Springs — those kind of markets just exploded. OC had a lot of people mov ing down from LA and San Francisco because now, for the first time ever, people could live far away from work or work anywhere they want to live. It was a little bit of luck, and a lot of hard work getting into these places. Now, you know, where are we going to go from here in the future? In a post-pandemic world, I think that this trend that we’re seeing: larger lots, larger houses, larger apart ments, highly-amenitized homes and buildings, more bedrooms because every body wants a home office or a home gym. And, of course, clearly spending more of your wealth on where you live, because you can sort of work everywhere, that trend is going to continue.
Real estate expert. Trend forecaster. Creative director. Curator of great spaces. Collaborator. EKLUND GOMES CO-FOUNDER
JOHN GOMES is all of these things. But perhaps, above all, he is a taste maker. Here, in this exclusive inter view, Gomes talks all things good taste with ESTATE MAGAZINE’S EDITOR IN CHIEF, SETH NELSON
Read the excerpt here or listen in for the full interview.
NELSON: This is going to be a fun interview because we are going to be talking about a subject matter that I hold you in the highest regard … from the moment I met you. I always looked at you as this visionary, this guy of such sophistication, class, style, and you’re so articulate in everything and the way you speak and I’ve always really admired that. And so today’s subject being a tastemaker, which you clearly are, I’m so, so grateful to have you speaking on this, because you clearly are a tastemaker, John. And I think where I’d like to start: if you could explain to us and the world, what is a tastemaker?
GOMES: Well, I mean, look, I think a tastemaker is someone who has good taste. And as a result, you know, we’ll buy into something or like something and start using it or wearing it or promoting it and talking about it. And other people take interest in that. And then they perhaps follow that one person’s lead. And I guess that’s what a tastemaker is.
NELSON: Kind of setting trends, is that what you’re saying?
GOMES: Yes, exactly.
NELSON: Wonderful. Well, you’re definitely one to set trends, that’s for
sure. In everything you do, what you wear and how you carry yourself and what you like, and all of that good style. It certainly protrudes through. It’s interesting, John, because you clearly have become an authority figure when it comes to good taste. How do you think that came about? Was it something in your past, your history, growing up? Like, where did this come from?
GOMES Well first of all thank you. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in the finer things in life. I grew up in a working class home with parents who worked multiple jobs just to put food on the
table. I would daydream a lot as a child. I would use my imagination to paint a picture that was a lot more fabulous than my reality. I never lost sight of the visions I created in my mind that were often inspired by images I saw in magazines I would flip through on a magazine rack while my mom was shopping. It all really developed from there.
NELSON: Amazing. So it sounds like you had a pretty big imagination as a child and just bigger aspirations in life really, of just wanting the best of the best, and the best for yourself and the people around you. Does that sound right?
GOMES: Never underestimate the power of imagination. It can take you places beyond where you ever thought would be possible. I’m living proof of that.
NELSON: And you didn’t want to sell yourself short, and you certainly haven’t, so good for you, my friend, for following every little bit of dreams that you had, which have now led to you living in the Big Apple, New York City, I mean, the center of the universe. And I have to imagine that living in New York City has to have some kind of influence in the way you think creatively and where you go in the city and architecture and the museums and restaurants and, as a tastemaker, that must be a mecca for you to live in New York City. How has that influenced your tastemaker mentality?
GOMES: Absolutely. Look, I think that New York City is like living in the epicenter of the world, in my opin ion. And there’s so much inspiration here. I’m heavily inspired by archi tecture, and there’s so much archi tecture out there. I feel so humbled to be a part of the team of people that have ultimately helped reshape and redefine the skyline of New York City architecture. I also like to go to the museums where I very often
find inspiration; galleries as well, where there’s all kinds of art exhib its that are coming in all the time. I love restaurants. And if you know me well, you know that I’m all about what’s new, and I’m always going to restaurant openings. And you know, I find a lot of inspiration there, not just in food, which I love, but also in the design and the decor of the spaces. I’m very inspired by nature. And as a result, parks, like the park that we have, just outside of our office, Madison Square Park, or Central Park or Washington Square Park, I’m constantly finding myself sort of strolling through. But really, I think it’s the culture of the city, the diversity of the city, you’re influ enced by so much. Within like three minutes, you can be walking down Fifth Avenue and hear five different languages and a couple of differ ent dialects at that, if you will. And there’s just people that dress differ ently, culturally, people that speak differently, people that you have conversations with that are worldly, that are giving their perspective on things. So yeah, I find a tremendous amount of inspiration right here in New York City.
Gomes describes his home as sophisti cated and refined but approachable and comfortable: “Yes, I do have cashmere sofas that were custom made by Dmitriy … but you can feel free to put your feet up on the sofa and you’ll actually feel comfortable and I wouldn’t flinch.”
Listen in to hear more from the design and style guru about his favorite brands, his passion for cool kicks, his biggest inspira tion, creating heavenly spaces, working with collaborative designers and his secret to the fountain of youth.
Merging high tech functionality with aesthetics will be vital into the next decade.
Spending much of the past two years in our homes altered the way we want to live in the future. We value our homes not only as a place to sleep, but as a space to work or play with and apart from family members or housemates. We’ve discovered that emotional well-being and physical space are inter-related. City dwellers — house bound by Covid — cherish the benefits of outdoor space with calming greenery.
Here’s how top interior design experts envision our homes moving into the future.
“ I BELIEVE IN PUSHING THE ENVELOPE WHEN IT COMES TO HOME DESIGN. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE RIGHT FOR ANYBODY ELSE, JUST FOR THE PERSON WHO WILL LIVE THERE. ” — FREDRIK EKLUND
“Well-being is a pivotal feature becoming more dominant,” says Brea Elles, interior architect and founder of Atelier Honnete based in Miami and Dallas. She comes to interior design from a healthcare background and recognizes the vital role of biophilic design integration, especially in big cities. “A disconnect from nature has an impact on our well-being,” Elles says. “We need to soothe ourselves when we can’t be social so what we have left is nature.”
She brings nature in and consciously incorporates healthy trends in her interior designs. Elles is concerned with the source of a fabric and the carbon footprint which is why she favors linen.
Sustainable design and quality HVAC ventilation are priorities. In California, all new homes include a solar system under the law. Elles thinks other states will follow.
“It’s important to make a space more eco-friendly,” says Dallas-based Calvin LaMont, who, along with his brother, Chris, hosts HGTV’s, “Buy It or Build It.” The LaMont brothers strive to improve sustainability and make a space more energy efficient. They envision increased use of products that are low or preferably no VOC (volatile organic compounds) and believe that a healthy lifestyle will be a priority. That includes healthier indoor air and reduced environmental impact.
“Femininity is coming back full force,” says Elles. Think chubby furniture, a warmer color palette of pastels and blush tones, along with arches and rounded organic shapes contributing to a softer interior space. The modernism that has existed for more than 20 years, with straight lines and sectional sofas, is giving away to these muted tones and subtle forms.
Renowned global interior designer Timothy Corrigan, based in LA and Paris, thinks classic elegance is here to stay. “We’re seeing younger people — especially the Grandmillennials — buying antiques and ‘brown furniture.’ It’s sustainable, higher quality and feels new and fresh for them.” It’s Granny Chic —vintage or homemade cozy and nostalgic design melded with technol ogy. Corrigan envisions adapting old furni ture to the times by hiding wiring in the legs so it’s adaptable to new technology. He finds that younger generations, including one of his clients, a founder of Oracle, embrace his tory and heritage with technology.
“Standard home sizes are not going away,” says Elles, “But as birth rates decrease, we will see tiny homes increase. The defini tion of a tiny home will be redefined. Is tiny a 5,000 square foot home?” Elles says the affluent are building bigger. “They want more — a golf simulator, exercise simulator, theater, wine cave, art gallery, skateboarding ramp in the basement — that’s not going away. The interior mimics our lifestyle.”
Wilfredo Emanuel, a Naples, FL interior designer who appeared on HGTV’s “Table Wars,” says his clients are looking for smaller homes for their second and third homes: “They want life to be easy so not a big house, but smaller and more open to go easier from one side to the other.”
Corrigan sees a bigger footprint in houses, in part a reaction to Covid. Each person in the household needs an office, including kids for their Zoom calls, so the kitchen or family room will be redesigned so it can be partitioned off as needed. “People want more privacy and defined spaces in homes,” says Corrigan.
“The dining room will come back as a multi-purpose room,” says Chris LaMont. “Small spaces are critical,” adds Calvin LaMont, “even in an open concept home. More rooms feel like more of a home.”
Before you design your home, you can experience what it will feel like to live there through VR, which will become more dominant not only for design but as an “experiential outlet,” says Elles. “We can walk the space and figure out how to include that desired component. We build it out in VR first.”
Homes will have a VR room — a space for media, exercise, a golf simulator or any thing else on demand. “People want ‘soft’ rooms that can convert from one func tion to another,” says Elles. “Functionality of space is most important,” even more important than size.
“Smart homes have gotten smarter,” says Corrigan. “Security is a priority, psycho logically as well as physically. People want to feel safe, pampered and nurtured in their home.” Cameras in every room can
be controlled from your iPhone a half a world away. “You’ll know who’s in the house and where.”
Smart appliances will be more afford able. USB ports will replace electrical ports. Wireless charging units will be built in. Antiquated light switches will be replaced by touch pads and voice com mands. The LaMonts see low voltage wiring as the future standard. From floor temperature to irrigation sprinklers and dishwashers to washing machines, every thing will be controlled from your phone or by voice — even flushing the toilet.
When Corrigan designed Madonna’s home 25 years ago, he was one of the first designers to use outdoor fabric indoors. At the time, he used awning fabric, now it’s all about performance fabric. Technology continues to advance in both looks and performance creating a new industry in textile.
Precious stone offers the best of both worlds for countertops because of looks and performance, Corrigan explains.
Paneled rooms are back to make a space feel cozy, says Corrigan. The tech advance ments of digital printing contribute to the return of bold wallpaper.
With lumber prices increasing, we’ll see more sustainable products. The LaMont brothers envision transparent shipping containers being adapted for swimming pools. “We’ll see building materials uti lized in unique ways for residential to lower costs.”
Expect to see more low- and no-VOC products — paints, glues, insulation — as companies will be held more accountable. Bio-degradable materials and more dura ble materials made from recycled products will become the norm.
Expect the ghosting of appliances and sinks, says Elles. The sink will be covered
but revealed with the press of a button. The minimal look will include additional com ponents, perhaps a pizza or air oven.
Emanuel envisions intelligent home technology including a screen-like front of the refrigerator where we can commu nicate with other devices in the house. He sees islands evolving into many shapes. “It’s all about practicality and beauty.”
Corrigan sees multiple kitchens in a home: show kitchens and work kitchens for prep and catering.
The LaMont brothers envision more minimalist kitchens with butler pantries, double islands and adequate spaces to hide everything behind cabinets. All built-ins from coffee bars to full-length wine cellars and appliances will be hid den. An automatic vacuum cleaner may pop out of the pantry. Calvin LaMont forecasts a wave of future surprises.
“Press a button or a touch pad on your phone,” he says, “and a wall slides open to the unknown.”
Most interior design dollars per square foot will be spent on master bathrooms and closets. “We’ll create and spend more time in our own sanctuary,” says Corrigan. A bathroom fridge and steam unit for clothes in the closet will be essential. “Infrared saunas are almost passe. A cryogenic spa is next and air ionizers for health,” he says.
“America is leaning towards European style,” Elles says. Bathrooms will be more open sans water closet. Wall tanks will dis appear. Bidet and toilet combos will gain in popularity. There will be plenty of tech in the bathroom: toothbrush-charging USBs and tech integration in drawers and vani ties. Music will be integrated with showers controllable from a touch pad. European style tubs, free standing without jets or encased with marble or stone for soaking, will be installed. Clean and crisp white tubs will continue to be in vogue but with some integration of color.
Chris LaMont envisions a wet area with
stand-alone tubs and spa showers behind a glass enclosure.
Closets will be more sophisticated and have a greater footprint, says Elles. She expects to see natural light and fine wood or tile replacing carpet. Everything will be inte grated seamlessly and automated and she believes we’ll see tools like integrated hand steamers and dry cleaners in the closet.
“Closets will feel like you’re in a bou tique,” says Emanuel. Corrigan envisions a two-story closet with a motorized revolv ing rack controlled from your phone.
We’ll embrace technology in the home of the future to make our living experience easier and richer.
“The house was a place to sleep and then go to work,” says Emanuel. “Now we expe rience it like going out to a spa.”
BY ERIN ZILIS
Escape to the Amalfi Coast and stay at this luxury boutique hotel in Positano, Italy for the ultimate romantic getaway. sirenuse.it
Heat
Handcrafted rose bouquets that last more than a year, Venus ET Fleur arrangements make the ultimate gift for a friend or loved one. venusetfleur.com
shares her favorite spots in the City of Light after a magical trip to Paris with her partners FREDRIK EKLUND and JOHN GOMES
BY ERIN ZILIS“Let me set the stage,” suggests EG CEO Julia Spillman, “Best friends go to Paris to celebrate their birthdays, friendship and life. Drawn to the twinkling lights and the best shopping in the world, it turned out to be the trip of a lifetime. It was like a dream ... somewhere between Disney and Sex and the City.”
The May trip felt particularly special for the group after the travel restrictions of the past few years. A special night decked out in Tom Ford jackets and an exquisite Oscar de la Renta gown, shown here in these exclusive photos, took advantage of the stunning back drop of the dazzling city.
Paris in general! I love walking everywhere and making sure my route includes strolling by the Louvre or a walk in Jardin du Luxembourg.
Oh, the shopping! I’m a huge Balmain fan but then love to balance it with Zara which is always the best selection in Europe. It’s not only every designer in Paris but they make it so easy with same-day tailoring, free delivery to hotel, and, oh yes, a VAT refund of 12% when you leave.
A drink at the rooftop at Cheval Blanc or a nightcap at the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz
Place Vendôme
THE LOUVRE, RUE DE RIVOLI
BALMAIN, 374 RUE SAINT-HONORÉ
ZARA, AV. DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES 92 (MULTIPLE LOCATIONS)
CHEVAL BLANC, 8 QUAI DU LOUVRE
I’m a sucker for Ladurée. I also love Pierre Hermé, but then again, I’m happy to taste them all. After all, you burn off the calories walking the streets of Paris!
Hôtel de Crillon
The restaurant at Hotel Costes VIEWING ART & SCULPTURE
The Louvre. The outside property at the Louvre is one of my favorite spots in the world.
