In their book “Digitizing Real Estate,” Shelly Robertson and Michael J. Lipsey predict that virtual reality will drastically change the face of commercial real estate. They envision a client who dials into a page on the World Wide Web and, seeing the office space available, start to configure it to his or her satisfaction.
Local firm Seale Studios has gone one step farther. At an office park in Plano, the company inserted a computer generated model of a proposed building into a photo of the existing site and added the capability of checking out the view from the fourth floor.
To do this, Ansen Seale, President of the company, and his partner, Patrick Woosley, used a piece of equipment invented by Seale with a working name of Digital Panoramic Camera. The patent on it is still pending.
The pair rented a boom lift to elevate themselves 40 to 50 feet off the ground and took 360-degree digital photos. These were down-loaded into a computer and a virtual model of the proposed building was superimposed on the images.
The effect is startling. Users in the virtual environment can view the entire site as though they were standing on the ground turning in a circle. They can even see the terrain with the building inserted in the picture. A click of the mouse moves them to the corner office of the virtual building’s fourth floor, where they can move about the office to the windows where the actual view presents itself.
Dennis Jerke, vice president of Carter & Burgess Inc., an architectural and engineering firm based in Fort Worth, hired Seale Studios for the project. Jerke’s client, EDS, wanted to evaluate their property at the Legacy Park campus for a possible corporate user.
“He’s coming up
with stuff we could all profit from.”
-Andres Andujar
“Time is money in most cases for real estate transactions,” Jerke says. “This technology really does provide that kind of timely evaluation of potential building sites. EDS jumped on it when they realized a corporate user was looking at their property, but couldn’t make a decision till they could see the building on the ground..”
“The real estate community is just finding out about this technology,” Jerke adds, “and it’s generating a lot of excitement.” Seale and Woosley say so far they have had more interest from companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but local interest is also growing. A recent demonstration of their work for the Downtown Alliance’s web site sparked intense interest from audience members.
On the Alliance’s web site, Seale has created a tour of La Villita, Market Square, and parts of the River Walk. Although they are photos not videos they give the impression of movement because users can negotiate the space and decide where to go with a click of the mouse. They can zoom in on a sign, or click on the entryway to move from the Arneson River Theater into La Villita.
The company did similar work for the National Wildflower Center’s web page in Austin and the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. Visitors to the Hyatt web site can view a room and by clicking on various items move to other parts of the hotel. A click on golf clubs takes users to a page highlighting the golf course. A click on a laptop computer lying on a desk moves users to a page on the hotel’s meeting rooms.
At the Wildflower Center’s web page, users can stand in the main courtyard, then click on the tower. In a virtual jump through space, the user is now on top of the tower looking out at the Hill Country.
Although Seale has gone through several versions of the camera and done a number of projects already for local companies, he and Woosley didn’t start to look at the real estate possibilities until recently, Woosley says.
Woosley, whose background is in commercial real estate, says his colleague David Evemy, president of Jamison Research in Dallas, contacted Seale Studios earlier this year to help him make his company’s web site more visually appealing. Jamison is a commercial real estate research firm. Woosley says the idea was to create an aerial representation of an area where users could click on a particular building and see what type of space was available for lease.
Three days later, Woosley says they hit on the idea of creating a three-dimensional model by flying around an area in a helicopter and photographing it. Once downloaded into a computer, the image can be rotated 360 degrees.
“I said ‘Wow! I think we just reinvented the way real estate is marketed,’” Woosley says.
He says he also saw the potential of inserting images into an existing, interactive format. This came after watching members of the Historic Design and Review Committee try to extrapolate what a project on the River Walk would look like from two dimensional plans.
“It builds and builds,” Seale says. “Every day we find a new application for it. It’s a very stimulating thought process.”
Users and potential users are already coming up with further uses and improvements. Andres Anduja, vice president of 3D-International Architects, which has used Seale Studios’ services, rhapsodizes upon the possibilities. “Someone looks at an aerial of downtown and takes an interest in the Weston Centre,” - the building housing 3D/I, Andujar says, “The user clicks on the building and gets a list of the tenants, which then links him directly to the web site of each individual company. Or it lists what space is available and where, and a link takes the user directly to the office complete with a view.
“He’s coming up with stuff we could all profit from.” Andujar says of Seale.
One of the company’s newest clients is La Cantera Development Co, which is continuing to market and develop land off Interstate 10 West near Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
“One of the things we’re concerned about at La Cantera is not only the quality of something being built there, but what it will look like from different view lines,” says Guy Seay, marketing and sales consultant for La Cantera. “This (technology) is something we can utilize in making a decision on selling property for a certain project..”
Seale and Woosley say some of their presentations have caused consternation among some members of the brokerage community, who see a direct threat to their jobs.
Paul Fagen, a partner with Trinity Asset Management, says he sees this as just another tool to help brokers, not a replacement.
“Because you can go down to the store and buy a CAD program doesn’t make you an architect,” Fagen says. “There is always room for skilled real estate professionals.
“Nevertheless, Fagen says the technology is incredible compared to what was available just a few years ago, particularly the ability to enter a proposed building and actually see what someone would see looking out of their office.
“That’s off the map cool!” Fagen says.
Life has already gotten much busier for the seven employees of Seale Studios, and Seale and Woosley anticipate the business will grow beyond its current space at 935 Isom Road. For the moment the price may keep some potential customers at bay. Because the technology is so new, the two have not developed a menu of prices, but Woosley estimates that a single ground-based 360-degree panoramic image runs about $1,000. An aerial fly-by could be about $5,000.00 because they have to rent a helicopter.
The company is not limited to real estate either, Seale says. They have been contacted by attorneys who want to use the technology to create virtual images for a case. Seale also helped shortrun Inc. develop the Heart of San Antonio, a web site that offers a virtual tour of San Antonio.
“Whatever business you’re in, if you can think of it, we can do it.,” Woosley says.
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