Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovich from Bloomberg Radio. Great way to
Speaker 1: finish out our last half hour double dose of Kent's Swig.
Speaker 1: He is president at Swig Equities, a real estate development
Speaker 1: and investment firm focusing on commercial and residential properties here
Speaker 1: on the East Coast, some on the West Coast. Company,
Speaker 1: by the way, has purchased in or developed an access
Speaker 1: of three billion of office properties, so they certainly understand
Speaker 1: this market and a lot more. Cant with us back
Speaker 1: on the phone in New York City. Can't nice to
Speaker 1: have you here. It really is a nice way to
Speaker 1: wrap up my Monday. How are you. I'm doing well
Speaker 1: and it's nice to hear your boys, Carol on the phone. Well,
Speaker 1: well good, I'm so glad to hear that. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: we have checked in with you several times during the
Speaker 1: pandemic and over the past year. How do you feel
Speaker 1: like things are, because it felt like last week for me,
Speaker 1: just going in and out of New York City, it
Speaker 1: felt like the city was reopening. Yeah. Well it seems
Speaker 1: like spring has sprung, so things are. Things are a
Speaker 1: little bit better. Um, I personally feeling better that I've
Speaker 1: had my raby shots or my vaccine. Um and uh
Speaker 1: so I've I've traveled, I went. I was in San
Speaker 1: Francisco this weekend visiting my brother who I haven't seen
Speaker 1: in fourteen months. And I went for the weekend and
Speaker 1: came back. And so that's certainly a novel new thing
Speaker 1: that I haven't done in a year. Um, So I'm
Speaker 1: feeling better, well good, I'm so glad to hear that
Speaker 1: me too. I'm double vaccinated and feeling pretty good about that.
Speaker 1: Almost out of my two weeks after my second shots,
Speaker 1: are just waiting for that to wrap up. You know,
Speaker 1: you and I we've talked about hybrid We've talked about
Speaker 1: what happens to real estate. Is there anything from we
Speaker 1: talked about in pandemic how things are going to change
Speaker 1: a lot? Any of that gonna you think ultimately stick
Speaker 1: with us? And I know we've had this conversation before,
Speaker 1: but I think the further we go along, we get
Speaker 1: a better idea of whether or not things change, whether
Speaker 1: or not things stay the same, or whether things maybe
Speaker 1: change a little bit. Well, it's it's a perfect question
Speaker 1: and very interesting because there's a little irony and what's
Speaker 1: going on today. Um, Yes, I believe that that that
Speaker 1: high some form of hybrid working um will be here
Speaker 1: with us for for a long time. You know, if
Speaker 1: if if somebody has a hundred emails to do one
Speaker 1: day and they don't want to go in the office
Speaker 1: and it's more efficient to sit at home, fine, Um,
Speaker 1: But I'm a big believer in offices and his productivity
Speaker 1: and all that. The irony is this, Um, all the
Speaker 1: people in the offices, you know, the companies are saying
Speaker 1: the reason we could have hybrid working is because of
Speaker 1: all the technology. You know, there's the Google technology, Zoom technology, Facebook,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And yet if you look at the technology companies, Facebook,
Speaker 1: who took one point seven million square feet in Hudson
Speaker 1: Yards in and it's being built out not yet occupied,
Speaker 1: took another hundred thousand square feet in July at the
Speaker 1: Farley office building right here in New York, UM, which
Speaker 1: they will not occupy for years. Google hiring ten thousand
Speaker 1: new workers, all going to be in offices. Amazon bought
Speaker 1: the former Lord and Taylor building from we Work. So
Speaker 1: all the technology companies are are getting more office space
Speaker 1: for their workers because they know that productivity, efficiency, opportunity,
Speaker 1: and creativity cannot be achieved from home, but must be
Speaker 1: achieved in the workplace. And yet it's the office people
Speaker 1: that are saying, because of technology, we actually could work
Speaker 1: better from home. So it's a very interesting thing going on. Well,
Speaker 1: it's funny. Somebody said to me, you know, you just
Speaker 1: wait for, like among the financial firms or something, that
Speaker 1: somebody you know, comes out and got some big deal
Speaker 1: or some underwriting that they're going to do just because
Speaker 1: they got on a plane and flew somewhere and got
Speaker 1: the customer and they got the client, that all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, everybody's gonna be like, you know what, this
Speaker 1: hybrid stuff doesn't work, the zoom you know, meeting with
Speaker 1: clients doesn't work. That everybody will ultimately come back as
Speaker 1: a result. Do you see it that way? I happen
Speaker 1: to Yes, I think zoom will be helpful um for
Speaker 1: in between meetings. But let me tell you, if you're
Speaker 1: somebody in your twenties and thirties and maybe even into
Speaker 1: your forties, how much network in your life do you have?
Speaker 1: How many people do you know in your life? The
Speaker 1: idea in your twenties and thirties is you go networking,
Speaker 1: you meet people in the in the coffee station, in
Speaker 1: the elevator, etcetera. If you're in your fifties and sixties
Speaker 1: and seventies, you have a built in lifetime of network.
