Commercial real estate, explained through live market decisions.
The Weekly Take from CBRE treats commercial real estate as a working market, not an abstraction. Recent episodes move from malls and parking lots to debt markets, REITs, conversions, and the broader economy with practical attention to NOI, leverage, occupancy, infrastructure, and investor demand.
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The Weekly Take from CBRE is a commercial real estate discussion series with a strong operator and capital-markets orientation. It is not casual business chatter. The show works through the details that shape real assets: occupancy, spreads, tenant demand, loan proceeds, zoning, infrastructure, leverage, and liquidity. Recent episodes show its range. Malls are treated as operating businesses where traffic, inline leasing, dark anchors, and experience strategy drive value. Retail investment becomes a conversation about grocers, shopping-center puzzles, cap rates, and why core capital may widen its target set. Debt markets are handled through the practical lens of refinancing, acquisition financing, bank selectivity, conduit loans, coverage constraints, and borrowers bringing new equity to the table. Office-to-residential conversion gets a full case-study treatment through 25 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, including basis, code, program design, timing, and execution risk. Even parking is framed as infrastructure with recurring cash flow, rather than as a leftover use on a site plan. The show also steps back for broader outlook episodes on the U.S. economy, AI, reshoring, rail, airports, labor, and capital formation. International episodes compare U.K. REITs with the more mature U.S. market, including sectorization, diversification, geared capital, and investor appetite. The format is interview-driven and panel-like. Spencer Levy tends to introduce a question, let guests establish the market context, then press for definitions and deal implications. The language is professional and data-aware without becoming academic. Acronyms and technical terms appear often, but the surrounding discussion usually translates them into usable business logic. Guests are typically operators, advisors, economists, or executives with direct exposure to transactions and portfolios. The show can sound close to CBRE's own industry network, yet its best moments come from concrete explanations rather than institutional polish. It rewards listeners who already know the basics of commercial real estate and want sharper judgment about current conditions. It is especially useful for understanding how a headline theme becomes an underwriting choice. The value is in the specificity. The Weekly Take makes commercial real estate feel like a set of decisions happening in real time.
Made for: Built for commercial real estate investors, brokers, lenders, developers, asset managers, and industry-watchers who want informed market context. It best suits listeners comfortable with technical vocabulary and looking for practical implications rather than broad business inspiration.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by pairing CBRE's market vantage point with guests who describe actual assets, portfolios, loans, and repositioning choices. It repeatedly connects macro conditions to deal-level consequences, from refinance sizing to mall leasing strategy.
What matters most right now in Commercial Real Estate. Business leaders join economic, industry and subject matter experts to share their distinct views and latest thinking. The Weekly Take is hosted by Spencer Levy, CBRE’s Senior Economic Advisor and Global Client Strategist. More at cbre.com/TheWeeklyTake
Office towers become apartments, malls become puzzles, and you get the numbers behind both.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Jack Shea explains why vacant mall anchors come first in his turnaround strategy.
Jack Shea starts his account of Mace Ridge's mall turnaround in the empty anchor stores. Walking the portfolio, the president and CEO found vacant former Sears, Lord & Taylor, and Nordstrom spaces. Physical, permanent occupancy stood at 83% two years ago, he says.
Why a more competitive lending market does not make every refinancing easy.
A loan coming due on a commercial property can be harder to replace than a loan for a new purchase. At the 2026 CBRE Capital Market Symposium, Spencer Levy asks Ty Gershick and Tom Burns about a lending market they see as more competitive than it has been in recent years.
A 2026 real estate outlook connects manufacturing leasing interest with transport links and access to labor.
Spencer Levy's 2026 commercial real estate outlook gets specific when the discussion turns to industrial leasing. PwC economist Carl Russo and CBRE research head Henry Chin join him to discuss the economy, AI's possible effect on productivity, and manufacturing activity.
Short-term rental lessons from the operator side.
The Weekly Take examines a federal real estate portfolio of more than 2 billion square feet, with Daryl Crate calling the business "real estate without the drama." CBRE specialist Marcy Owens Test says the federal government occupies more space than New York, Washington, Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Los Angeles combined.
The mall has changed.
Experts discuss the expanding options and competitive landscape in commercial real estate debt financing as lenders return to the market.
Industry leaders discuss the current state and investment opportunities in retail real estate, focusing on low vacancy rates and challenges in new development.
Brian Steinwurzel discusses the largest office-to-residential conversion in the world at 25 Water Street in Manhattan, sharing insights on creativity, speed, and overcoming doubters.
An exploration of the parking industry's profitability and stability, featuring interviews with leaders from Laz Parking and Parkway Corporation.
Spencer Levy hosts an annual market outlook episode with PwC's Carl Russo and CBRE's Henry Chin, discussing the U.S.
This episode explores the emerging and complex U.K.
AEW's CIO and a CBRE vice chair discuss deploying capital in today's uncertain global real estate investment market.
A discussion from CBRE's industrial conference in Barcelona about the current state and opportunities in European industrial and logistics real estate.
This episode explores the investment potential of industrial outdoor storage (IOS), a critical but often overlooked real estate asset class in the global supply chain.