When Plan A is not working out, there is always Plan B. Some real estate investors are embracing that logic these days. With limited space and heavy competition for class A office space among tenants in major central business districts, class B office rents have seen massive growth in crowded CBDs, including year-over-year growth of 29.5 percent in mid-market San Francisco, according to new data from JLL.

Early in the fourth quarter of 2014, the European Central Bank reported the results of a yearlong audit of euro zone lenders. Of the 130 big euro zone banks under review, just 25 showed shortfalls in capital.

While the term “big data” captures the imagination, it is poorly understood outside of the realm of data science and those instances where it exists. Real estate investors typically do not have big data but — unless they have already addressed it — most certainly do have a data opportunity or “dark data.” There is value to be found in addressing the data opportunity — in finding the dark data and putting it to work.

It’s true. Blackstone and its senior executives will never make the cover of The Institutional Real Estate Letter. Neither will any of the other top 10 largest investment managers, or any other manager, for that matter.

Imagine that you had the opportunity to invest with one of the industry’s most astute and successful real estate investors (pick your favorite master of the universe). Instead of managing a multibillion-dollar vehicle investing across the globe, this star manager would invest only $200 million to $300 million and a significant percentage of this allocation could be yours. In addition, this manager might offer you an exclusivity agreement guaranteeing that he or she would effectively spend the entire time managing only one strategy — yours — while at the same time offering a significant fee break and strong control provisions. We believe this scenario would be the best of both worlds — unprecedented investment talent with highly focused and dedicated resources providing investor-favorable terms and governance.

Industrial vacancies in the United States reached 7.2 percent at end of third quarter 2014, lower than the prior trough in 2008, and JLL expects the rate to be even lower when year-end 2014 data is available. Furthermore, the sector’s sales volume is on pace to reach between $55 billion and $60 billion, just below the peak volume of $61.7 billion set in 2007, according to Real Capital Analytics.

The U.S. population is more than 316 million. In less than 40 years, the U.S. Census Bureau projects, we will reach 450 million, a 42 percent increase. Where is this population going to live? The answer to that question appears relatively clear. America’s urban population increased by 12.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, outpacing the nation’s overall growth rate of 9.7 percent for the same period. Today, more than 82 percent of U.S. citizens live in urban areas.

A mere 25 years ago, multifamily housing was not even considered an institutional-grade property type. Today, it is on pace to attract more than $105 billion from institutional investors, setting a new investment record for the property class.

Pension systems might have a reputation for being hamstrung by politics and bureaucracy, but it does not mean they are incapable of change. Indeed, a global survey conducted by State Street Corp. found that changes are afoot at pension funds and they are reshaping “almost every aspect” of how they are managing their investments.

Real estate’s days as the Rodney Dangerfield of asset classes are coming to an end. The business simply got no respect from organizations such as the S&P 500 Index, which did not even consider real estate its own asset class.

Does the real estate securities sector’s budding embrace of highly specialized equity REITs suggest pension systems and other institutions will soon be placing multimillion-dollar bets on publicly traded casino companies? The answer appears to be at least a tentative “yes.” But the motivations underlying plans by three large gaming companies to establish new REITs illustrate both encouraging and dubious drivers of niche REIT formations.