The Trocadéro
LADURÉE, 75 AV. DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES (MULTIPLE LOCATIONS)
PIERRE HERMÉ, 4 RUE CAMBON (MULTIPLE LOCATIONS)
HÔTEL DE CRILLON, 10 PLACE DE LA CONCORDE
HOTEL COSTES, 7 RUE DE CASTIGLIONE THE LOUVRE, RUE DE RIVOLI
ith all eyes on electric, the Cadillac Celestiq has the potential to become a standout luxury sedan in the increasingly competitive electric vehicle (EV) market. Expected to be released in 2025 (or possibly earlier, according to a source at GM), the Celestiq, a four-seat hatchback, was first teased at the 2021 CES trade show as a concept car, a four-door flagship model with a glass roof that stretches from front to its unique hatchback using smart glass that allows passengers to set their desired level of transparency.
The Celestiq, inspired by the brand’s Escala concept, will be one of six new fully electric vehicles Cadillac’s debuting in the next few years. It shares some of its styling with the Cadillac LYRIQ crossover, which is expected to hit the road later this year.
Katie Minter, a spokesperson at GM, says that the Celestiq will tout a few firsts for the Cadillac brand. “It will be one of the first vehicles to offer Ultra Cruise, an all-new advanced driver-assistance tech nology,” she says. “It will ultimately enable hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios, and eventually be used on every paved road in the U.S. and Canada.”
Other bells and whistles, like all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, will prove important as the Celestiq is expected to go head-to-head with Tesla Model S, the upcoming Mercedes-Benz ESQ and elec tric BMW 7-Series. The Celestiq will be one of GM’s 30 new EVs expected to hit the market by 2025.
GM is investing upwards of $27 million to develop electric and autonomous vehi cles with most new models featuring the new BEV3 platform that uses an Ultium battery system that GM claims will offer a 450-mile range on a single full charge. If true, it’ll be a game changer.
“I think it looks like an amazing look ing Cadillac,” says Seth Leitman, The Green Living Guy. Leitman is a consultant, electric car expert and overall eco-con scious critic with a podcast produced by Crossover Media Group. “Let’s just be sure it looks like that when they are delivered and hopefully enjoyed by their loyal fol lowers. Once the Cadillac loyalists love it,” he said, “then others will follow.”
For Cadillac, the success of the Celestiq will hinge on the sophisticated features, like signature vertical lights that shape the car’s front face, spacious cabin, curated materials crafted by hand and a large dash board screen (hello, mobile infotainment) that stretches from pillar to pillar, similar to what’s being showcased in the Mercedes EQS electric sedan. Even the rear passen gers are promised their own screens that can operate custom media selections.
Price will start at $90,000 for the base model
In addition to being fully electric it will also have driver-assisted technology
Runs on a BEV3 platform and features an Ultium battery
Features rear-wheel and all-wheel drive
Promises 400-plus miles on a single full charge
Features four-quadrant glass roof with programmable transparency
Has glass-buttoned center console
Has flat screens in both front and rear
Promises acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds
In many ways the Celestiq is poised to become a real show horse for GM’s latest, smarter and most grab-worthy technol ogy and design (with a starting price esti mated at $90,000). It’s designed to compete directly with Tesla, an industry superstar, says Leitman. “Anyone saying differently just isn’t speaking truthfully,” he added.
But there’s power in the longtime and everevolving Cadillac brand which offers a genu ine legacy of luxury. This becomes especially important as GM moves deeper into the EV market. Leitman says EV consumers want all the craftsmanship that is promised from a luxury car, “so not just a great interior or sound system, but acceleration, range, mood coloring like on a Mercedes, land assist, beau tiful lines and exceptional detail to the finish inside and outside the vehicle. Let’s also not forget these newer door handles that open as you approach.”
Consumers are also expected to see highgrade leather, open-pore wood and metal inserts in the interior. The bucket-style seats promise extra comfort, as well. The
Celestiq’s grille looks similar to the LYRIQ’s with thin light strips and a lit-up Cadillac badge, and it has long, low proportions, sit ting on 23-inch wheels.
If there’s any doubt the EV market is booming, consider that sales of electric vehicles topped 2.1 million globally in 2019, surpassing the year before. The market is only gaining momentum as issues like rising gas and oil prices and an increased commitment to environmental responsibility becomes more important to consumers worldwide.
Ambitious government incentives are also pumping the market up with zero emissions mandates and better overall fuel economy standards. For the first time, luxury makers like Tesla, Cadillac, Mercedes and others are finding that consumer demand for both sus tainable and higher-end alternatives are very much driving EV sales.
Minter explains, “When it comes to EVs in general, two of the top features on
purchase consideration lists are vehicle range and charge rates. At Cadillac, we also look at top purchase considerations for the luxury market in general, which include factors such as exterior styling, ride comfort and if the vehicle is fun to drive. We take all of these purchase reasons into consideration when developing future products.”
She adds that Cadillac is committed to a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion and EVs are an important part of achieving this vision, all of which are driving many new car consumers into the EV market for the first time.
“When it comes to attracting customers that may be new to electric, great product is really the starting point, but it’s also about creating an ecosystem that makes EV adoption easier, from initial purchase through the ownership experi ence,” she says. “An important part of EV owner ship is charging.”
Cadillac, like other automakers, is working to demystify the charging experience, whether that means installing a charger at home or mapping public charging stations. “By creating an ecosys tem that makes EV adoption a seamless process,” says Minter, “we know we can drive interest in the segment.”
Indications show that consumers agree, espe cially as the infrastructure for EVs are changing, most notably with publicly accessible charg ing stations increasing exponentially. By 2040, almost 60% of global passenger vehicle sales will come from EVs, according to Bloomberg.
While Tesla is leading the EV pack now, diversification among preferred brands is expected to ramp up the market in exciting new ways, particularly when it comes to luxury rollouts.
“The luxury experience begins with the vehicle but it expands to the entire ownership experi ence,” Minter says. “Starting with product, and I’ll use LYRIQ as an example, the team really focused on delivering a true luxury vehicle, one that delivers stunning exterior and interior styling, cutting-edge in-vehicle technology and outstand ing performance.”
But it doesn’t stop there. The retail and own ership experience is just as important. Minter confirmed that Cadillac’s working to evolve the retail experience to meet the customer on their terms, whether they want to do everything online, in person or a combination. “We’re creating a holistic luxury experience,” she says, “that will hopefully appeal to existing and new EV customers.”
Interior view of the steering wheel, 55-inch pillar-to-pillar advanced LED screen, center console and front seats of the CELESTIQ show car (not for sale).
View from the driver’s side rear door of the CELESTIQ showcasing the rear seats and displays on the back of the front seats and the middle console display (not for sale).
Rear seats and middle console of the Cadillac CELESTIQ show car (not for sale).
BY JAKE POINIER
The promise of faster, less-expensive, and more-precise manufacturing offers obvious appeal for boatbuilders around the world who are incorporating 3D printing into various designs and processes. A first glimpse into the technology’s potential came in 2019, when the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center
MUCH FOR
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ALSO BEEN A KEY TO OUR SUCCESS.
(ASCC) built 3Dirigo. The 25-foot, 5,000-pound boat was 3D printed in 72 hours, earning Guinness World Records as the largest 3D-printed boat and largest 3D-printed object.
More recently, the university’s mis sion expanded to work for the U.S. Department of Defense. “It’s under lock and key,” says Dr. Habib Dagher, P.E., founding executive director of ASCC. “But let’s put it this way. We’ve 3D printed vessels quite a bit bigger than the 3Dirigo already, and some of those vessels have made it into an ocean somewhere.”
While wood, steel or aluminum boats are built using a structure that is sheathed with a hull, fiberglass boats require molds to form the hull, with the structural components added afterwards. With 3D printing, sometimes called additive manu facturing, the equation changes: You can either print the hull, like 3Dirigo, or you can print the mold — and boatbuilders are pursuing both courses.
Tanaruz is among the early entrants aiming at the small boat market, using 3D printing to manufacture hulls out of reclaimed polypropylene and 30% glass fiber. “With my background as a naval engineer, it’s sometimes difficult to tran scend seeing things in a traditional way,” says co-owner Alexey Shifman. “Using a 3D printer gives you the possibility of making all sorts of crazy forms. Since the technology is in its infancy, every boat, we learn something new.”
3D printing also offers advantages in manufacturing a wide range of compo nent parts. Hinckley Yachts, which has provided financial and advisory support for ASCC since 2017, used the uni versity’s team to 3D print parts for its Dasher 28-foot all-electric concept pow erboat. “The console is a very complex geometrical shape, so we leveraged their capabilities for 3D-printed tooling,” says Scott Bryant, vice president of sales and marketing. “All of the hardware was 3D-printed titanium, as well, which is a
nice way to make a custom piece versus traditional casting of stainless.”
Hinckley chief engineer Burr Shaw also cites the example of the transom door on a powerboat. “Using 3D printing allows you to make it much lighter, and the sky’s the limit on customizing the aesthetic,” he says. “Fiberglass molds really dictate a lot of the geometry, and that goes out the window with 3D printed parts.”
Rapid prototyping is yet another ben efit of 3-D printing. Michele Tonizzo, CTO and co-founder of Moi Composites, was part of a team that built the MAMBO concept boat, which was billed as the world’s first fiberglass 3-D printed boat and debuted at the Genoa Boat Show in 2020. The boat was designed to be unique rather than mass produced, and helped lead to additional engage ments in the maritime space, including a collaboration with Sanlorenzo Yachts. “They were testing parts for a new boat,” Tonizzo says. “When a new iteration was needed, it was possible to develop it in a matter of days.”
After printing an entire hull in one go, the next step for ASCC has been to develop materials that meet end-use application requirements for strength, durability and fatigue — essential steps to deliver on the promise of ever-larger boats. The university’s current research and development includes testing high-performance resins, monitoring dozens of manufacturing parameters and crunching the numbers with HighPerformance Computing (HPC) and AI. “If a fly goes across the manufacturing floor, you know exactly what time it went in and what flight path it took,” Dagher says. “A customer wants to be assured the data you collect during the printing process are enough to guaran tee the material properties at the end.”
The eventual sea change in the indus try is going to be producing usable large parts without the need for molds, an advance for which Shaw projects a fiveyear horizon. “That reduces your capi
Depending on size and complexity, Tanaruz (photos top and left) can print boats in about 40 to 60 continuous hours, with another 40 hours required for outfitting.
tal cost by a lot, but more importantly, it makes the time to market incredibly quick,” he says. “Instead of taking five or six months to design and build fiberglass tooling, you take that right out of the schedule.”
One of the unknowns, however, is how the 3D printing industry itself develops. “They’re going to go where they see the most growth potential, whether it’s auto motive, residential or other products,” says Bryant. “Until there’s something that the marine industry can really leverage to build both cost effectively and at a price that our market will bear, we will prob ably continue to use molds. 3D printing a hull and deck with a structure that’s com parable in cost, weight and strength to fiberglass would be revolutionary.”
How soon could a fully 3D-printed 40-meter superyacht be cruising the azure waters of the Caribbean? Ultimately, it will depend on advances in materials and increasingly large printers. In the mean time, 3D printing of hardware and smaller parts will continue doing the yeoman’s job of adding flexibility and shaving time off design and construction.
In addition to a 3D-printed console and custom hardware, Hinckley’s Dasher concept boat (photo left and video) includes twin Torqeedo 80-horsepower electric motors and a completely intuitive automatic interface.
aster than the speed of light? Well, actually sound. If Boom Supersonic and other jet manufacturers have their way, the look and feel of air travel could be radically dif ferent in the coming years.
Up until now, supersonic flights have been mostly associated with Chuck Yeager who broke the sound bar rier more than 75 years ago and glossy images from Top Gun. But when United Airlines agreed to purchase more than a dozen new planes being developed by Denverbased Boom Supersonic last year, the airline industry started envisioning a brand-new horizon, the stuff of futuristic films.
In reality, the promise of supersonic aircraft could mean that a major airline like United would be able to offer flights that are both faster than the speed of sound and at a competitive price point in the near future.
TIME IS THE NEW LUXURY.
TRAVEL IS LUXURY TIMES TWO.
SPILLMAN
There are already a few supersonic jets being designed and tested in the U.S., Japan and Russia, with the end goal of get ting something tangibly in the air in the next few years.
If Boom, a leader in the industry, gets the green light, the company’s Overture jets, which would seat between 60 and 90 pas sengers, could cut flight times in half com pared to conventional planes currently on the market. The top speed of a supersonic jet could also reach an estimated Mach 1.7 (or 1,034 mph), making a flight from, say, New York to London take three and a half hours or from L.A. to Sydney just eight. The first of these is expected to be introduced in 2025 with tests to carry actual passengers by 2029.
Other features being discussed include in-seat entertainment screens, roomier per sonal space than current commercial flights and contactless technology, anything that will add comfort and luxury to the travel space, whether commercial or private.
But according to experts, there are some challenges in developing these supersonic jets, namely fuel efficiency at a time when gas prices are skyrocketing, Co2 emissions that will clear aviation and other environmental standards, and noise levels upon takeoff and landing. In other words: the infamous sonic boom.
The FAA presently has a ban on flights exceeding Mach 1 in U.S. airspace (a regulation that dates back to 1973, around the time the Concorde first started flying stateside). Depending on how well the new supersonic jets can solve noise issues (mak ers say they already have solutions to cut down on noise pollution), they may not
The TOP SPEED of a SUPERSONICJET
could also reach an estimated MACH 1.7, making a flight from, say, New York to London take three and a half hours
COURTESY OF SPIKE AEROSPACE, INC.,
even be able to land or take off in the continental U.S. The FAA is currently working with manufacturers to determine how best to move forward, especially as tests of commercial supersonic jets commence and more investors push for updated regulations to usher in a truly new era of air travel.
If supersonic commercial flights are able to eventually take off first, private jets are sure to follow with even more bells and whistles, especially if making same-day trans oceanic trips become possible. The catch: The new jets will come with a hefty price tag, some say as much as $100 mil lion to $200 million for a small commercial jet. Private jets, known for added luxuries, could cost a lot more depending on size and specs, with billionaires lining up for a chance to tap into supersonic travel.
In 2017, Spike Aerospace tested its unmanned SX-1.2 dem onstrator. The Boston-based company has been developing its own proprietary Supersonic Flight technology with talk about having a windowless cabin with walls that behave
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more like display screens that could proj ect images and data, or even a live view of what it looks like outside the aircraft. These unique features coupled with the promise of faster and more luxurious travel are music to the ears of investors who would like to see supersonic busi ness jets become a reality.
