WiredScore and the city of Dallas are connected—officially. 

Mayor Mike Rawlings’ office has endorsed WiredScore as the official connectivity rating system for the city, making Dallas the first flagship city for Wired Certification in the Southwest, city officials and real estate industry leaders announced Tuesday at City Hall.

New York City-based WiredScore operates the only international standard for digital connectivity within office buildings and offers Wired Certification as its digital connectivity rating platform for commercial real estate.

“In the pre-WiredScore world, it’s impossible for owners to know how they are stacking up against the marketplace in regards to connectivity.”
Arie Barendrecht

But what makes Wired Certification important for the Dallas commercial real estate sector?

“The most significant thing is transparency. In the pre-WiredScore world, it’s impossible for owners to know how they are stacking up against the marketplace in regards to connectivity,” WiredScore founder and CEO Arie Barendrecht told Dallas Innovates at City Hall.

“And, from a tenant or broker perspective, when you’re looking for new office space, it’s very easy to make decisions around things that you can see—the floor plates, the views, ceiling heights—but connectivity is so important,” he said, “I’d argue connectivity is more important than any of those other things because it’s invisible, it’s hidden behind the walls.”

Arie Barendrecht has a conversation about WiredScore after announcing Dallas has endorsed WiredScore as the official connectivity rating system for the city. [Photo: Lance Murray]

Barendrecht said people can rely on WiredScore to create transparency that determines which office spaces have great connectivity and which don’t.

“So, WiredScore is changing the data set by which a tenant or a broker can make a decision about office space, and at the same time trying to give landlords a North Star about what a best-in-class connected building is,” Barendrecht said.

WiredScore Tuesday announced 15 commercial partners who have committed to Wired Certification for their North Texas office assets.

They are:

• Apollo Global Management
• Bright Realty
• Buchanan Street Partners
• Encore Enterprises
• Gaedeke Group
• Hartman Income REIT
• Hillwood Urban
• KBS
• New York Life
• Rosewood Property Co.
• Stream Realty Partners
• Transwestern Development Co.
• UBS
• Vanderbilt Office Properties, and
• VanTrust Real Estate

Those “early adopters” are pursuing Wired Certification for office assets in Arlington, Dallas, Irving, Lewisville, Frisco, Plano, and Richardson, WiredScore said.

Bill Brokaw of Hillwood Urban talks about his company’s involvement with Wired Certification. [Photo: Lance Murray]

Bill Brokaw, senior vice president of Hillwood Urban told those attending the conference that his company, which has projects in almost all parts of North Texas, is excited to see the real estate community working together to improve the market for everyone.

“This is very appropriate that as we continue to work on ground-up projects, we really are at the forefront of being certified, and we [at Hillwood Urban] are going to be the first ground-up buildings to be wired for certified, and we’re certainly excited,” Brokaw said.

The adoption of Wired Certification in Dallas is good for the North Texas real estate community, said Linda McMahon, president and CEO of The Real Estate Council.

“I think today’s takeaway is that this certification which we publish will really make it easy for potential tenants and other companies to know where our buildings stand in terms of connectivity,” she said. “I think it’s a very positive move for our industry in that we have this additional tool to help us market to the whole world.”

Courtney Pogue is director of economic development for the city of Dallas. [Photo by Lance Murray]

Courtney Pogue, director of Economic Development for the city of Dallas, said that the adoption of Wire Certification will help move the city forward as a world leader in technology.

“Wired Certified buildings will lay the foundation for turning Dallas into a Smart City,” Pogue said. “Technology is at the heart of a Smart City, and the Dallas real estate community has the power to elevate Dallas as a world-class Smart City.”

By hooking up with WiredScore, Dallas joins the ranks of other cities seeking to improve their connectivity profile. All told, WiredScore said it has certified more than 1,700 buildings nationwide, with 450 million square feet of office space. It has 350 clients in six countries.

In October, we reported that WiredScore raised $9 million in Series A funding that came after a year of domestic and global growth that was propelled by an influx of real estate firms that have prioritized investment into their digital connectivity strategies.

Bill Brokaw, Linda McMahon, and Arie Barendrecht spoke at the WiredScore announcement. [Photo by Lance Murray]

Linda McMahon, president and CEO of The Real Estate Council, tells attendees that Wired Certification will be a positive for the real estate industry. [Photo by Lance Murray]

Bill Brokaw talks about the important of Wired Certification. [Photo by Lance Murray]

WiredScore will be the city’s connectivity ratings platform. [Photo by Lance Murray]

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