Sunday, March 14, 2027
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
4:15 PM - 5:45 PM
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Monday, March 15, 2027
7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
9:20 AM - 10:35 AM
9:20 AM - 11:00 AM
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
2:20 PM - 3:10 PM
As retailers accelerate growth, they need to open stores efficiently, and without losing control of quality, budget, or schedule. This panel will examine what it really takes to scale retail construction programs—from standardization and decision-making to collaboration, accountability, and field execution across multiple markets.
This session discusses how to navigate landlord work letter updates, and how to build a skill set that advocates for tenant improvement allowances will benefit your business. Learn how to use relocation options and other tactics to your advantage such as reducing restrictions, and adding new technology/interactions points, such as drone use, and more. Discussions also define “owner” vs landlord responsibility matrix upgrades and “emergency” response expectations for all parties.
Rather than waiting for a failed inspection to reveal compliance gaps, facility managers can take proactive steps to stay ahead. This session will discuss how to prevent risks before they escalate including safety regulations, environmental compliance, building maintenance, and more. Discussion topics include the importance of self-audits, increased staff training, third-party partnerships, and more.
Just as organizations rely on boards of directors for guidance and accountability, female professionals can benefit from a carefully curated group of mentors, sponsors, peers and advisors. This session will educate female professionals to identify the right people for their personal board, cultivate meaningful professional relationships, and leverage trusted advisors to navigate career transitions, leadership challenges, and long-term growth opportunities.
3:20 PM - 4:10 PM
Today's leaders manage more complexities than ever before, including leading multigenerational teams, work-life flexibility, and employee well-being. Today’s leaders must rethink traditional management practices in favor of more open communication and prioritization to keep organizations aligned when pulled in different directions.
This session will discuss strategies that help leaders keep employees motivated and productive, enabling them to build stronger, more resilient teams.
Modern AI-powered security systems can significantly improve safety and reduce risk. Learn how AI, predictive analytics and other innovations are adding another layer of security in risk management programs and corporate office/on-site safety for associates.
Lighting improvements can enhance product vibrancy and customer dwell time, as well as the safety of the physical space while reducing operating expenses. This session will highlight the innovations in lighting that retailers should be focusing on, including dynamic white lighting, ultra-precision color rendering, smart IoT controls, accent and task layering, sustainable solutions, and more.
Hear from key decision makers leading the nation's most talked about retail experiences.
Retailers industry-wide are recalibrating new-build vs. remodel spending. This session defines what "buckets" are growing, shrinking and why. A panel of retail experts discuss how they are allocating store development capital in 2026/2027 on new units, remodels, P&E refreshes, sustainability retrofits, and more.
4:20 PM - 5:10 PM
This session will explore practical methods to maintain attractive, safe and functional properties while controlling costs, prioritizing maintenance investments, extending asset life and maximizing limited budgets.
What is the difference between coaches, mentors, advisors and consultants? While all play different roles, every connection improves employees' motivation, skill sets and commitment to their craft—spurring internal growth and retention within retail organizations.
Construction teams are being asked to manage more projects, more vendors, tighter budgets and shorter schedules with the same headcount or smaller teams. This session explains how AI will enable project managers, estimators and general contractors make faster, sharper decisions—not replace them. Learn how AI takeoff/estimating is tied to design models; how AI can assist with computer-vision QAs and punch-lists on active job sites, validate proposals, catch risks, enable teams to communicate faster, and more.
Most HVAC failures start small, but the longer they go unnoticed, the bigger they snowball. Learn how to catch HVAC issues before they turn catastrophic—saving you time, money, and headaches. This session will identify the most common commercial HVAC failures and what it costs to repair them, and the strategies to prevent them from happening.
This session will delve into the advantages of working with existing structures and highlight a case study about how vacant commercial properties were transformed into valuable assets. The session will focus on the design and execution of a specific adaptive retail project.
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday, March 16, 2027
7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
8:00 AM - 8:15 AM
8:15 AM - 9:10 AM
9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
9:30 AM - 11:10 AM
11:15 AM - 1:45 PM
2:00 PM - 2:50 PM
Construction teams, facility managers and real estate professionals need the flexibility to meet business standards and protocols across projects—and easily adapt as those standards and protocols change. This session will explore the proven techniques and software innovations needed to manage punch lists, evaluate project completion, document deficiencies and create a warranty program that reduces future maintenance costs.
This session gives an overview of workflows in production use today, such as generative site adaptation, site automation, and more digital documentation tools.
This session discusses how retailers run a structured post-occupancy review process—what data is collected, who owns the results, and how retailers can seamlessly revise design and construction standards. The session will also highlight an example(s) of a prototype change that was impacted by the data collected, as well as results.
The current decade, by contrast, is being shaped by a fundamental reordering: a cleaner, more distributed energy generation; rising demand driven by electrification and digital infrastructure; and customers who increasingly expect their energy provider to align with their values. This session will explore distributed energy resources, advanced metering and smart grid technologies.
Gen Z’s spending power continues to rise, and they are demanding retail experiences centered on connection, discovery and experiences. This session will explore how retailers are making big changes and creating retail spaces that resonate with Gen Z, from experience-driven programming to designing for the seamless interplay between online and in-store engagement.
3:00 PM - 3:50 PM
This session will be an honest conversation on how brands and GCs are protecting schedules when qualified electrical, refrigeration and finish subs simply aren't available—including pre-bid, sub-qualification, regional sub partnerships, leveraging Individual contractors across multi-site rollouts, and prefab/offsite workarounds.
Non-traditional retail—from airports and healthcare to universities, sports venues and transit hubs—operates under entirely different design, permitting, construction, and maintenance constraints than traditional store environments. This session discusses differences in traditional vs. non-traditional retail, lessons to learn and what can be replicated.
Maintenance costs are rising, often due to poor planning or unnecessarily deferred projects. This session explores when it makes sense to use preventive measures, predictive solutions or reactive maintenance strategies to avoid deferring projects. The session will also share how to triage a backlog, and shift from "run it till it breaks" to planned reinvestment that keeps you in the negotiating seat with vendor partners.
Net migration tracking—who's moving where, and crucially who they are—has become a leading indicator that lets retailers and developers spot demand at the early stages. This session shows how to read migration and demographic flow data to identify emerging trade areas, validate candidate markets, and time site decisions ahead of the pack—and how this data delivers defensible real estate decisions.
3:20 PM - 4:10 PM
Retailers are taking their “vendor partnerships” to the next level. They are seeking collaborators who are consultative by nature, have the client's long-term interest at heart, and bring proactive insights, clean data and implement innovation to all projects.
This session explores what retailers expect from service partnerships and how technology innovations like AI and automation are primed to change project workflow and the future of the retailer-vendor relationship. The discussion will also explore the importance of sourcing companies that manage operations, including predictive maintenance, cleaning of HVAC coils/units, maintaining water heaters, plumbing, and more.