During a sit down with Bloomberg, Vik Kachoria, CEO of Spike, said he believes the world is more than ready for supersonic jets. “The global market has changed significantly,” he explained, since the days of the Concorde. He cited economic suc cesses in global markets like Asia and the Middle East that infuses a mar ket for an aircraft like this, whether private or commercial, that will ulti mately get someone to their destina tion must faster.
“Building those face-to-face relation ships are so critical for business,” he said, particularly as we face a post-pan demic shift in work trends. “You need to be there, you need to shake hands, you need to look at somebody in the eye,” he added. Ultimately, a meeting across the world could be done within one day.
He credits new computer and tech nological advancements for being able to essentially create a much better, more modern and smarter version of the Concorde, a jet that’s sleek, efficient and more applicable to a range of needs in both the commercial and private sector of air travel.
The goal for the SX-1.2 is to have a cruising speed of Mach 1.6 (or 1,220 mph), carrying up to 18 passengers with a price tag between $60 and $80 million.
Similarly, Boom’s first XB-1 pro totype, rolled out in 2020, hasn’t yet made lift off, but a spokesperson at Boom Supersonic said, “XB-1 is the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet. As a demonstrator airplane for the Overture commercial airliner, XB-1 is a piloted test aircraft built to prove key technologies and materials for efficient supersonic flight. The first speed test for XB-1, the demonstrator aircraft, will be Mach 1.3.”
The overall goal? Faster speed, better environmental impact and ultimately more comfortable experiences for passengers who are being promised they will be able to travel much farther for work and play than ever before.
If this all sounds reminiscent of the famous and very luxurious Concorde, there’s a good reason for that. Not since British Airways and Air France first offered trans atlantic flights on the high-speed aircraft in 1969 has air travel been poised for so much change. But when the small fleet of Concordes were eventually retired in 2003, the glamour went with it.
“We see ourselves as picking up where Concorde left off,” Boom’s CEO Blake Scholl told CNN, “and fixing the most important things which are economic and environ mental sustainability.”
But what could make these new super sonic jets truly different is their design. Makers like Boom are working to create net-carbon zero jets that cut emissions by running on a kind of sustainable fuel. Also: The blueprints for these jets are absolutely stunning. They are sleek and have the sort of features someone stuck in business class with cramped leg room could only dream about until now.
Boom and Spike aren’t the only companies soaring into the marketplace. Both NetJets and Flexjet are also interested in buying supersonic jets, though there have been some ebbs and flow among both the investors and manufac turers, with some promising companies like Aerion, once among the industry forerunners,
bowing out during the pandemic even before the planes were created.
For now, the focus is on digital engineer ing that makes the olden days of flying seem downright antiquated. But time will tell, especially as all eyes are on Boom’s new plant. The company recently moved opera tions to Greensboro, N.C. to build and test its supersonic jets. Employing almost 2,000 workers, Boom’s CEO Scholl takes the state’s motto — “First in Flight” in stride. It bodes well for a new era of air travel.
With proximity to the coast, the com pany will be able to test the jets over water, in hopes of shaving hours off transatlantic flights. Could a flight from Tokyo to Seattle be reduced to just four and a half hours? Quite possibly, he said.
“Either we fail,” Scholl added. “Or we change the world.”
BY LAURIE DAVIES
Whether you’re a jetsetter or a trendsetter — or both — smart travel is the difference between a refined experience or a regrettable one. From travel hacks on what to pack to how to arrive at your destination rested, Stacey Watson, partner in the international residential department for Knight Frank International, offers wit and wisdom for your journey.
I never travel without …
The non-negotiables — my passport, money, wallet, contact lenses, sun glasses, reading glasses, computer and chargers. After that, I’m flexible. For a long trip with ample suitcase space, clothes, shoes, handbags and jewelry are essentials. If I’m pressed to pack in a carry-on, I try to pack a capsule wardrobe: Pack a smart pair of trousers and a pair of blue jeans with different looks on top.
I never travel with … A hairdryer and people. The latter is meant to be a bit of a joke. Really, though, it is important to consider your routine and how others fit into it. Do you like to arrive to the airport early and enjoy the lounge or browse the shops? Do you want to talk on the plane or read? If you have strong travel preferences, consider meeting people at your destination rather than traveling together.
STACEY WATSON PARTNER, INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL AT KNIGHT FRANKIf you lose one or have to send one away for a visa, you’ll still be able to travel.
DOWNLOAD THE VERIFLY APP. With up-to-date travel restrictions (think COVID), this app cuts through confusing travel rules and ensures you have the right documents for your destinations.
“I want to see the Eiffel Tower with 4,000 other tourists,” said no one ever. Beat the crowds by avoiding peak seasons (this includes school breaks). RELAX. Other than prescription eyewear and your passport, there’s almost nothing you can’t buy when you arrive.
I arrive at my destination rested by … Making lists to eliminate the stress of getting out the door. During travel, I always have four things ready in my hand luggage: ear plugs, an eye mask, a liter of water and travel socks. And upon arrival, it’s essential to adopt local time immediately. You have to break through the jet lag on the first day.
The best place to stay is … Totally dependent on the sort of holiday you’re going on. With a large group for a weekend, I really do like Airbnb for a more local experience. If I’m going to a beach destination, I wouldn’t want the hassle of cooking and cleaning, so I would lean toward brands I know and trust. For exclusivity, nothing beats a boutique hotel. The downside to bou tique: If anything (like COVID) delays your stay, they are less flexible with lastminute travel cancellations.
I get the flavor of local cuisine by … Depending on tried and tested per sonal referrals. Boutique hotels have the ability to get under the skin of what their guests want, so they often recom mend the best of the best. A word of caution: chain hotel recommendations often come from a standard list. Some may not point you away if they have their own food and beverage offerings.
On my bucket list for travel is … Costa Rica and New Zealand. One of these won’t be a luxury thing for me, it’s more of a give-back experience, working with local communities. For a bit of fun, look into the Mark O’Travel app. You can mark the different places you’ve been around the world.
“I’VE ALWAYS FELT LIKE I CAN SEE THINGS BEFORE THEY HAPPEN. SPACE TOURISM IS GOING TO BECOME VERY COMMON SOMEDAY AND IT’S ALSO ON MY PERSONAL BUCKET LIST.
EXPERTS FORESEE PEOPLE TRAVELING TO THE MOON AND MARS WITHIN A DECADE. HERE’S HOW IT COULD HAPPEN.
BY STEPHANIE THURROTT
overnments have controlled who could visit space for decades, ever since 1961 when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth. But now that’s changing. Deep-pocketed corporations are sending people on spaceflights:
Virgin Galactic, led by Richard Branson, took a passenger on a spaceflight in February 2019 and is now booking reservations — at $450,000 apiece — for people who want to travel to space.
Blue Origin sent four people, including founder Jeff Bezos, to space in July 2021, and three more spaceflights have followed.
Elon Musk’s Space X has transported astronauts to the International Space Station and the company is developing its Starship with plans to take people on a spaceflight around the moon and back and eventually to Mars.
While these big-name billionaires and their businesses grab attention, they aren’t the only companies taking people into space. At least 18 players are active in the private spaceflight field, aiming to send people to crewed space stations, the moon and Mars.
George Nield, Ph.D., is president at Commercial Space Technologies and was a passenger on Blue Origin NS-20, which launched in March 2022. Nield believes the transition from gov ernments being responsible for space missions to private indus try is a significant transformation, with private sectors more willing to innovate and take on risks.
“Richard Branson wants to have the first global space lines to help people travel long distances. Jeff Bezos talks about millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth. And Elon Musk talks about wanting to be an interplanetary species someday.”
THE CREW DRAGON SPACECRAFT IS CAPABLE OF CARRYING UP TO SEVEN PASSENGERS TO AND FROM EARTH’S ORBIT, AND BEYOND.
He acknowledges the criticism that space tourism is a joyride for billionaires. “I have a different perspective on that. We are not using taxpayer dollars to send just a few highly trained, specially selected government employees to have this experience,” he says. “Some of the folks leading these companies now have very grandiose visions. Richard Branson wants to have the first global space lines to help people travel long distances. Jeff Bezos talks about millions of people liv ing and working in space to benefit Earth. And Elon Musk talks about wanting to be an interplanetary species someday. It’s not just for fun, even though it really is fun and memorable. Space is our future. It can provide so many different benefits to Earth and to those of us who live on it.”
Nield anticipates scientific research stations and, eventually, bases on the moon where people can live, work and study over long periods of time. Sizeable numbers of peo ple could go to Mars as well — Mars could become an outpost for humanity if climate change or some unforeseeable event makes Earth uninhabitable.
“It is hard to comprehend that such a thing could happen, but the technology seems to be there, so it’s just a question of who would want to go, how much would they be willing to pay and what kind of risk are we willing to accept in order to have that kind of a journey?” Nield says.
Some people would sign on to a oneway trip to Mars, which may sound extreme, but isn’t that different from the way people would come to the new world a few centuries ago, saying goodbye to their family and friends and setting up a new life in North America, Nield pointed out.
And closer to home, space travel could make it possible to travel from one side of the Earth to the other in about an hour. “That could be a real game-changer in terms of how we communicate, travel and do business,” Nield remarks. “I see that coming in the next ten years.”
Matt Gohd is chief executive officer of Zero-G, a space tourism company. He asserts, “Once you blast out with a bunch of people outside of the Earth’s orbit, anything
He has built his career in space and aviation, serving as the FAA’s associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation from 2008 to 2018 before moving to his current position as president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC.
On March 31, 2022, he realized his lifelong dream of visiting space — he was one of six passengers on Blue Origin’s fourth human spaceflight. “At this point in my life and career, to have that opportunity to actually experience it personally was very, very special,” he says. “I’m still thinking about it and dreaming about it.”
Nield says his training for the Blue Origin flight lasted three days. The crew went through the mission in a simulator — hearing the sounds they would hear onboard, interpreting displays, knowing what to do in case of emergency and getting into and out of the capsule in normal gravity and weightlessness. He felt well equipped for the trip, but he said there’s no way to prepare for the breathtaking sight of the Earth from space.
“The view was just incredible. It’s hard to put into words. To be able to look out and see the curvature of the Earth, and then the very bright but narrow band right above that which was the atmosphere, and then above that, black sky. It was the blackest black that you could imagine. The entire picture was just amazing and so very beautiful. I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I get goosebumps and choke up a little bit just remembering it,” he says.
Liftoff was smooth but rapid, with forces of about 3G. “So it felt like you weighed three times as much as you normally do as you were pushed back in your seat,” he says.
After the main engine cut off and the capsule separated, the crew unstrapped and floated around the cabin. “Having the opportunity to be weightless for several minutes and do somersaults and so forth was fun and interesting, but the view was just incredible,” he says.
On the descent they reached 5.5Gs briefly before the parachutes came out to slow them. “It’s a nice, smooth descent,” he says. “They have a system that fires some thrusters just before impact to slow you down.”
is possible.” But a few things have to happen before everyday people can start booking trips to space. Space travel needs to become less expensive, safer and better regulated.
Despite the astronomical ticket price of a trip to space, right now there are people willing to pay for that exclusive experience.
But Gohd anticipates trips to space for less than $100,000 within ten years.
“Even though $100,000 is still expensive, it becomes within the reach of a lot of people for the absolute ultimate thing to do,” he says. “And then I think the price will just continually go down.”
If Blue Origin successfully creates an orbital rocket, they’ll compete with Space X, which should drive down prices.
“Maybe it gets down to an expensive first-class [airplane] ticket — $20,000 or $25,000 bucks — and at that point, with multiple launches, the idea of going to space is very reachable,” Gohd says.
In the roughly 400 human spaceflights from the United States since the beginning of the Space Age, there have been four fatal accidents. “That’s a 1% fatal accident rate, which is pretty high. It’s about 10,000 times as risky as traveling on a commer cial airliner,” Nield says.
He noted that the field of aviation had a lot of fatal accidents in its history, but now
it’s the safest form of transportation. “My hope is that we can see that same kind of evolution in space transportation,” Nield says. Space travel will become safer with more experience and more data. That will make the key risks clear, so designers and engineers can create safer, more reliable, less costly systems and incorporate new technologies and innovation.
Training passengers will also help improve safety. “I could see a multipleweek training process for a passenger,” Gohd says. And passengers will need to be healthy enough to travel. He doesn’t think age will be a barrier, but some degree of physical health will be necessary. “If some thing happens up there, it’s not like there’s an air evac helicopter that’s going to bring you to Cedars-Sinai,” he says.
A congressional ruling that expires in October 2023 bans the Federal Aviation Administration from regulating the safety of people traveling to space.
“Rather than having the same type of approval process as we do for airplanes, it’s set up using something called informed consent,” Nield says.
It’s similar to the consent you give for a medical procedure — you learn the risks and decide if you still want to go through with it. “There definitely is risk involved, and I think that framework will probably be with us for a number of decades while we’re learning how to do this.”
Within ten years, trips like today’s sub orbital spaceflights may be within reach for a lot of people, at least as bucket-list trips. The billions of dollars being poured into space tourism should help resolve the safety and regulatory issues, and as more companies send more flights to space, increased supply will drive prices down.
If a rocket’s not your thing, how about taking a balloon to the edge of space? At least two companies, World View and Space Perspective, plan to launch sixto 12-hour-long balloon trips that will reach 100,000 feet or almost 19 miles above the Earth.
Travelers will be able to see the sun rise over the Earth’s curved surface, the thin band of the atmosphere and the stars in the night sky. The balloon flights are currently booking at $50,000 to $125,000. But Matt Gohd predicts that within ten years prices will be compa rable to the cost of a high-end resort, or $2,000 to $3,000.
Designed by world-renowned architect, Michael Marquez, this dynamic indoor-outdoor floor plan displays one-of-a-kind architecture and unmatched attention to detail.
The backyard includes multiple romantic sitting areas, an infinity pool and spa combo that spills into the Los Angeles skyline with unobstructed jetliner views from Century City to Catalina Island. Nothing has been overlooked in this spectacular luxury estate.
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, located on a private stretch of Georgica beach, offers Atlantic sunrises and Georgica Pond sunsets.
This property is the rarest of all offerings, a truly once-in-a-generation opportunity in the most coveted location with privacy levels like no other and water views from every window.
This magazine-worthy 6.5 acre compound is an entertainer’s dream, with a vineyard, nine fireplaces, a party barn, Wimbledon-inspired tennis court, poolside oasis, an exercise studio and a detached family office.
8 Oaks surpasses every expectation for lavish Hill Country living, just 30 minutes from Austin. This exceptional Spicewood sanctuary was designed by Cornerstone Architects and builder Terry Polston, with interiors by Fern Santini. Refined living and entertaining spaces cater to every want and need. The property is ideal as a generational compound, full-time residence, or weekend escape.
