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July | August | 2015 CCIM.com
T e generation gap rears its jeal-
ous head as the improved economy
pushes millennials deeper into the
world of work. According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, millen-
nials will make up 45 percent of the
workforce this year. Just 10 years
ago, baby boomers were 45 percent
of the workforce.
As boomers hang onto their
jobs, making up the lost wages of
the Great Recession, they eye the
advance of millennia ls warily.
"Wow, I was just thinking of writing
a book to millennials, titled 'Mes-
sage to Millennials: We Baby Boom-
ers Are Not Dead Yet!' " jokes Helen
Jobes, CCIM, of Capella Commer-
cial in Austin, Texas.
As the largest generation, mil-
lennials already dominate popu-
lar culture and with that, they've
changed the way we work, how we
shop, where we live, and where we
party. Because of those changes,
they've af ected all f ve of the major
property groups in fairly substan-
tial ways. In addition, millennials
already are working at all levels in
commercial real estate, as clients,
brokers, bankers, and support staf .
"Change is happening," says Shawn
Massey, CCIM, CRX, CLS, of T e
Shopping Center Group, in Memphis,
Tenn., who works with millennial cli-
ents in the retail sector. "We can con-
tinue to build shopping centers like
we used to. Or we can adapt."
Millennial Clients
While many millennials are too
early in their careers to invest in
commercial real estate, they have
made their way into positions of
inf uence, especially in the retail
sector.
Massey is working with a team
that includes "millennials in a very
creative class," to lease about 65,000
sf of retail space in Crosstown Con-
course, a 1.1-million-square-foot
urban village in Memphis with a
$400 million dollar price tag geared
toward millennials.
"For the f rst time I participated
in a retail charrette process," says
Massey, a 29-year industry vet-
eran. "We collaborated on ideas of
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