Real Talk: Real Estate Discussions with Andrew Kirsh From Data to Deals: Leveraging Technology to Scale a Shopping Center Portfolio with Sandy Sigal
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Dec 19, 2025 
Sandy Sigal, President and CEO of NewMark Merrill Companies, shares insights from his decades of experience in retail real estate. He discusses the slow technological adoption in the industry and how tools like geofencing are crucial for understanding customer behavior. Sandy highlights the resilience of retail post-COVID and why community shopping centers are thriving. He also emphasizes the importance of tenant relationships, data-driven decisions, and the evolving landscape of investment in retail, particularly in previously underserved areas.
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Tech Needs R&D, Not Just Laptops
- Real estate firms underinvest in R&D and treat tech as just infrastructure costs.
- Sandy Sigal says shopping centers generate data that, when analyzed, unlocks major operational and investment advantages.
Phone Data Reveals Customer Behavior
- Cell‑phone location and geofencing let owners measure customer origin, dwell time, and cross‑shopping.
- Sandy Sigal describes using that data to tailor tenant mix and marketing at centers.
Scrape Reviews To Track Tenant Health
- Sentiment and review scraping produce net promoter–style signals about tenants and centers.
- Sandy Sigal says analyzing positive and negative reviews flags tenant problems and marketing opportunities.