Ouanalao is a new residential luxury resort offering fully furnished oceanfront residences fronting both the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon on South Florida's Hutchinson Island. Just an hour north of Palm Beach International Airport, this exquisite 15-acre oasis features both sunrise and sunset views from a limited collection of new Beach Homes and Beach Cottages.
Ouanalao Residences and Resorts includes unmatched amenities on property: three restaurants, a 20,000 square foot clubhouse including spa, fitness, market, and marina with 26 dock slips. You also have the option to place your residence in a vacation rental program with on-site management seeing to all the details.
REGION
Sophisticated, sumptuous and sleek, this contemporary luxury residence offers every desired amenity in a palatial estate.
The outdoor oasis includes a sparkling pool and spa, outdoor kitchen, multiple seating areas, built-in cabana and fire pit. For the auto enthusiast, there is a 2,367 square foot garage including electrical vehicle chargers, with parking for up to seven cars.
MARKET: NE W YORKCITYg
“ THE VALUE WE PLACE ON WHERE WE LIVE HAS GONE UP SIGNIFICANTLY IN RECENT YEARS AND I THINK THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE AND THE VALUE IT CAN PROVIDE
US HAS ONLY JUST BEEN BREACHED. ” — ADAM WIDENER
MARKET: New York City, but I also closely work with EG Hamptons as I try to spend as much time as I can at my home in the village of Southampton.
New York City has always been a part of my life. Raised in the suburbs of New Jersey but with family from the city, there was always a natural pull I felt every time I came to visit. The big buildings would always captivate me. I have always been in love with real estate.
Working with the Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman has been nothing short of a dream come true. Being able to combine my broad financial perspective of real estate finance with the complexities of solving a client’s needs for housing continues to be the most fulfilling part of my job.
I completely admit the real estate used to be my favorite part of the transaction. Now, after helping many clients and years of experience I can truly say my favorite part is the relationship that forms between us. We ultimately get to be involved in one of the most important decisions people have to make in their lives. Furthermore, they are looking to us for advice and guidance so earning that level of respect is something I take seriously and have lots of pride in. I get results for my clients by listening, understanding, planning and acting in the client’s best interests, always!
The most rewarding aspect of this job is helping
people find stability, peace and comfort by having a place they love laying their head each night. To me there is nothing better than welcoming someone home!
If I am not working, then you will likely find me spending time with friends and family, especially visiting my brother’s family and playing with my niece and nephew. You can find me manning the barbecue at their home in Asbury Park, relaxing at the beach or at one of the local music venues taking in a show. After work in the city, I am likely meeting up with friends for a casual dinner or checking out who is playing locally. I love live music. I have also enjoyed spending time serving on the board of a rescue animal shelter here in NYC which I am very passionate about. After all, there is nothing like the feeling of a forever home! When I can escape the city, hosting a fun weekend out at the beach is always a blast. I love to entertain so having people to my home in Southampton is so important to me.
My motto is “Work hard, play hard.” You only live once and none of this comes with you when you are gone. Life is too short not to do things you have always wanted to do, see places you have never traveled or try things you have never done.
Carpe diem!
“ MIAMI IS AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE A VIBRANT INTERNATIONAL CITY WHERE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IS EXCEPTIONAL AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ARE PLENTIFUL.
MARCI DECLARIS
We were named top performers of our team for South Florida for 2021.
Our favorite part of the real estate process is meeting new people whom we call friends. We both believe that putting people and their dreams together is not only rewarding professionally but it has even more of an impact on us personally. We care about making our clients happy and find great satisfaction in finding them an amazing property in our amazing market and we love seeing them thrive and enjoy the lifestyle they’re living. Being an agent truly isn’t work, it is an extension of our personalities that we have been fortunate to grow into a successful real estate business.
We both have birthdays within a few days of each other and we share the same work ethic. This makes our partnership super strong because we intuitively agree on most, if not all, situations.
Because we both live in Miami Beach, our clients trust our knowledge and insights on the market. We take this job very personally … we care more about making our clients happy than anything else. We believe in honesty and integrity. We are upfront on all aspects of finding our clients the right neighborhood and the right house or condo which builds a foundation of trust.
One of the things that sets us apart is the discipline. The little things make the biggest difference. We always answer our phones, e-mails and text messages. We’re always available to our clients. Ultimately, our clients are really good friends … even if they were new to us, by the end of the process we’ve become very close. It’s the small things that set us apart: the customer service, the fact that we care, being on time is a huge thing and doing what we say we’re going to do. Because of that, our clients respect us and they refer us to other people. 99.9% of our business is referral based so that’s a big deal to us.
When we’re not working, you can find us on the beach or on the tennis courts at The Continuum in our spare time! In our neighborhood you can find us at Pure Vida (being healthy), Carbone (being naughty) or Setai Ocean Grill (being just right). We are both serious about family time so we always find time to be with our kids (Dan) and grandkids (Marci). If we didn’t live in Miami Beach, Dan would live in the Bahamas and Marci in London. But we love our lives in Miami Beach and partnership so much that this will not happen!!
MARKET: Westside of Los Angeles including Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Bel Air, Beverly Hills and beyond.
I come from a family of commercial real estate investors and was licensed six years ago. In 2020, I closed the second highest sale in Brentwood, LA. In 2021, I was the highest producing LA agent on the Eklund Gomes team.
My favorite part of the real estate process is developing the client relationships and making my clients happy and life-long friends. Also, each escrow has a long series of intertwining, often complicated, steps from the beginning to end whether it’s a listing or a buyer, so there is a great sense of accomplishment when the escrow closes successfully. It’s really a complex balancing act throughout the process.
My market is one of the more expensive markets in LA and in the country. With that comes competition, complexity and a bit of crazy. The numbers are big and thus buyers’ and sellers’ expectations are high. I love the challenge.
For many, their home is their largest investment and I treat it as such no matter the price point or property type. With my marketing background and all the resources and support of the Eklund Gomes team, we have the infrastructure, support and resources that no other agent in my area can deliver. That combined with my in-depth understanding of all the nuances of the local market makes me a great fit for my clients. I also bring honesty, transparency, accessibility, resourcefulness and great negotiating skills, bringing calmness to what could be an otherwise stressful process. I am the consummate client advocate. I guide them through the process but never push them into something that I don’t think is the right fit or value and, on the selling side, I work to ensure my clients get the best deal on all fronts.
I moved here to LA from Manhattan over 10 years ago. I’m a mom of a seven-year-old and a dog mom of a one-year-old Labradoodle. My partner
and I live in the area I work in, my daughter goes to school here and all our friends are in the area. I moved here because I like the proximity to the beach and outdoor activities like hiking. I love the blend of an urban and suburban environment.
You have access to so much yet can go home and be surrounded by trees, nature and beauty. When I’m not working, I’m spending time with family, playing tennis, hiking, taking vacations and looking at real estate (haha!).
I’m known for just being nice and down to earth. What you see is what you get, I’m not trying to portray some image of something I am not. There are no smoke and mirrors here.
“ I’M A PERSON THAT HAS A LOT OF DRIVE AND THAT JUST PUSHES ME TO BE A BETTER VERSION OF MYSELF EVERY DAY. ”
— MARCY ROTH
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I am a born and raised Austinite and have seen the city absolutely transform before my eyes. After stints in Portland, San Francisco, Ireland and Hawaii, I returned to Austin close to ten years ago to see the most dramatic but exciting changes yet.
My favorite part of the real estate process is witnessing the marvelous design and architecture that surrounds me daily. And the rush of locking a place in for a client and seeing them thrilled with the results. Hearing people say “I can’t believe you got us this house” is the most rewarding aspect of what I do. I get results for my clients by being persistent and engaged at all times.
I am known for being able to keenly identify the right properties and present the client with something refined and relevant. When people tell me they have showed a client 50 houses I am mortified; it is our job to be able to present a curation to our clients. If those don’t work, then we have to go back to the drawing board about what the criteria truly is. Any agent can send over a bunch of results and hope something good is somewhere in the mix. Additionally, I want to be able to instantly sense someone’s aesthetic and either put them into something that immediately resonates, or something that they can transform.
I like taking a step back and seeing how far I have come over the years, and I like seeing that in my clients, too. I see their budgets literally increase in a MASSIVE way and work their way up in founding their own companies and becoming executives. It’s so inspiring. My mom and dad also inspire me so much. My mom is the funniest, most special and caring role model to me, and my dad is a lesson in being patient, calm, selfless and has a great sense of humor. I take lessons from them daily and love them so much.
My favorite thing to do when I’m not working is being with my family. My wife, Tess, and I fell in
love in 2019 and got married right at the start of Covid. We literally went to get a marriage license to elope, but the courthouses were closing as we sat there, but they offered to marry us then and there and we did it! She makes me feel so lucky every day. Here we are in 2022, and we have a son name Kai that is almost two. Nothing brings me more joy than being with both of them. It’s an added bonus if we can go to one of our favorite restaurants (ATX Cocina, Uchi, Comedor, La Piscina) and Kai is good the whole time!
“ IF I’M NOT GETTING YOU A HOME IN ESCROW, THEN I’M NOT SATISFIED EITHER, SO I HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME AS MY OWN PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CONTENTMENT.
MICHAEL REISOR
A U STIN , TX gE
I grew up in Las Vegas, I live there and know the town inside and out. Las Vegas is a fascinating city. Within 4.5 miles on the Las Vegas strip, you have the best entertainment and the best restaurants in the world, nightly. It does not matter what time of year; you can always find something to do.
“ ONE OF THE GREATEST STRENGTHS OF THIS TEAM IS EXPOSURE AND THERE IS NO ONE WHO CAN ACHIEVE THE SAME RESULTS AS US. ” — ZAC DWECK
I think my favorite part of the process is getting a listing prepared and on the market to show to the world. We all put in so much effort to tell a story with every property, and the sellers want to do right by you and you right by them. The photos, videos, the marketing are some of the things I look forward to the most. Watching something finally come to fruition is one of the most satisfying feelings. In today’s day and age, our content is so important. It is imperative to be distributing the finest quality marketing material we can produce to every media outlet possible. We have to get as many eyes on a property as possible.
I care about my clients and if there is anything I can do to help them relax and make any part of the process easier, I will do that. I have helped people move, I’ve cleaned clients’ homes, dropped their kids off at a friend’s house, you name it. But if it helps them then I am there.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is definitely when a property closes. Everyone’s situation is different. To be so deeply involved in our clients lives and help them achieve a goal and see their relief at the end, that makes it worth it all.
I think seeing those around me succeeding is what is most inspiring. Whether it’s my best friends, family or colleagues, I feed off the energy of others and I am lucky to be surrounded by some very successful and driven individuals. It makes me want to keep building and shows me that I can do more than I thought I was capable of.
Some of my favorite things to do when I’m not working would have to be playing tennis or golf, spending the day out at the beach with my fiancé and our dog. I love to fish so when it’s the season, I’ll be out on the water towards Mexico. My favorite place in Las Vegas is a restaurant called Pieros. It’s an old-school Italian place where everyone knows my name, I practically grew up there. Other favorites would have to be The Wynn hotel and visiting my family’s business in the Venetian (Regis Galerie).
t’s official: New York City is now home to the world’s most slender building, SHoP Architects’ 111 West 57th Street, a 1,428 foot-tall behemoth that’s 24 times taller than it is wide at its narrowest point. It’s not alone. Central Park Tower, which, at 1,550 feet, is the world’s loftiest residential tower, checks in with a height to width ratio of 18:1. Then there’s 432 Park Avenue, which towers 1,397 feet above Manhattan and has a 15:1 ratio. When the building opened in 2015, it was the first in a spate of extra skinny “pencil towers” that are changing New York’s skyline.
And just what is a “pencil tower?” Though there’s no official formula, experts agree that buildings with
a ratio starting around 12:1 or 10:1 qualify as super slender. Height can vary as well: Manhattan’s Madison Square Park building might be just 777 feet tall, but with a ratio of 13:1 and neighbors that don’t come close to matching its height, the structure makes a significant impres sion on the landscape.
Pencil towers first cropped up in Hong Kong in the 1970s as a way to alleviate the island’s shortage of land for luxury housing. Though they maxed out at about 20 stories, these early towers had a ratio of 20:1, allowing them to be constructed on tiny patches of land. By 2003, they’d pushed the limit to 73 stories (about 818 feet) with the Highcliff apartment building.
In New York, though, most pencil towers are also supertalls, a des ignation that implies obvious height but has yet to be officially defined.
According to Chicago’s Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which is considered the world’s premier authority on tall buildings, a structure that reaches 1,000 feet in height, or about the height of the Eiffel Tower, can be considered supertall; New York’s Skyscraper Museum, on the other hand, uses the 1,250-foot tall Empire State Building as its benchmark. In other words, not all of New York’s tall — or even super tall — buildings technically qualify as pencil tow ers. The Twin Towers, for instance, held the world height record until 1974, but, with a ratio of just 7:1, weren’t svelte enough to be called pen cil towers. “These super slim buildings are still a relatively new phenom enon,” says Daniel Safarik, director of research and thought leadership at CTBUH. “We don’t even have an official term for them, although ‘superslenders’ seems to be what most people call them.”
“ THE SKYLINE OF NEW YORK IS CHANGING AT A RATE NOT SEEN FOR DECADES. ” — JULIA SPILLMAN
Experts disagree about the world’s first skyscraper, but there’s no doubt that by the 1870s, several buildings over ten stories had been built in the city. Since then, it’s been a rush to the sky. According to the Skyscraper Museum, by the late 1920s more than a dozen towers of 40 to 50 or more stories had begun to shape New York’s skyline. From there, the bar was quickly raised. In 1930, the 1,046foot tall Chrysler Building was completed. Less than a year later, the Empire State Building not only became the tallest building in the world, but added a second tall spire to the horizon.
Though a number of notable towers were constructed during the next 40 years, it wasn’t until 1973 and the completion of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in lower Manhattan that New York’s skyline changed dramatically.
When the towers fell on 9/11, many predicted that ensuing construction in the city would skew toward lower buildings that might not attract the attention of terrorists. Instead, the opposite has occurred: in the 21 years since the attack, New York has seen a surge in the construction of buildings so tall and so willowy that they have redrawn the city’s iconic skyline.
