CBL, which owns and operates dozens of real estate properties across the U.S., announced Tuesday that it has signed a partnership with a developer that will offer “smart homes” that can connect to a smartphone app to manage and monitor their health, energy, security and other properties.
The company is developing a platform that will allow property owners to monitor their home’s health through its smartphone app.
The app will be available to all CBL properties on the market, and the developer will be able to “provide a unified platform for CBL property owners who want to manage their health and security and their energy, food and water,” the company said in a statement.
It is the first major investment by a real estate company in the smart home market, which is already in its early stages.
The platform, which has no commercial revenue and is only intended for small properties, will likely have limited impact for real estate companies as their clients are already accustomed to using their phones to check in on their home and other personal property.CBL Properties already offers a home security system, smart door locks, air conditioners, thermostats, security cameras, smoke detectors and a digital kitchen and laundry facility.
But the company is now aiming to bring the same functionality to the homes of real-estate professionals and homeowners in an effort to offer a cheaper and more convenient alternative to traditional door locks.”CBL properties are going to be the next big thing in home security, smart home technology and smart home automation,” said Tom Kline, CBL’s chief executive officer.
“It’s going to change the way you do security in your home.”
Kline said that the company was looking for a developer to develop a smart home platform that would enable real estate professionals to monitor and manage their home remotely from their phones, including security cameras and air conditioning units.
CBL owns more than 100 properties across six states.
The deal comes just months after CBL bought the property-management startup Pompo Labs for $15 million.
The acquisition brought Pompos to a market that was dominated by big-name companies like Airbnb and Homejoy.
Cbl is betting that the Pompol tech will help CBL expand its reach and take on some of the challenges of its competition in the home security and smart-home space.
Cbl also announced that it will be launching a new smart home-security app in the coming weeks.
The CBL team has developed a series of software features that allow CBL owners to track and manage properties remotely.
This feature will allow Cbl to provide a unified home-management platform for real-life professionals and owners to manage the health and energy of their homes, while the developer can also create and customize a unified portal for Cbl property owners that allows them to access and manage information and data about their properties, the company wrote in a blog post announcing the deal.CULs, which will be managed through the platform, will be used to manage properties with cameras, air conditioning, smoke alarms, security doors, and other sensors.
The CULs will also allow owners to check their home for health issues and add additional sensors to their home, including temperature sensors, humidity sensors, temperature monitors, security camera systems and more.
CUL will also be used by property owners for “personal security” and “security-related monitoring” for their properties.
Cul will also work with CBL to help the developer build the CBL smart home and smart security systems.