MIT Debuts Real Estate Lab

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Real Estate (CRE) has launched an entity that will determine the future of urban environments.

The new MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab (REIL) will explore three areas: Innovations in building design, new processes in construction including 3-D printing and modular solutions, and new data technologies designed to “transform the organization of cities and the built environment.” One of the lab’s flagship projects is to create a comprehensive real estate database for the entire city of New York that will incorporate diverse data including rents, transaction prices, building mortgages, vacant space, Airbnb locations, co-working spaces, cell towers, fiber-optic cables and subway lines.

“Thirty years ago, green buildings were a cutting-edge concept,” said Andrea Chegut, research scientist and director at REIL. “Today, they are the standard, not only due to their environmental benefits but because there is evidence that justifies the economic investment. Our goal will be to understand what is happening at the frontier of the built environment today, to produce statistical and empirical evidence of approaches that work, and to translate these innovations into widespread use.”

MIT is also teaming with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) on this venture, with the latter serving as a founding industry partner.

“JLL and the MIT Center for Real Estate have a shared mission—and a passion—for innovation and real estate,” said Ben Breslau, JLL’s managing director of research. “As an industry partner, we look forward to engaging with the brilliant minds at MIT to support research that will create a better future.”