While experts can’t agree on what to call these reedy behe moths (super-slender is the current frontrunner), there’s no disagreement of why they’re being built: money. “Imagine con structing a luxury residential tower that’s just a block off Central Park but doesn’t offer a view into the park,” Safarik says. “Tall buildings look up and over the roofs of their neighbors. Paired with incredible amenities and privacy, you’re able to charge enough for a residence to make it work financially.” Safarik notes a secondary financial draw: stability. “Cities like New York are considered one of the last bastions of economic stability,” he explains. “If you are coming from a place that might be consid ered unstable, investing in one of these residences has the benefit of low potential risk.”
Zoning has a place in the equation as well. “Billionaire’s Row,” the section of Manhattan that’s home to the city’s three pencil tower residence buildings, offers developers a generous floor area ratio (FAR) as well as a liberal air rights market, which gives them the opportunity to purchase the unused space that hovers above shorter structures. Together, these two factors created near-perfect conditions for developers to locate these buildings.
LOCATION: Park Avenue between E. 56th and E. 57th Streets
YEAR COMPLETED: 2015
ARCHITECT: Rafael Vinoly
HEIGHT: 1,397 feet
RATIO: 15:1
When 432 Park Avenue was completed, it was the tallest residential tower in the western hemisphere. Vinoly used wind tunnel testing to develop the exact placement of the building’s 10 blow-through floors. A pair of customized dampers further reduce sway while taking up only three floors, instead of the eight that a more traditional damper system would have required.
LOCATION:
East 57th Street, between 7th Avenue and Broadway
YEAR COMPLETED: 2020
ARCHITECT: A collaboration between architect Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
HEIGHT: 1,550 feet
RATIO: 18:1
Designed by the group responsible for Willis Tower in Chicago, the world’s tallest residential building cantilevers out over the park, maximizing views for residents. Situated over the seven story Nordstrom department store, the tower is also referred to as the Nordstrom Tower.
LOCATION:
West 57th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues
YEAR COMPLETED: 2021
ARCHITECT: SHoP Architects
HEIGHT: 1,428 feet
RATIO: 24:1
Known as the Steinway Tower, the world’s skinniest skyscraper is just 60 feet wide, about the length of a bowling lane. It sits atop the 1925 building that was once the showroom for Steinway & Sons, the legendary piano company.
There’s more to constructing a pencil tower than beefing up the founda tion and adding more floors. Most important is minimizing the effect of wind which, amplified by altitude, can generate up to six feet of lateral acceleration (also known as building sway) — more than enough to slosh bathtubs, shake chandeliers and create a feeling too close to seasickness for comfort. To minimize sway, architects and engineers use a variety of methods. Dampers utilizing liquid, a block of concrete or a pendulum actually dis sipate friction and vibration to slow the building’s acceleration and make the motion less noticeable. Another method is to build “blow-through” floors, which reduce sway by literally allowing the wind to pass through the building. “Tall buildings need to have a bit of sway,” Safarik says. “Otherwise, they’d be too brittle, which isn’t safe. It’s all about balancing safety with com fort.”
Since super tall buildings often have space for one or, at best, two elevator shafts, super speedy elevators are also a necessity, as much for getting residents to their top-floor homes before their groceries melt as to minimize lobby wait times. Elevator technology con tinues to advance, allowing developers to increase the height of the structures they build. New York’s One World Trade Center is the fastest elevator in the U.S., at 10.16 m/s (meters per sec ond), just under half the speed of the fastest elevator in the world, located at the Shanghai Tower in China. At a speed of 20.5 m/s, over 40 mph, the elevator travels from the second-level basement to the 119th floor in just 53 seconds.
And what does the future hold? Safarik says that, at this point, the sky is literally the limit. “We haven’t pushed technology too far at this point,” he notes. “Who knows, maybe, someday, as sea levels rise, we’ll be functioning above it all.”
Location: Dubai, UAE
Height: 2717 feet/163 stories
Year Completed: 2010
Burj Khalifa has been the tallest building in the world since it was completed in 2010; the building is also home to the highest public observation deck on earth, which occupies the 148th floor. Tom Cruise dangled from the building in the 2011 feature “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”
Location: Shanghai, China
Height: 2073 feet/128 stories
Year Completed: 2015
At 2073 feet tall, Shanghai Tower could be China’s largest building, but closer inspection reveals that the top of the elegantly swirling tower is actually a parapet. The more than 200 wind turbines installed here produce one million kilowatts of electricity each year. Located on the top 20 floors of the tower, the J Hotel is the highest hotel in the world.
The building’s elevators are said to reach 46 mph.
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Height: 1483 feet/88 stories
Year Completed: 1998
The world’s tallest twin towers might also be the most recognizable, thanks in part to the 1999 Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones film “Entrapment.” The buildings are connected via a double level sky bridge on the 41st floor, which is open to the public.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Height: 1450 feet/108 stories
Year Completed: 1974
Known as the Sears Tower until 2009, Willis tower held the record as the tallest building in the world for an astounding 25 years. Engineers utilized what was then a revolutionary system of connected and staggered “tubes” to construct the building; 36 years later, similar technology was used in the Burj Khalifa building.
5. HIGHCLIFF
Location: Hong Kong, China
Height: 828 feet/75 stories
Year Completed: 2003
Hong Kong has the world’s highest concentration of pencil towers. With a 20:1 ratio, Highcliff was the world’s most slender building until the completion of 111 West 57th Street, which has a 24:1 ratio. Highcliff and its 65-story neighbor the Summit are often referred to as The Chopsticks.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Height: 613 feet/60 stories
Year Completed: 2019
Wedged into a space just 36-feet wide, this lean apartment building was constructed using prefabricated modules, which were dropped into place by a large crane.
BY LINDSAY OBERST
The year is 2030, or sometime soon after that. The typical webbrowsing experience no longer exists, and the age of the metaverse has arrived. You can create digital avatars made to your specifications. You’ll be able to fly on a magical dragon, play hyper-realistic and mind-bendingly creative games, attend uniquely interactive virtual concerts, hang out and meet people from around the world, attend work meetings, buy land and build on it, shop for clothes and other virtual items, learn new things, go on quests, create experiences and more — all in immersive, 3D, virtual worlds. These worlds will be accessed through phones, computers, virtual reality headsets, aug mented reality glasses which overlay real ity, as well as potentially more options that haven’t been created yet.
Many of these opportunities exist now, but in the future will become part of every day life the way checking your social media status is today. Metaverse users will be more involved, more “in the moment” than they are with social media and the internet now; where it’s often more like a presenta tion, rather than an active experience.
Last year, interest in the metaverse sky rocketed when Facebook rebranded to Meta. The idea has been in the works for decades. In 1992, writer Neal Stephenson released a novel, “Snow Crash,” in which his characters interact in a completely digital environment called “the Metaverse,” where appearances can be changed, and digital
real estate is just as valuable as in real life. In 2011, in the science fiction novel “Ready Player One,” people in a dystopian 2045 seek to escape reality by retreating to a fictional world. What was fiction is now coming to life. The worlds are getting more sophisti cated, though they still have a long way to go. One area that’s particularly hot is virtual real estate — it’s being likened to the dotcom boom. The possibilities and potential seem to be abundant; so, too, the risks.
The “metaverse,” which is still being defined, isn’t one place; it’s a massive con vergence of worlds (or verses) that each have unique offerings and communities. “It’s a playground for imaginative and creative builders,” says Janine Yorio, cofounder and CEO of Everyrealm, an inves tor and developer in the metaverse and one of its most active players.
The thing is, as Eric Klein, the CEO and founder of MREIT, a full-service metaverse real estate investment group, says, “We’re at 1.0 right now.” A lot will change. Like many, Klein sees the metaverse as the next stage of the internet. A technical advance ment that changes how we live life. “I com pare it to when oil was first introduced and used,” Klein says. “And then we saw elec tricity. This is really what we’re seeing.”
With the word out about the metaverse, people and businesses are buying virtual real estate, and prices are rising exponen tially. Virtual real estate is based on attri butes, such as location, community, and other platform-specific traits and variables.
Sales of digital real estate topped $500 million in 2021. This number may double to $1 billion in 2022, according to some estimates. And by 2030, the metaverse has the potential to become a $13 trillion opportunity, with total users between one and five billion, according to investment bank Citi. Two other investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both estimate the metaverse to be a $7 trillion opportunity.
Commercial real estate in the metaverse will be where much of the action is: for brands to have places to sell and create experiences, for ecommerce stores to have ads and digital stores for virtual clothes and other items, venues for virtual con certs, museums with digital-art NFTs and games that may have ads. Spaces will also be used for education and training, health care and digital manufacturing.
“The most exciting part about real estate in the metaverse isn’t the land itself; it’s the experiences that this land will unlock once developed,” Yorio says.
People in games and virtual worlds have long used clothes to establish their identity, just as they do in the real world. Many will want to have whole designer wardrobes for their avatars, with different clothes and accessories for different occasions.
Though fashion brands were slow to adopt the internet, more and more are embracing and celebrating digital fashion. A 116-parcel estate in the heart of the Fashion District of Decentraland, one of the most popular virtual worlds, sold to Tokens. com for $2.4 million. Parcels are what plots of land are called in the metaverse. Decentraland is made up of 90,000 parcels, each around 50 feet by 50 feet. In March 2022, multiple brands debuted their digital
stores in this digital Fifth Avenue, including Forever 21, Estée Lauder and Philipp Plein.
Dolce & Gabbana sold a nine-piece virtual collection for a record-breaking $5.7 million. A virtual Gucci purse sold for more than the same bag in the real world. Nike built Nikeland in the Roblox gaming platform to allow people to try on virtual sneakers.
Art is expected to be huge as well. Auction house Sotheby’s was the first to cre ate a gallery in Decentraland to sell virtual art. Their first NFT sale brought nearly 3,000 new buyers to Sotheby’s and made over $17 million in sales.
Concerts are already massive, largely drawing younger generations. Justin Bieber, backed by a gorgeous virtual world, per formed a live concert in November 2021 for 10.7 million people. Ariana Grande was reported to earn $20 million for a Fortnite show. Paris Hilton DJed a New Year’s Eve party on her virtual island. An anonymous
“I don’t think everything we do is going to be virtual, What I’m seeing right now, and I think this is where the opportunity is, is A BLEND OF BOTH. How can we incorporate this into our real lives?” — KLEIN
person paid $450,000 to be neighbors with Snoop Dogg in The Sandbox, another popular virtual world. The experiences and items being bought are unlike what can be had in the real world: from being able to see all angles of a concert to fashion that isn’t possible in reality.
With virtual real estate, a question that’s worth asking is: what happens if a world fails? What happens to the real estate you own, the digital art you collected, and the fashion and other items you bought? Klein says the platforms are developing interop erability: where you’re able to take things, like shoes and clothes and what you build, to other worlds.
There are no barriers to entry with digital real estate. It’s an option for everyone, including people who don’t qualify for tra ditional real estate mortgages.
Buying digital real estate can be easier than you may think. Here’s one way:
1. You’ll need a cryptocurrency wallet, a type of technology that stores your digital money. Metamask and Binance are two popular options.
2. From there, you can visit a world, like Decentraland or The Sandbox, and con nect your digital wallet to it.
3. Once you’ve decided on a parcel of land, or multiple, you’ll can purchase with cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum, or with the coins from each world. Decentraland uses MANA tokens. The Sandbox uses SAND tokens.
4. Then, you’ll bid on the land, or buy it outright.
5. If the purchase is successful, the vir tual real estate is transferred in the form of an NFT, which uses blockchain technol ogy to record and verify transactions and ownership.
Metaverse real estate can also be bought through third-party NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea and NonFungible.com. Individual worlds usually offer informa tion about the parcels, like pricing, popu lar sites nearby, business districts, roads and more. Third-party sites offer all that data, as well as information about histori cal sales and properties currently for sale.
Another option is metaverse real estate agents. Although no licensing requirements currently exist, they can help you navigate the process and find a buyer or renter.
Getting a mortgage is also possible. Though, it’s more like a small business loan, because applicants must make a case for their plans to monetize the virtual land.
Additionally, companies like investment group MREIT are full service. They buy land and help brands imagine and develop their presence.
In this not-so-distant future, will every thing and everyone exist in the metaverse?
“I don’t think everything we do is going to be virtual,” Klein says. “What I’m see ing right now, and I think this is where the opportunity is, is a blend of both. How can we incorporate this into our real lives?”
Concerts and events will still happen in real life, but there will be the option to attend virtually. The metaverse will be convenient and save time. Everything we do might have a digital option.
This information is not tailored to the investment needs of a specific investor. Investing in digital real estate is specula tive and could carry a high level of risk. Investments fluctuate over time and you may gain or lose money. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Is the age of the metaverse possible? The transition is already happening. And, with so much invested, and the pace of technology always moving forward, there is likely no going back.
• Second Life, one of the earliest virtual world platforms, created in 2003, still had a million active users in 2021.
• An estimated three billion people worldwide are gamers, who are already used to spending time in virtual worlds. According to a report from the Deloitte Center for Technology, Media and Telecommunications, 82% of those attending live in-game events also made a purchase because of the event: 65% purchased digital goods and 34% purchased physical merchandise, reinforcing the steady blurring of lines between real and virtual worlds.
• A study conducted on behalf of Protocol by the Harris Poll found that 53% of millennials agree that the metaverse would be more fun than real life, and 51% agree that the metaverse would make their lives better.
Here’s what to know about putting your dollars into Bitcoin, Ethereum or other digital currencies.
By STEPHANIE THURROTT / ILLUSTRATIONS By ASHLEY LITTLEFIELDMAYBE YOU’VE IGNORED CRYPTOCURRENCY, THINKING IT WOULD COME AND GO LIKE THE DUTCH TULIP BUBBLE IN THE 1600S. PERHAPS YOU THOUGHT IT WAS CHILDISH, WITH ITS ADVOCATES SPORTING PIXELATED PROFILE PICS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. OR MAYBE YOU SIMPLY DIDN’T NEED ONE MORE THING TO DEAL WITH ON YOUR PLATE. BUT NOW, YOU’RE HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS AND WONDERING
IF IT’S TIME TO PUT SOME OF YOUR MONEY INTO CRYPTOCURRENCY. WITH THE RECENT DOWNTURN OF THE SECTOR, YOU MAY EVEN BE THINKING IT’S A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO GET IN WHEN PRICES ARE LOW.
• Cryptocurrency is an online form of money that isn’t backed by a government or bank. Bitcoin and Ethereum are probably the two most recognizable names in the cryptocurrency arena. But there are almost 20,000 different cryptocurrencies in existence, according to CoinMarketCap.
• Blockchain is a shared database that can record cryptocur rency transactions or other transactions over linked computers. Kevin Roose of The New York Times compares it to a giant, shared Google spreadsheet.
