Name: Leyla Kimball
Title: In-house Counsel
Company: Hecht Development
Location: Concord, Mass.
Birthplace: Boston, Mass.
Family: Husband and three children
College: Merrimack College
First job unrelated to current field: Bank auditor
First job in real estate or allied field: Legal associate
What do you do now and what are you planning for the future: Currently involved in all aspects of purchasing, developing and constructing shopping centers and planning for large scale development projects.
Hobbies: Reading, gardening, running
Favorite book: Books by Jhumpa Lahiri
Favorite movie: "Traffic"
Person you admire most (outside of family): Abigail Adams
Key to success: Dedication
If you had to choose another vocation what would it be? Advocate for children
Boston, MA Warehub, the technology platform building the operating system for industrial real estate, has been named a “2026 Influencer in Industrial Real Estate” by GlobeSt.com, recognizing the company’s role in introducing a more connected, flexible and performance-driven model for the industrial real estate industry.
Now what? As the year comes to a close, the state of retail is always in the news. The answers vary greatly depending on who in the various related industries you ask, each offering a unique lens on the challenges and opportunities ahead.
This may seem self-serving, and I’ll be the first to admit it. But unlike some of the artificial intelligence tools now reshaping our industry, I am fully aware of my own bias. So, hear me out. The rise of AI in commercial real estate is not a distant threat or a speculative headline.