IAMC’s Cornerstone Community Provides Answers & Collaboration

by John Salustri

“We’re all overworked and stressed, being pushed and pulled in many directions, and trying to read the same muddled tea leaves.”

So, Brian Morgan, director of global real estate for Linde in Danbury, CT, summarizes the understandable post-COVID stress of corporate IAMC members everywhere. 

Community with fellow members is helpful, he says, and so he occasionally turns to Cornerstone, IAMC’s membership community portal (https://cornerstone.iamc.org/home), providing platforms for discussions on a wide variety of hot-button topics in addition to a range of other customizable features. 

He points to the sharing from diverse members for a range of ideas: “We’re all in the industrial space, and some have much bigger portfolios than others. It’s helpful to have a venue where we can toss out a topic or question to the group for a quick response.  I also like sharing when I have something to share.  If I can contribute, spur a conversation or establish a new contact that’s a good thing.” 

One such conversation appeared a while back, when Morgan posted an inquiry about option fees. He explains that he had been receiving an increasing number of cold calls from energy companies feeling out possibilities for land-purchase options. 

“The battery-storage industry for solar backup is burgeoning,” he explains, adding that the providers want space to set up their battery systems to comply with cities looking to make their grids greener. “But these type of requests are new for me, so I was curious about what price ranges people were seeing as well as typical time frames for purchase.”

He says he received a set of relevant responses ample enough to “push me in the direction of an answer.”

In all, he summarizes once more, “It was quite helpful.”