• DeFi is an abbreviation for decentralized finance or the internet-based financial system that powers the crypto world. It’s the crypto version of Wall Street, banks and traditional financial institutions.
If you’re thinking about investing in cryptocurrency, you probably want to be sure it’s worth something. Dollars, pounds and euros — fiat currencies — get their value from the governments that back them. For currencies that only exist on the internet, it doesn’t work like that. Let’s use the two most common types of cryptocurrencies as examples.
Bitcoin, which launched in 2009, is the oldest and most widely used cryptocurrency. It makes up about 40 percent of the total cryptocurrency market. “It’s a base currency of the crypto world,” says Benjamin Tsai, president and managing partner of digital as set management company Wave Financial. Bitcoin is the crypto currency that’s most like the US dollar. And as more people enter the crypto ecosystem and use Bitcoin as a reference point for value, it becomes more valuable. “That’s why you’ve seen Bitcoin really
increase in value to where it is now,” Tsai says.
Gabriella Kusz, the CEO of the Global Digital Asset and Crypto currency Association (Global DCA), agrees. “You have ‘In God We Trust’ written on your dollar bills. On this, it’s ‘In Technology We Trust’ or ‘In Decentralization We Trust.’ It’s a similar concept in that it’s a medium of exchange, and you’re seeing the value fluctuate over time just as you do with monetary policy fluctuations,” Kusz says. Ethereum, the second most widely used cryptocurrency, makes up about 20 percent of the total crypto market. It works differently, getting its value from the blockchains it powers. “If you keep data on a blockchain and use Ethereum, which is the most popular place, you pay a small fee to Ethereum. When demand is high, those fees go up,” Tsai says. Why would someone use blockchains? You can use them to securely share medical data, monitor supply chains and logistics, record real estate transactions or secure personal information.
If you’re serious about investing in cryptocurrency, you need to treat it like any other investment. “You start very small and see if this is something that aligns with your risk profile and your in vestment knowledge and sophistication. I know this sounds very boring, but as with any other type of investment, you need to do your own research, look at your own risk profile, consider what you’re comfortable engaging in and take it from there,” Kusz says. Dabbling in cryptocurrency is like buying a little Tesla stock because you like your Tesla — it’s entertaining, but it’s not an orga nized part of your investment portfolio. “People like to talk about punting tokens, and Dogecoin and Elon Musk. That’s not really investing. That’s just speculating,” Tsai says. “It’s interesting to buy some Bitcoins or tokens or some NFTs for fun, but that’s not how I
Forbes reports that 19 of 2022’s billionaires made their money from crypto. El Salvador is planning to build Bitcoin City, where Bitcoin will power the economy. An online calculator shows you just how much you could have earned with a well-timed Bitcoin investment — $100 invested in Bitcoin 12 years ago would be worth more than $88 million today!
It’s enough to make you think it’s too late to invest in crypto. But Tsai disagrees. “I think it’s an evolving market, and I think it’s still very early. People are trying to solve problems they’re seeing in traditional finance with this new version of finance. It’s not perfect right now. Regulations aren’t quite perfectly in place, but things are moving forward. When everything is in place, and all the uncertainties are certain, that’s when it’s no longer too early.”
think about fundamentally investing.”
If you want to make cryptocurrency part of your portfolio, you can learn what they are and how they work from the videos or tutorials on their websites. For example:
• What Is Bitcoin?
• What Is Ethereum?
They may even give you a little bit of that cryptocurrency so you can see how it performs in the market.
Cryptocurrencies may also have white papers on their website that explain what it is, how it func tions and its purpose or value. “From there, you can take a bit more of a nuanced perspective as to whether this is an area that you’d like to participate in,” Kusz says.
You may already have a place where you can access crypto. If you have a PayPal account or Venmo ac count, you can buy, sell and hold four cryptocurren cies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
If you don’t have a PayPal or Venmo account or you want more crypto investment options, you’ll need a crypto wallet, which you can open in as little as five minutes. Search online for “crypto wallet” or “crypto exchange” to compare different places to invest, the cryptocurrencies they offer and the fees they charge. Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, Kraken and eToro are some popular options. You can also look at many cryptocurrencies at CryptoCompare, then choose a
company that provides the currency you like.
You provide your information and upload identi fication (for anti-money-laundering purposes), and then you can make transactions on that exchange or with that wallet. “You can put in as little as a few dollars. That makes it both accessible and helps as part of the learning process,” Kusz says.
If you want to broaden your investment portfolio without doing a deep dive into the crypto world, you can see if your current financial services company offers crypto investments. More and more companies are dipping a toe into the crypto pool. For example:
• This year, Fidelity will allow 401k investors to put part of their money into Bitcoin, with employ ers’ approval.
• Charles Schwab is setting up the Schwab Crypto Economy ETF (exchange-traded fund).
• Betterment has acquired Makara and plans to offer crypto portfolios.
You can also partner with an asset management company, like Tsai’s Wave Financial, that focuses ex clusively on digital assets. These companies may give you broader exposure to cryptocurrencies and other digital assets such as NFTs (nonfungible tokens), which can prove that you own digital media, and stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to traditional currencies such as the dollar, euro or yen.
This information is not tailored to the investment needsofaspecific investor.Investing indigitalcurrencies, stocks, shares and other securities, commodities, currencies and other derivative investment isspeculativeand carriesahighlevel of risk. Investments fluctuate over time andyoumaygain orlosemoney.Past performancedoes notguaranteefuture results.
Even if you don’t know much about cryptocurrency, you may have heard that it uses a lot of energy. That’s true, to a certain extent. The process for mining Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy because it uses a lot of computing power to verify transactions. But according to Kusz, about half of that energy comes from renewable sources. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well the industry has shifted voluntarily toward more sustainable operating processes,” she says.
A lot of Bitcoin mining was done in China and fueled by coal, and when China banned mining in 2021, many people looked for energy that was both cheaper and cleaner. “People were moving to Iceland for geothermal [energy] and moving to Brazil for hydro and geothermal [energy],” Tsai says. “The ratio is getting better.”
Ethereum is switching over to a different process, which uses a lot less energy. “It’s a much cleaner process,” Tsai says.
IF YOU WANT TO BROADEN YOUR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO WITHOUT DOING A DEEP DIVE INTO THE CRYPTO WORLD, YOU CAN SEE IF YOUR CURRENT FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY OFFERS CRYPTO INVESTMENTS.
TECHNOLOGY
CAN MAKE LIFE ON THE ROAD EASIER.
JULIA SPILLMANWhile we may not yet have flying cars that transport us to our vacations and business travel, each year the hospitality industry moves one step closer to delivering a futuristic Jetsons-like experience to guests. The worldwide pandemic kickstarted early adoption of some technological advancements, but it’s only a small taste of what’s to come.
HE“Much of what was implemented dur ing COVID will stay,” says Robert Rauch, the founder, hotelier and hotel operator behind R.A. Rauch & Associates and a fac ulty associate at Arizona State University, where he teaches hospitality entrepreneur ship. “Contactless check-in and touch-free menus will likely be the norm. Mobile will be a close second. Even baby boomers use their mobile phone for everything, so, going forward, reservations, mobile checkin, messaging with guests, mobile room key and control of the guest room via mobile phone will be standard.”
So what other tech innovations will wow guests as hotels race each other to deliver next-level safety, convenience, comfort, sustainability and entertainment? At these properties across the country, the future is already here.
WHEN YOU CHECK into one of the four Harvest Suites at Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa, immediately disregard everything you’ve ever heard about limiting technology usage in bed. Your king-sized Bryte Restorative Bed awaits, and it’s a literal dream come true. Luxurious Bryte Beds monitor sleep through AI technology to provide better sleep quality and quantity. Guests can control the beds with an in-room tablet, but the bed also just knows when to release the pressure points that would otherwise wake you up and controls the cli mate for optimum balance during each sleep stage. These beds are proven to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and wake up less frequently throughout the night, which means you’ve just found your best night’s sleep ever — and it’s not even at home!
PLENTY OF HOLLYWOOD blockbusters have warned you that robots will eventually take over, and now we’re one step closer to that reality — but in a much less threatening way. Dream Hollywood, comprising half a city block in the heart of Los Angeles’ Hollywood entertainment district, now boasts two robot concierges. Alfred and Geoffrey don tuxedos (obviously!) and offer such contactless conveniences as bottle service, food and supplies delivery and guest greetings. The futuristic feels in this hotel don’t stop there, because last August the property unveiled a first-of-its-kind physical NFT (non fungible token) exhibit in partnership with The Crypt Gallery. Open to the public and curated by NYC-based NFT art collector-turned-innovator King of Midtown, this immersive experience allows guests to learn about digital art and participate in live auctions to help start their own collections.
YOU MIGHT EXPECT spa treatments on the secluded Hawaiian island of Lāna'i to be focused on simplicity and Mother Nature’s bounty, but the practitioners at Sensei Lāna'i, A Four Seasons Resort also lean on technology to transport your body to new levels of relaxation. The Thermal Body Mapping and Massage treatment uses Sensei-developed thermographic technol ogy to create a visual map of your body, revealing any asymmetries, muscle tightness and areas of pain. This data is then analyzed and incorporated into your custom massage, with targeted bodywork focused on restor ing flexibility and alignment.
ORLANDO IS KNOWN for delivering on innovative entertainment, but even more futuristic features lie beyond the Disney theme parks. Lake Nona Wave Hotel, located just southeast of Orlando International Airport in Lake Nona, is dubbed “a smart city with soul,” and lives at the intersection of well-being and technology with impressive advancements throughout. Our favorite is the usage of View smart windows in each of the 234 guest rooms (including two penthouse suites with floor-to-ceiling windows), which use artificial intelligence to automatically tint based on the sun’s position. Guests can enjoy more natural light with unobstructed views because blinds aren’t needed to control light, heat or glare — plus the tech nology blocks 99% of UV light in its darkest tint state.
LOVE THE IDEA of escaping to a rooftop garden for a little R&R? Don’t forget to bring your smart phone, because it’s the key to unlocking the rooftop digital forest at JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort. This augmented reality experience comes to life once guests download the Shimé app and use it to interact with three sculptures. Each time guests return to this spot — whether that’s the next day or a year later — they’ll get to “see” just how much their trees and plants have grown. This space coexists with a secret butterfly garden, a 70-foot wall covered with more than 600 handmade titanium butterflies that change hue throughout the day.
1. METAVERSE. Everyone’s getting into the metaverse, so why not hotels? “Innovations in the metaverse offer numerous ways for hotels to market their property to anyone in the world in an instant, explains Tricia Costello, executive director and CEO of creative agency Fresh Wata, whose team broke digital ground on MetaVegas. “They can offer tours to guests and meeting planners from around the world at a moment’s notice.” How does it work? Guests can park their avatar’s car at valet, walk through the
front doors and be greeted by a knowledgeable host ready to book their conference or event. They can see the hotel’s layout, walk through hallways and enter rooms, such as a penthouse, and approach the mini bar to see what’s in stock. The hotel manager can look at your avatar eye-to-eye, pull up a hologram property map, teleport you to the gym or pool party where a DJ is spinning, or to one of their restaurants to show you a video message from the chef. The possibilities are endless.
2. 5G WIRELESS. “5G will come to fruition fairly soon,” says Rauch. “This will completely disrupt all hotels as many now provide cable, fiber or satellite technology and all are striving to improve Wi-Fi speed.”
3. MORE ROBOTS. “We will see more robotics rolled out, especially those that perform mundane tasks,” says Rauch. “These will include delivery/service robots and vacuumcleaning robots.”
NFTs, THE NEW “IT” THING, HAVE TAKEN many communities in art, gaming, music, collect ing and speculative investing by storm. NFT art is all the rage and buzz among the hip, tech and artsy crowds. But what exactly are NFTs? What are they used for? And how do they work?
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
An NFT is a non fungible token. In economics, a fungible asset is something with units that can be readily interchanged — like money. With money, you can swap a $10 note for two $5 notes and it has the same value. However, when something is non fungible, this is not possible. The unique properties of an NFT cannot be interchanged with something else. These digital tokens or NFTs represent a unique, irreplaceable asset that lives on the blockchain.
For those not in the know, the blockchain is a digitally distributed, decentralized, public ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across a virtual network. Interchangeable digital assets, such as cryptocurrency, tokens or NFTs, are traded over the internet or several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network.
There are currently many popular blockchain platforms that support NFTs. These include Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Avalanche (AVAX) and Tezos (XTZ) among others.
NFTs can be made from any kind of digital con tent, such as art, music, photography, memes, video clips and GIFs amongst other elements (even Tweets and metaverse/virtual real estate).
NFTs can act as the digital form of an asset. This could be a digital piece of art or “CryptoArt.” There has been an explosion of NFT art in the digital art space, with both popular and unknown artists selling (or re-selling) their digital NFT art pieces for large sums of cryptocurrency.
At the initial height of the NFT craze in early 2021, acclaimed digital artist Mike Winklemann, better known as Beeple, sold a single piece of artwork titled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for a staggering 38,474.82 Ethereum (or $69.3 million) at a Christie’s auction.
Another well-known NFT art sale was a 20-second video clip of LeBron James’ “Dunk #23” that was sold for $230,023. This was part of the NBA 2020 Finals set of col lector cards featuring “LeBron’s Moments.” In another instance in 2021 where an NFT sale occurred that wouldn’t be considered specifically as “art,” then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey auctioned an NFT of his first tweet, which sold for $2.9 million.
There has also been a flurry of NFT art collections that have set new records. The popularity of these began with early collections that were released as far back as 2018, such as the 10,000 unique pieces making up CryptoPunks by Larva Labs. In a February 2022 resale, one CryptoPunk NFT, “CryptoPunk #5822” (one of only nine rare “alien” punk variants in the entire collection), sold for 8000 ETH or close to $23.7 million at the time of sale.
These collectibles are created in a series, usually in a large quantity, for example 10,000 pieces, that make up a collection. The level of artwork can be quite mini malistic and simple, and they usually have variations of a profile such as accessories, facial features or clothing which determine their level of rarity. A good example of this would be the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) by Yuga Labs, that has seen membership adoption and ownership by celebrities such as Jimmy Fallon and Madonna. This has led to a flurry of simian and animal-themed collections, such as Moonbirds, to meet demand for these lim ited collections.
Anonymous and obscure artists have also achieved success through NFT art sales. In one instance in late 2021, a 12-year-old boy from London earned over $400,000 with his collection of “Weird Whale” NFTs.
Like art, music and digital elements of sound can be made into an NFT asset. Music artists can release and sell entire songs or music pieces as NFTs, or alterna tively sound snippets or samples that can later be blended into other works.