Speaker 1: You can pick up the phone, you can talk to people,
Speaker 1: you can network these The younger generation doesn't know anybody yet,
Speaker 1: so their opportunity to meet people, an opportunity and creativity
Speaker 1: doesn't exist. So their pigeonholed at home and they can't
Speaker 1: just go out and do things. So it does not
Speaker 1: work for that generation at all. Hey, just got about
Speaker 1: thirty seconds and we'll come back and talk somewhere. Give
Speaker 1: me a little teaser though. Does the way we use
Speaker 1: real estate? Will it change? Yes? Hey, so kent, So
Speaker 1: you're teased so well. Before we went to break, I
Speaker 1: asked you give me a little teaser about real estate
Speaker 1: and how it will be used. Will it be different?
Speaker 1: You said yes? So how will it change? So a
Speaker 1: couple of ways. Let's take residential and then commercial residential.
Speaker 1: Um the idea of a home office. There is something
Speaker 1: that I think is very intriguing and very wanted by
Speaker 1: the by, by the purchasing and renting relation. UM. So
Speaker 1: if you look at some of these downtown major buildings
Speaker 1: that converted from commercial to residential, they have this dead
Speaker 1: space or long corridors and they didn't know what to
Speaker 1: do with them. Now certainly there's a very big need
Speaker 1: for them because home officing is something that's very important.
Speaker 1: Um with that, because I think office space is also
Speaker 1: the use of it is changing a little bit where
Speaker 1: we will have some hybrid offices meaning hybrid schedules meaning
Speaker 1: that you'll work maybe four days a week and maybe
Speaker 1: one day at home or maybe half a day at home,
Speaker 1: and therefore you need someplace at home to work. So
Speaker 1: the residential will be impacted. Also with outdoor space clearly
Speaker 1: as needed. Balconies and terraces are very desired. And then
Speaker 1: secondly in the office space, how does that change, um,
Speaker 1: spacing around low low partitions probably are not as desirable
Speaker 1: because high partitions seem to give a little bit both
Speaker 1: of privacy and air you know, and an air change, etcetera.
Speaker 1: Um so uh and also um, you know, having these
Speaker 1: big communal areas that used to be out there, which
Speaker 1: are still I think very much desired, may be slightly
Speaker 1: less or slightly reconfigured to give a little more space,
Speaker 1: not just because of COVID, but I think that we're
Speaker 1: more sensitive to things like the flu season um, So
Speaker 1: I think our whole way of looking at at health
Speaker 1: is going to impact ourselves. I think we will get
Speaker 1: beyond COVID, certainly, but the feeling we have about being
Speaker 1: concerned about health, taking one's temperature before somebody goes in
Speaker 1: an office because of flu, not just COVID. I think
Speaker 1: all those things are going to be are are going
Speaker 1: to affect us in our both our home life and
Speaker 1: our business life. You know, it's fun. We have a
Speaker 1: story out on the Blue Bargain and says more Americans
Speaker 1: are leaving cities, but don't call it an urban exodus.
Speaker 1: And basically they're saying that, you know, maybe you want
Speaker 1: to call it a little bit of an urban shuffle.
Speaker 1: You know. We've talked about mass moves to Florida to Texas,
Speaker 1: and data shows that most people who did move stayed
Speaker 1: close to where they came from, although I think in
Speaker 1: the Sunbout regions that were popular even before the pandemic
Speaker 1: did see some gains. So there's a little bit of
Speaker 1: that going on. Has anything changed in terms of how
Speaker 1: you want to invest in real estate. How do you
Speaker 1: want to develop real estate? Um? Well, um, I'm still
Speaker 1: I still love real estate, I still want to invest
Speaker 1: in real estate, and I still believe in real estate.
Speaker 1: Um I'm also still a New Yorker. I'm still a
Speaker 1: New Yorker and I want to stay in New Yorker.
