Stevens Strategic Alliance: A Unique, Unmatched Blend Of International Development and Real Estate Innovation
Stevens Strategic Alliance (SSA), a provider of real estate solutions, aims to add value through organizational integration, proactive project management techniques, incorporation of new ideas and technology, and genuine client partnerships.
Following Grant Stevens’ prosperous international real estate development career, SSA was established. After beginning his real estate development career with Hines, Stevens spent 35 years working on ground-up, iconic development projects worldwide. Stevens earned a number of impressive areas of competency during these years with Hines that include:
- Analytics before development
- Maximum and ideal use of a site
- Hiring and leading top-notch design teams
- Driving the negotiation of the most cost-effective contracts
- Integrating project schedules to avoid delays
- De-risking tools for development
- Utilizing cutting-edge technology and ingenuity designing during the complete development process
- Encouraging creative conflict in development teams
- Delivering complicated development projects on time and under budget
- Meeting the expectations of all parties
Real Estate Sector Growth Through Stevens Strategic Alliance
Real estate development is a challenging endeavor with a wide range of stakeholders; therefore, there are always risks related to misunderstandings, unmet expectations, budgetary issues, delays, and irrational economic realities. The issues haven’t really changed in real estate, but the solutions have. There is a greater emphasis on technology and integrated team initiatives to prevent issues. Stevens possesses a unique combination of real-world development experience and ties to the academic world of research and innovation. His love for innovation started with his MS degree in Civil Engineering and Construction Management at Stanford University. For more than 25 years, he has had a close relationship with Stanford’s Global Projects Center. He was most recently a member of the advisory board for the Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities program.
In terms of new technologies, real estate development has lagged, but that is quickly changing. Technology is having an impact on economic modeling, design, and construction. The area of adoption for SSA focuses on how to connect technology horizontally across each vertical industry silo. Finding strategies to spread disruptive innovations from one stakeholder to another in the development value chain has been the main focus for SSA. An ever-growing innovation for designers is BIM technology. Architects using BIM software may accurately integrate and validate their designs with other engineers and consultants at a more effective level. SSA has introduced this same technology into the property management sector for developers by making portable visualizations for property and maintenance management. Cross-pollination and horizontal integration of real estate development technology are the areas of SSA’s greatest passion.
COVID-19 And Real Estate
The development sector continues to work out the changes and expectations as a result of COVID-19. According to some predictions, office space won’t be needed, and housing will need to be more adaptable. Pricing and timetables are now unpredictable due to supply chain disruptions, which increases the risk of successful development. The disruptions to the supply chain and the risks associated with delivery are decreasing as the COVID issue eases. According to SSA, a long-term effect of COVID on real estate is the blurring of the lines between different real estate sectors. More workspace is needed for those taking advantage of remote working. Housing and hospitality will become more integrated. Projects with a mix of uses will be more adaptable and integrated. The real estate industry will never be the same after COVID. Still, SSA is aware of the trends contributing to blending lines separating different real estate applications.
The Distinguishing Characteristic
SSA possesses development knowledge from practical, “on-the-ground” experience. The best real estate experience is gained from working on actual projects where you have skin in the game. SSA is not your typical project management advisor. Stevens led 370 distinct real estate development projects totaling approximately $8.5 billion in investments, 65 million square feet, and 55 overseas markets. SSA is an exceptional advisor due to its breadth of global experience and the most cutting-edge academic research and innovation available.
SSA was an advisor to a significant redevelopment challenge in Mumbai, India. The 15-acre location had dilapidated homes and retail businesses that need total rehabilitation for the locals and business owners. For this renovation, SSA offered best practices in strategic, integrated planning that resulted in an accelerated project timeline, project cost certainty, and genuine mixed-use development.
Another consulting engagement was for a global engineering firm that needed to refocus its operations. SSA spoke with the company’s leadership and suggested they take a solutions-based strategy to their business rather than a project-specific one. For the company, SSA suggested a horizontal integration that produced multidisciplinary teams for more challenging projects. By combining the previously siloed departments and assembling teams of specialists specifically for their clients, SSA opened up new and more lucrative options for this business.
The Way To A Promising Future
In the upcoming three to five years, SSA wants to increase its worldwide clientele while fostering closer ties with its current clientele. Within the next 12 months, SSA will launch an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative with a prominent academic institution. Since its inception, SSA had the goal of creating an innovation incubator specifically for real estate development and construction and the team will soon announce this agreement.
Relationships are SSA’s main focus. They work to establish a strategic partnership in every transaction. Over the years they have established lasting connections with their customers… Every client is different. Real estate investments vary widely. Understanding each customer’s objectives, expectations, risk tolerance, and goals before offering a customized solution to maximize the return for that client is how SSA adds value. One size does not fit all when it comes to this business.