Another area of NFTs that has recently exploded is the advent of NFT-based
gaming and digital trading cards. In this instance, it is game players of popular NFT-based games who buy (or rent) NFT assets to advance their gameplay and potentially earn cryptocurrency (usually in the form of a game’s token). This can allow them to upgrade their asset or purchase more. These in-game assets can be in the form of items such as virtual avatars, weapons, armor or other upgrades. This idea lends itself well to communities built around Trading Card Games (TCGs), where valuable and rare trading cards are bought, sold and traded to be used in-game in a playing deck. Communities built around these TCGs can also take part in tournaments and other eSports competitions.
As mentioned earlier with the BAYC collec tion, NFTs can also be a membership to a club or some kind of certificate of proof or license that verifies the existence of some thing in physical form.
Celebrity entrepreneur personality on the hit investment reality TV show “Shark Tank,” Kevin O’Leary, states that NFTs offer great potential in their application of uses. In the examples Kevin uses, he explains that he can turn a collection of expensive limited-edition watches into separate NFTs. He can then let his insurance agent know which selection of ten watches are out of the vault for a week
There are many factors that determine the value of an NFT. Obviously, market perception is a key element. Has the NFT been created by a known artist? Many aren’t. Is it a one-off piece or part of an exclusive limited-edition collection? If the NFT is part of a collection, how large is the collection and how many more releases in that series are expected? Is there a lot of hype around a particular NFT or collection? And if so, why?
In the world of NFTs, price is determined by how the community perceives the item. Sellers try to create FOMO, or fear of missing out, to generate demand. Speculative investors are always on the hunt for rare items to add to their collection.
and pay a reduced insurance premium as he would only need to cover the group of ten that are out.
Another example is authentication. In every transaction of an expensive collectors watch NFT, the details of the watch – the scan of its style down to the micron level, would be attached to the NFT.
This would authenticate the watch as a legit imate piece and offer a purchase assurance of authenticity to the buyer. This idea could be applied to many other real world, tangible items such as pen collections, coin collections, jewelry, cars or even real estate.
Swiss based cyber security, IoT and AI plat form company, WISeKey, launched the first ever secure luxury NFT watch in early 2021.
Consequently, NFTs can serve a function rep resenting a number of real world items. An NFT could be deeds to a car, tickets to a real-world event, tokenized invoices or even legal documents or signatures.
Some NFTs will pay out royalties to their creators every time one of their NFTs is resold. In some other instances, royalties can be paid to an NFT owner for simply holding it. They can be tied to the rights of a real world asset which pays a divi dend of proceeds created.
So where exactly can you buy NFTs? There are many locations both online and in the real world where you can purchase an NFT.
The most common are online NFT market places such as:
• OpenSea – the current leader in NFT sales
• Rarible – profiles top current NFT collections and allows collectors to form a community
• SuperRare – a marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks
• Nifty Gateway – collaborates with top artists and companies to produce limited edition, high-quality Nifties that are only available on their site for a short period
• Foundation – a community-curated marketplace that requires creators to be invited by other cre ators who are already part of the platform
A calendar of upcoming NFT sales and releases can be viewed on sites such as Rarity Tools. NFTs can also be bought in traditional auction houses such as Sotheby’s or Christie’s, although you’d probably be paying at the top end of the market there.
Another real world destination where you can purchase NFTs are NFT art galleries located in real bricks-and-mortar locations. Many of these are starting to pop up in large cities across the US such as Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Some of these will even sell you the custom-made screen built to display the crypto art piece.
Before you purchase your NFT, you will need to set up an NFT wallet to store it. This may depend on the blockchain protocol that the NFT is built on, so you should make sure to check that you have a compatible wallet for your NFT.
Metamask is a popular browser-based option and
can be installed as a browser extension as well as an app for your mobile device. Metamask supports Ethereum-based tokens as well as other blockchains.
Other wallet options include Math Wallet (which supports over 70 block chains) and can be synced across devices with web, desktop and mobile versions.
AlphaWallet is an open-source crypto currency wallet that has a native support for blockchain games and NFTs but is lim ited to mobile and Ethereum only.
Exchange-based wallets like Trust Wallet (run by Binance) and Coinbase’s NonCustodial Wallet offer further NFT storage options. The app-based Trust Wallet supports multiple blockchains and is heavily biased towards smart chain tokens. Coinbase’s wallet allows its users to access decentralized appli cations (or dApps) and offers easy transfers based on usernames rather than complicated public wallet addresses.
Popular hardware or cold wallets (physical, tangible devices) for storing NFTs include the popular Ledger and Trezor wallets.
It should be noted that within this highpriced and headline-making NFT craze, scammers and fraudsters are also preva lent, so investors should beware and do your own research (DYOR).
Some of these shady types may try to
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sell you something by passing it off as an NFT when, in actual fact, it’s not. Others have claimed they have the right to sell an NFT of a piece of work they don’t own and didn’t create. These are just some of the common pitfalls to watch out for when new tech gains in value and popularity.
Another recent trend to watch out for is known as “rug pulls.” This is a scenario where the creator of an NFT, collection or gaming project solicits investments and then abruptly abandons the project and fraudu lently retains the project investors’ funds.
In the future, NFTs have the potential to be utilized in many different applications. Currently, that demand is being met in the digital art landscape.
According to coder and avid NFT col lector “Begin” (@beginbotbot on Twitter), NFT communities are highly valuable for supporting NFT projects. Begin is a fulltime Degen — in the crypto world, that refers to someone who jumps at oppor tunities without conducting sufficient research or is often a term crypto-traders (who actually do their research) use to jokingly refer to themselves. He states, “While there are many NFT projects that are more focused on the art, the majority of major NFT projects are known for their communities.”
Begin himself is deeply immersed in the local Venice Beach NFT community in Southern California. He
attends weekly meetups and even presents a weekly roundup of NFT talking points, called “IRL Alpha,” to a live audience and broadcasts it live on Twitch to an extended community.
Regarding where the next NFT meta trend is heading, Begin believes that more and more subcultures and groups are going to form around NFTs. “Collectors will be a part of many overlapping communities around different niche interests, like music genres or other physical collectible items,” according to Begin.
As for the future, Begin goes on to say that, “We won’t be hearing about NFTs as often, but NFTs will be the tech used for a lot of applications like video game skins, tickets and clothing authentication.”
If you are considering purchasing an NFT as an investment, be aware that there is no guarantee it will increase in value. While some NFTs can sell for thousands or millions of dollars, others may remain or become worthless.
And if you are new to the world of NFTs, take this advice from Begin, “Spend two months learning as much as possible. Join Twitter and read conflicting ideas. Join the Discord servers of many projects new and old and see how the community interacts and what they talk about. Meet people who are into NFTs in real life and pick their brain. Buy the things you like, never spend more than you can lose, and most impor tantly, have fun!”
“WE DON’T THROW OUT TAROT CARDS,” says Joyce Gioia, president of the Herman Group in Austin, TX. A noted strategic business futurist con centrating on relationship aspects of the future, Gioia pens her forecast weekly in the Herman Trend Alert.
She attributes her keen ability to discern facts from propaganda to her “boundless curiosity.”
“I help people make better decisions by knowing what’s coming,” Gioia asserts. She has the ability to infer from what is happening now — based on sci ence and research — what could happen in the future.
“I never use the word ‘prediction,’ it doesn’t give enough wiggle room,” she says.
Each episode of her upcoming Roku TV show, “It’s Your Future with Joyce Gioia,” will cover one area of
what life will be like in the future. Here, Gioia shares her forecast on multiple topics for the decade ahead:
BUSINESS
Experiences will be known to drive profit and the Chief Experience Officer will run the show. A holistic approach to benefits, including flextime and place, will drive the biggest changes in our work and lives. One size doesn’t fit all. Employees value the opportunity to pick what they want. One might want subsidized IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), another elimination of student loan debt or subsidized childcare. Employees want to be aligned with the company values or participation will be a harder sell. It’s about the total experience. We must believe that our lives will be better if we work with your company. There’s an increasing value of inter-personal benefits. Employees will ask, “Is this company helping me live my best life?” More personal perks have higher value as do the perception of benefits by the employee’s peers. Perception is everything. There has been a shift in the employee value proposition. People value time with friends, family and pets more since Covid. It’s all about the experience.
Electric vehicles and self-driving cars are trending. We won’t see the same level of car sharing, and we aren’t giving up our individual transportation. We value where we want to go, when we want to go, without waiting 15 minutes. That’s especially true of the affluent. They will have their own autonomous vehicles so they can walk out their door and tell their car where to go. The pilot shortage in air travel will drive the need for autonomous aircraft starting with cargo. Flying taxis that are autonomous like an oversized drone will come sooner than you expect.
Despite a reduction temporarily, it will grow. There’s no substitute for humans sharing the same physical space in the same room. It’s impossible to match that remotely. People will evolve to the point that we recognize that digital communication is inferior to face to face.
For some of the population marriage will become less important. I see it going away within 20 to 30 years. We have models of this in Scandinavian countries.
Child-rearing will also evolve. Parents are
going to learn that they need to meet kids where kids are and not expect their kids to meet them where they are. Parents will need to embrace technology and spend time with their kids in a virtual world as a way to bond with them.
VIP experiences with celebrities will continue to grow. More of us will be willing to pay thousands to have personal access to a celeb rity. There will be different levels of access, from sharing the stage on a radio or TV show to having dinner and cocktails with the star. Along with the access is the selfie, social media post and swag branded with the name that accompanies the memory.
The decline in lifespan in the U.S. has a lot to do with diet and environmental factors including air and water quality. We’re see ing more cancer and autoimmune issues. Are you ready to give up meat? Ten years from now there won’t be plates of meat except plant-based options. Fish are going away, too, except for the affluent who will be able to afford it. Most of us are migrat ing to vegetarian and vegan diets. (Gioia enjoys a plant-based diet). The body requires less energy to digest plants than animal protein. Meals will be shipped but personalized to your tastes. We will have the convenience of pre-made food, but it will be fresh and plant-based.
Cuisine goes boldly into the innovative future with robots, data-driven diet makeovers, sensory dining and a push for plant-based ingredients.
By SALLY J. CLASENCulinary art trends, like fashion, come and go. Remember the synthetic truffle rage? It’s buried somewhere in a dirt pile covered by yesterday’s patchwork peasant skirts and the death of wedge sneakers.
Despite the flops, the future of food is set to explode with mind-bending innovation and even stylish reboots of some familiar concepts.
What’s hot? Cuisine heads into tomorrow with a focus on high-tech cooking efficiency, hyper-custom and scientific nutrition, augmented dining and supersustainable methods that will shape how and what you eat.
Chefs are often elevated to rock star status because of their ability to create unforgettable cuisine with technical precision and dramatic flair — in person. Expect less human interaction and more Space Age application in domestic and commercial kitchens, however, as robot chefs are beginning to cook and even plate entire meals.
In 2021, London-based robotics company Moley introduced the first fully robotic kitchen unit, complete with cabinets and utensils, which uses sensors and cameras to cook a meal from start to finish. It also can suggest a menu based on available ingredients, announce when items are low, count calories, pull reci pes from chefs around the world and even clean.
Samsung’s Bot Chef is another extra pair of rail-mounted hands, with three fingers and four joints, which can chop, whisk, pour and tidy up based on an AI programmable platform that reacts to voice commands, physical manipula tion and app controls.
Robot chefs can’t actually shop at the farmer’s market — yet — but they are positioned to be game-changers in the way food makes its way from the kitchen to the table. And though they’ll never replace a chef, the intent behind robot chefs is to reduce food waste, manage mundane tasks and allow chefs and foodies more time to concentrate on the art of cooking.
Hold on to your food pyramid guidelines because nutrition is about to get more per sonal, and scientific, with custom-tailored diets poised as the next mega-trend.
The idea that food is medicine is not a revolutionary concept but as we’ve learned, a one size eating plan doesn’t fit all. While consuming more fruits and vegetables and less saturated fats is the standard advice, it doesn’t explain how individuals metabolize food differently.
Enter nutrigenomics, a personalized nutrition focus that relies on one’s gut bacteria (microbes), genetic blueprint and other physical factors to determine what someone should eat for optimal health. Companies are using the information to design custom diets that are better suited for specific food needs.
And technology is making it easier than ever for individuals to follow customized diets. Although smartwatches and other wearable fitness tracking tools can count calories and clock steps to burn them off, they can’t tell you if that loaf of crusty bread with toasted grains will wreak havoc on your body.
New artificial intelligence nutritionists’ apps, on the other hand, promise to guide you along a more informed path of health. The apps analyze metabolic data such as blood sugar and blood fat levels, and use algorithms based on research to reveal what foods you should eat.
Call it a party trick if you want but don’t be surprised when you are handed a digital headset in a dimly-lit room for your next dinner reservation. Augmented, immersive experiences that combine reality, food and fantasy are making their way into restau rants, from fine dining to casual eateries and cocktail bars.
Using imagery, objects and sounds to amplify your food and beverage senses, virtual reality dining creates an alternative, out-of-body culinary event in which food is synched to visual and aural cues to redi rect your dining perception.
Americans got a taste of the mind-alter ing trend a few years ago when the James Beard Association in New York City hosted several virtual dinners with Aerobanquet RMX, transporting diners into a sevencourse, neuro-sensory cuisine landscape. Now, virtual reality dining, packaged in different realms, is starting to appear at diverse restaurants across the country.
And some are taking digital cuisine a step further. In February 2022, iChina was the first Silicon Valley establishment to offer a virtual reality dining room in which guests dine in a completely computerizedgenerated environment, sans headsets, tast ing, smelling and viewing a 10-course meal served over three interpretive hours.
Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to order a braised-short rib burger with foie gras in the future but an emphasis on supersustainable production and agriculture practices that support planet-friendly, nutrient-dense, plant-based foods are on the culinary horizon.
One indicator the trend is simmering is the growing popularity of the meatless meat industry, a market that’s produced burgers that “bleed,” sizzle and taste like real meat and is expected to be worth $85 billion by 2030.
HYPER-GREEN KITCHENS
Eco-friendly designs that include toxin-free timber and recycled stainless steel cabinets, smart appliances, countertop composting containers, glass recycling stations, vertical herb gardens and worm boxes.
The food system frontier also will embrace the likes of algae, cacti and mush rooms and other earthy specimens as main ingredients that are plentiful, good for you and are easy on the carbon footprint.
No catch. Just plant-based, with the same texture and flavor as the type caught without the unfriendly planetary effects and fish smell.
Stirring the pot with THC-infused artisanal pizzas, pastries, cocktails, and other gourmet foods and beverages that get you high.