Speaker 1: So all those people that moved to Florida, you know,
Speaker 1: okay for them, But come talk to me in July
Speaker 1: and August. Are you still down there? You're still living
Speaker 1: out there? I'm not so sure. Um So, Yes, people
Speaker 1: do move. People do react in major, major times of crisis,
Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with that. Responses take time and thought. So,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the response to covid um is going
Speaker 1: to make some impacts in here. But is it going
Speaker 1: to change real estate being used. We're all going to
Speaker 1: live somewhere, We're all going to work somewhere, and it
Speaker 1: will not be in the same place. Um So, I
Speaker 1: think we have to be more thoughtful about how we
Speaker 1: do things. Um. I will tell you, everybody, as I
Speaker 1: said before, is aware of health. Um so the flu
Speaker 1: that it used to be. You know, I'm a die
Speaker 1: hard worker. I'm coming to work today in spite of
Speaker 1: my hundred and two fever, guess what home and do
Speaker 1: us all a favor? So I mean those those wonderful
Speaker 1: things aren't going to happen anymore, right, So, so, yes,
Speaker 1: we are going to change our way of life. But
Speaker 1: I don't think. Um. I think that the market went up,
Speaker 1: certainly in residential and a lot of places, you know,
Speaker 1: like like Florida and others. And the question is when
Speaker 1: things settle down and people miss their homes like New York,
Speaker 1: does that mean that the residential will come back a
Speaker 1: little bit as as as the economy grows, will actually
Speaker 1: some places fall a little bit because they won't have
Speaker 1: that persistent people going in. Possibly? Yes. Hey, just one
Speaker 1: last question, I'm just quickly on real estate. I mean,
Speaker 1: we didn't see I think the you know, barrage of
Speaker 1: bankruptcies that we thought we were going to Is it
Speaker 1: just going to happen later or is just not going
Speaker 1: to happen? Um. There are some some things that are
Speaker 1: in trouble, and I think that that they're going to
Speaker 1: happen unfortunate. I think the hospitality industry is one of
Speaker 1: the most impactful areas, which is real estate and operating
Speaker 1: company and and I think we're gonna have that is
Speaker 1: going to go through a major change. And I don't
Speaker 1: know that all the hotels are necessarily going to come
Speaker 1: back and all the same places there were, Um, but
Speaker 1: the length of time that's occurred, you know, even though
Speaker 1: we're at the finish line. Maybe in a marathon, people
Speaker 1: have run twenty two or twenty three miles and people,
Speaker 1: how how can you not finish? Well, yeah, and you
Speaker 1: only have three miles left. They just ran a brutal
Speaker 1: twenty three miles, and I think people forget the painful
Speaker 1: process that we've just gone through. So I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that everything is settled yet. All right, So I gotta
Speaker 1: get to a story. A got about three minutes left here, uh,
Speaker 1: and I want to get to it. We ran a
Speaker 1: story about Devon Pendleton talked about you specifically securing a
Speaker 1: minimum of six billion dollars in gold reserves to back
Speaker 1: your new cryptocurrency. First of all, crypto, your son tell
Speaker 1: me the role that he had and kind of bringing
Speaker 1: it to your attention. Well, I have a son, two sons,
Speaker 1: Oliver and Simon. Oliver U has been involved with cryptocurrency
Speaker 1: since he was in his early twenties. Even though it's
Speaker 1: had a teenager in there. But but um so he'd
Speaker 1: been investing in doing things and he certainly enlightened me
Speaker 1: to that. Um then he used some of my money
Speaker 1: to go invest in some crypto, which he did, so
Speaker 1: I'm certainly I was aware of it, and I went
Speaker 1: on a board of the business that was involved in crypto.
Speaker 1: Um So I think it was a tune to it,
Speaker 1: and I I awakened, which is what it should happen
Speaker 1: from a younger generation. Thankfully, the younger Jurortion generation happened
Speaker 1: to be my son, so even better. So I mean
Speaker 1: it awakened me to see opportunity. Well, and so tell
Speaker 1: me about the stable coin that you guys are doing.
Speaker 1: What why go this direction? Um What do you see
Speaker 1: as kind of where it goes specifically? And I'm just
Speaker 1: curious about the interest that you've gotten it you know,
Speaker 1: are receiving in terms of investors already. Okay, So the
Speaker 1: initial thing is I'm a business person. Um I look
Speaker 1: at things, and I see things, and if I see
Speaker 1: a flaw or something that's interrupted, um, I like to
Speaker 1: go fix them, to correct them. Um So that application
Speaker 1: of a talent God willing I have can go in
Speaker 1: many different different, many different industries. It happened to fall
Speaker 1: into crypto. I found an opportunity that existed, so UM,
Speaker 1: my partner Steve Braverman, and I ended up buying a
Speaker 1: company which was a crypto company. One of the things,
Speaker 1: unfortunately it had, is that the keys to the controls
Speaker 1: UM or elsewhere, not just with us, So we had
Speaker 1: to shut down something. Uh, and we're and we're reissuing
Speaker 1: a new coin. And what what is the attraction? What
Speaker 1: makes us a little different than just the typto typical
Speaker 1: crypto is Number one, we're basing United States. We recognized
Speaker 1: we're basing United States. UM. The goal that we have
Speaker 1: backing is in the United States, we are voluntarily going
Speaker 1: in before the jurisdictional authorities and asking them to please
Speaker 1: legislate us and look over us UM and so all
Speaker 1: the things that we're doing is open, transparent, and out there.
Speaker 1: The other thing that we're doing is we're offering a
Speaker 1: dividend to the crypto token holders. So we're treating this
Speaker 1: very much as a big business, open, transparent, United States
Speaker 1: based and and trying to apply those kind of things.
Speaker 1: So it's a little unique in that world. Well, we'll
Speaker 1: come have you back and talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about that as well. Always good to get a gut
Speaker 1: check on what's going on in the world real estate
Speaker 1: and other ken Swig thank you so much. Take care
Speaker 1: of yourself. President Swig Equities on the phone in New
Speaker 1: York City for the Bloomberg Business Week team. Have a
Speaker 1: great evening. I'm Carol Masser.