Gómez Platero at CRET Summit 2026: designing value

CRET Summit 2026 brings Commercial Real Estate leaders to San José, Costa Rica, at the Costa Rica Convention Center on March 25–26, with an Official Project Tour on March 27. The agenda connects capital, corporate end-users and market trends, with Gómez Platero taking the stage as a speaker.

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CRET Summit 2026 positions San José as a key meeting point for the Commercial Real Estate ecosystem: developers, investors, advisors and corporate occupiers shaping location, product and capital decisions across the region. The event takes place at the Costa Rica Convention Center on March 25–26, and adds an Official Project Tour on Friday, March 27, focused on real assets and on-site operational insights. 

In this context, Gómez Platero Arquitectura y Urbanismo will participate with the talk “Architecture as a Value Generator in Real Estate Development: Design Strategies to Enhance Returns,” presented by Ricardo Fernández, the firm’s Business Development Manager for the Americas. The presentation, which will take place on Thursday, March 26 at 5:25 p.m. (local time), will focus on a clear premise: in an increasingly selective real estate cycle, design decisions made in the early stages of a project can have a direct impact on measurable outcomes—such as sales absorption, asset appreciation, operational efficiency, and market positioning—positioning architecture as a strategic tool for generating value and maximizing development returns. 

The Summit combines keynotes, strategic panels, and conversational formats built around decision-making. Core themes include global capital and investment, office portfolio strategy, the next stage of industrial/logistics, hospitality and retail repositioning, data-driven market intelligence, the acceleration of digital infrastructure, and the growing weight of ESG in access, resilience and long-term competitiveness. 

Featured international and corporate speakers include: 

• Luis Morejón, Head of Global Workplace Operations at Uber: how multinationals are redefining their corporate footprint and real estate decisions. 
• Malisa Maynard, Chief Sustainability Officer at Mohawk Industries: how ESG, carbon reduction, and the circular economy are directly impacting industrial and corporate Real Estate. 
• Alex Foshay, Executive Vice Chairman at Newmark Capital Markets: a view on global capital and shifting investment flows toward Latin America. 
• Steve Sasse, VP Business Development & Latin America at datacenterHawk: how technology expansion and AI are reshaping corporate and industrial Real Estate. 
• Rodrigo Bondesio, Director of Real Estate Development at Walmart Mexico & Central America: the corporate end-user perspective on growth, efficiency, and strategic development. 
• Ibrahim Khadra, Senior Director, Project Delivery – MedTech Program Lead at Johnson & Johnson: insights from healthcare and advanced manufacturing on project delivery, operational expansion, and real estate decision-making in highly regulated environments. 

CRET Summit 2026 and the shifting Commercial Real Estate playbook 

Competitive advantage is no longer driven by location alone. Today’s winners combine product quality, asset performance, and delivery discipline, and CRET is structured around that reality. Across capital, corporate end-users, and execution teams, the same questions keep surfacing: where to expand, what to build or lease, and how to deliver with certainty in cost, timeline, and operations. That is why the Summit connects investment logic, occupier strategy, and real-world constraints. In this context, design becomes a strategic input: early decisions on program, site planning, mobility, energy and user experience can translate directly into stronger leasing, higher valuation, and resilient long-term competitiveness. 

Costa Rica market signals to watch in 2026 

• Industrial & logistics: strong demand + major deliveries: in 2025, around 290,000 sqm of industrial/logistics space was occupied, while nearly 280,000 sqm of new construction entered the market.  
• 2026 pipeline trending higher: market projections point to 300,000+ sqm of new industrial/logistics space potentially delivering in 2026.  
• Office: gradual recovery and quality split: vacancy decreased from 17.9% (2024) to 17.3% (end-2025), reflecting a bifurcation between premium and secondary assets.  
• Corporate demand & reinvestment momentum: in 2025, CINDE reported 19 new FDI projects and 48 reinvestments; the multinational sector employs 195,000+ people.  
• Trade at record scale (logistics tailwind): Procomer reported 2025 goods exports of US$22.855B (+14% YoY, record high).  
• Free Trade Zones as a structural platform: for every US$1 exempted, Free Trade Zone companies generate US$2.9 in total contribution to Costa Rica’s economy (data updated to 2024).  
• Hospitality: mixed performance signals: STR notes some softening in 2025 occupancy and Costa Rica ADR easing from 2023 record highs, with differences by destination and segment.