Quick, check the “ink” cartridge and food tray to make sure it’s loaded with all the right ingredients to make a full meal, including spaghetti, cheese and dessert.
Due to worldwide protein supply concerns, look for an uptick in insect consumption and farming as well. Plus, a new crop of futuristic “lab food” such as cultured meat developed with animal stem cells that grow over several weeks into fullsized meat patties and other scientifically engineered food products will become common supermarket items.
So enjoy that (meatless) burger or, if you prefer, a plate of seaweed accompanied by the sound of ocean waves hitting the beach. But only if your app tells you it’s OK. And remember to tell your (robot) chef when you’ve finished the last bite.
A 10-year partnership between the founders of EKLUND GOMES AND DESIGNER PARIS FORINO has resulted in a collection of breathtaking spaces, including the personal residences of Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes and the real estate firm’s two NYC offices.
By ERIN ZILIS
aris Forino established her design studio in 2012 after earning her degree in design from the University of Technology in Sydney and spending ten years working with designers and architects in Sydney and New York City. Her reputation for understated elegance and creative design solutions has resulted in her work being featured in Elle Décor and Architectural Digest Online. She and her team have recently completed projects in New York, Toronto, Miami and Stockholm.
“When I started my business, one of our first projects was a condo building in the lower east side. Fred and John were the brokers and came to the presentation and fell in love. From that point on they have been my great est support, referring us to so many amazing clients and developers. They’re my best cheerleaders,” says Forino. “Needless to say they have become very good friends along the way. It’s such a joy being around and working with them. I’m very proud of them.”
FREDRIK EKLUND“ DESIGN
DOESN’T HAVE TO BE RIGHT FOR EVERYONE, IT JUST HAS TO BE RIGHT FOR YOU.
Frequent travel and exposure to many beautiful places and interi ors led Forino to decide a career in design was for her. “It’s a career that requires many years of perseverance and honing your skills,” she says. She credits her Australian studies and childhood ballet for teaching her about the elements of design and the hard work neces sary to succeed in the design world. Although she laughs that, at the time, she had no idea what her professors were talking about. “But I get it now. Interior design is a lot more than just having good taste or a good eye, although those are important, but there are a lot of knowl edge and skills that one needs to build up. My team has developed a very refined process and we work with amazing craftspeople from all over,” she says. “That allows our clients to experience beautiful objects and materials in the work we do for them.”
Forino, currently based in New York City, is expanding to the west coast with an office in Los Angeles. “I love LA. It reminds me of my hometown, Sydney, so it’s a joy going there.”
Forino lets us peer into her world with quick thoughts on a variety of topics.
A HOME IS … security, comfort and pleasure
TRADITION MEANS … drawing from the past MODERN MEANS clean lines
INNOVATION IS … the confidence not to copy THE CITY THAT INSPIRES ME THE MOST … Paris!
AN ARTIST I LOVE Rudolf Nureyev
A PERSON I ADMIRE India Mahdavi
FUNCTIONAL OR BEAUTIFUL? Both!
NEUTRAL OR COLORFUL? Colorful
METAL OR WOOD? Wood ... solid wood … with a great finish!
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a Mum, Wife, Designer, a people person and an introvert.
Where do you find inspiration? Books, good company, snowstorms!
What do you do when you’re not working?
Cooking, watching ballet, watching hummingbirds, playing with my 5-year-old son.
What makes you swoon?
My husband and son Good ballet Phillip Glass
When it comes to her design philosophy, Forino starts with the story.
“You have to know why and what you are designing. After that, there has to be simplicity, balance, proportion, scale, great color … all the elements of design really.” The NYC-based designer steers clear of trends. “Good design is good design which is timeless.” She loves watching a space come to life.
Forino’s eponymous boutique design firm services discerning commer cial and residential clients. Forino herself is involved in every project and believes if a space is designed well, it will have the power to lift your mood. The post-pandemic demand for interior designers has caused Forino to have to be more selective when working with clients. “Before we go on the jour ney together, I need to make sure it will be a great experience for everyone,” she notes. “We work best with clients who let us know their goal and the mood they want and trust us to do the work. We love to listen and collabo rate, a crucial part of the design process, but we appreciate being given wings to fly a bit.” Forino claims that freedom results in the strongest projects, whether it’s a 50-story condo tower or a 2-bedroom private residence.
Forino’s favorite part of the design process is the people she meets along the way. “We go on a journey together, so we get to know each other quite well. It’s a rewarding part of the process, in addition to the obvious, which is transform ing spaces into places that can really enhance people’s lives.”
By TANYA A. YACINA
IN 2019, IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT THERE WERE 500,000 HOMELESS YOUTH IN AMERICA, AND 40% OF THOSE IDENTIFIED AS LGBTQ+. MANY OF THESE PEOPLE ENTER INTO SEX WORK AND DRUGS JUST TO STAY ALIVE WHILE ON THE STREETS. TO HELP COMBAT THIS TRAGIC STATISTIC AND SAVE THE LIVES OF THESE HOMELESS YOUNG PEOPLE, NEW YORK CITY’S ALI FORNEY CENTER (AFC) WAS CREATED IN 2002.
According to AFC’s President and Executive Director Alex Roque, LGBTQ+ youth are eight times more likely to be homeless than nonLGBTQ+ youth, and the AFC aims to help those most at risk. The center began with just six beds in a church basement and has now blossomed into the largest agency in the country dedicated to the well-being of LGBTQ+ homeless youth.
“With our young people, it’s the damage that doesn’t make the headlines that’s so harmful … the rejection and what it causes. It’s not just about not having a place to go to. When you don’t have the love of your parents, what do you have?” says Roque. “Our defini tion of home includes an affirmation of identity — there’s nothing wrong with who they are, and we provide a support system that has the parameters in place to allow them to heal.”
The AFC provides homeless youth with services they need to not only survive, but also thrive, and the organization supports more than 2,000 youths each year through a 24-hour Drop-In Center. Here, more than 70,000 meals are provided annually to the youths in need, as well as on-site mental health and medical services and a housing program at 18 sites throughout the city.
“I’m constantly amazed at the underground connection and communication within the homeless community,” says Jase Cannon, AFC’s Director of Community Engagement. “Most of our homeless youth have experienced trauma that we won’t ever under stand — their loved ones and caretakers reject them due to their identity and they have nowhere to go, so we give them a home.”
Cannon says that the youth that AFC serves are rarely suffer ing a mental imbalance, and it’s the rejection of their identity that causes their need for care. Within 72 hours on the streets, a youth is subjected to survival work, sex work, sex trafficking and drugs, but the youths that have a bed and support show an unbelievable sense of grounding and they are able to take in the suggested therapies, as well as the overall love and support they are offered in the program.
REMEMBERING ALI FORNEY
Born in 1975, Ali Forney was a transgender black youth who landed on the streets of New York at age 13, and often resorted to street work and drugs simply to survive. They took pride in helping others, and were known to educate their peers about safe sex and HIV in a time when it was running rampant. They also advocated strongly to the NYPD to investigate a series of murders of homeless youth. When he was the director of a homeless youth drop-in cen ter in the city, Carl Siciliano met 17-year-old Forney and they also forged a friendship.
Despite their advocacy for safety for those living on the streets, Forney was also murdered in Harlem in 1997. Cannon says their murder has never been solved, but their untimely death finally called attention to the appalling conditions that homeless youth faced in New York City at the time. To honor his friend, and to make a difference in and save the lives of homeless youth, Siciliano founded the Ali Forney Center.
“In 2002, there was no other organization that was doing this kind of work. Young, particularly queer black kids living on the streets, were being murdered and left for dead. There were really no resources available for them,” explains AFC’s Director of Development Zachary Cohen. “The namesake of the organization, Ali Forney, was very much an advocate and an activist and he was looking out for his peers … Ali was also murdered and that’s when our founder, Carl, said ‘That’s enough — someone has to help these kids,’ and AFC was born.”
Cohen says often homeless youth hear about AFC and what it can offer via word of mouth, but there is also an outreach team that locates youths in need of the services the center provides. AFC’s services help home less youth between the ages of 16 and 25.
“AFC’s dedicated outreach team is peer-led and educates youths about safe sex and HIV prevention, just like Ali did when he was alive. We also have an online presence, and the young people who come to us are resourceful and strategic about their moves,” Roque says. “Since the organization began, we’ve grown to be able to offer medical and mental health services, mentorship, education and life skills pro grams, in addition to providing food and shelter.”
In their mission to offer stability and support to help LGBTQ+ youth change their circumstance and live independently, six of the program’s sites are for emergency housing with 66 beds.
“In NYC, it’s estimated that 4,000 homeless kids try to get one of the 1,000 beds available each night in the city,” Roque notes. “While we do have a waitlist for the beds that we can offer in our sites around the city, we continue to provide all the other services we offer to people during a wait and our doors do not close under any circumstance.”
Vocational and educational placement assistance and 58 transitional housing beds are also available to program participants. The organization also offers the Learning, Employment, Advancement & Placement Program (LEAP), which is a two-year program in which participants learn valuable life skills during the first year, including how to set up a bank account, write a resume and pay rent. During the second year of the LEAP program, participants put those new skills into action in jobs and education opportunities to get them even closer to true independence.
Roque says the organization is now working toward a real estate ownership model over the current rental model for the housing provided for the youth in
the programs. The group owns one home, the Bea Arthur House in Harlem, which was enabled by a generous donation from actress Bea Arthur after her death. Funds are being raised for a second home pur chase, the Hamilton House, which was featured on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing in July 2021.
Eklund Gomes founders Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes have been instrumental in bringing awareness to AFC, as well as supporting the orga nization’s mission. Eklund located the Hamilton House for the group and worked his magic to negotiate a lease-to-own option on the property for which there is a current capital campaign in place to build a transgender housing program.
“They have sparked dreams I’ve never allowed myself to dream — John and Fred are family mem bers at AFC,” says Cannon. “They are amplifying the needs of youth and trans individuals through the great power of real estate.”
“We have identified that if we are able to secure funding to acquire properties, we have less overhead and the funds can instead go to the work we’re doing and our overall programs,” Roque says. “Our work is cyclical — clients come through and leave, but we are creating homes around every corner and sharing the emotional content of what a home truly means.”
“We are the chosen family who immerse these individuals with love, acceptance and care, and allow them to find their way to really understand their worthiness and value,” says Cannon. “We redefine what a chosen family can be, and the housing pro gram is so much more than just the housing we try to secure for these youths to fully live and thrive.”
With over 5,000 videos created, the team at Dronehub Media have become the experts in creating, producing and elevating content designed to market luxury at the highest standard. A key partner of Eklund Gomes, Dronehub uses cutting-edge technology and equipment to captivate viewers and showcase the simple nuances that make a house feel like a home. In addition to real estate content, Dronehub creates unique videos for golf courses, college campuses, wineries, concert venues, action sports, resorts and more. From the background music to every frame of the 4K video, Dronehub delivers video that supports modern day digital marketing, helping its clients sell the lifestyle that many have worked their entire lives to achieve.
MAGNIFICENT DETAILS AND MESMERIZING VIEWS CAN OFTEN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN SELLING A PROPERTY. DRONEHUB HELPS US CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF A HOME.
GOMES
The beautiful home at 2542 Circle Drive in Newport Beach, CA sat on the market for months. Despite the hot real estate market, the house wasn’t garnering the attention it deserved or needed to find a buyer. The owner, frustrated that another firm’s agent he hired to sell the house wasn’t getting the job done, reached out to Eklund Gomes agents Seth Nelson, Ariana Gaffoglio and Fredrik Eklund to get their insight on how to move the needle. “I came in and took one look at the way the house was being presented and knew that if we applied our processes, and got our partners involved, we could succeed in telling a compelling narrative that would yield the desired result of a successful sale,” says Nelson. A contemporary home in the desirable Bayshores neighborhood, the décor and furniture did not match up to the property style and the
“
INSIGHT
THE FACT THAT THE HOUSE SOLD FIVE DAYS AFTER WE GOT INVOLVED IS A TESTAMENT TO OUR TALENTED PARTNERS AND PROVEN PROCESS. ” — SETH NELSON, EG
work together with Seth on, we do a thorough walk thru to discuss key angles and important elements to capture. I approach my shoots with an emphasis on capturing the architecture and telling a story with the imagery with the intent on motivating potential buyers to want to come see the property.”
Copywriter Darcy Alsop beautifully and artfully told the story of the home, location and lifestyle for use on marketing and media channels: “Working with the team at Eklund Gomes has been nothing but a pleasure. Their level of professionalism combined with their proven track record inside the competitive real estate industry, make me proud to be associated with such excellent agents. Seth Nelson and Ariana Gaffoglio are exceptional, as well as the rest of the stellar agents at Eklund Gomes.”
Jordan Obinger and the team at Edition helped gain exposure for the property with customcreated social media templates and an e-mail strategy: ”Edition Studios partnered up with Seth and the team at Eklund Gomes to establish a strategic digital and print approach to reach ultra high net worth individuals. Thinking differently isn’t always easy, but when the right minds come together, a powerful integrated marketing campaign comes together. We’ve supported lead generation growth through email marketing, pay-per-click campaigns, social ads, direct mail, print and sales materials.”
photography did not showcase the best assets of the house in an inspiring fashion. “The house was suffering from a clear identity crisis,” he says.
Nelson believes that an agent has a very brief window in which to capture a buyer’s attention. “I estimate that we have a very finite three seconds to engage a consumer wherever they see the property,” he notes. The company’s recipe for success is their tried-and-true exposure model.
“We enlisted the help of our key partners who came in and implemented our plan for design, staging, storytelling, photography and content distribution. We utilized our media partnerships and social media following to inspire interest from buyers and ultimately ended up finding the buyer ourselves.
We’re professionals, meaning there is no room for guessing and shooting from the hip,” he asserts.
“The fact that the house sold five days after we got involved is a testament to our talented partners and proven process.”
Award-winning photographer Brandon Beechler captured the visual narrative of the home with his clean, crisp images: “Every property I
Meghan Kelly and her team at The Citizen House designed and staged the home for maximum inspirational impact.
I USED TO PEEK IN THROUGH THE WINDOWS OF THIS BUILDING AND DREAM.
FREDRIK EKLUNDIn an iconic spot in the West Village, formerly home to Marc Jacobs and Tiffany & Co., EG’s agents will have a new home. Designed by Paris Forino, the office on the corner of Bank Street and West 4th will have a salon feel and will offer agents the ability to work in a shared desk environment when needed. “John and I lived in the village when we both moved to New York more than 20 years ago,” says Eklund. “I used to peek in through the windows of this building and dream. And now our second New York office will be here amidst the townhouses and tree-lined streets.”
