Reflecting its growth and vision for the future, The Chevy Chase Land Co., a commercial real estate leader in the Washington, D.C., region, has unveiled its new name—CCLC.
The rebrand honors the firm’s 135-year legacy of developing over 2,000 acres and 4 million square feet of office, retail, and residential space while signaling its evolution into a more robust commercial real estate investment and management firm.
With the new name comes a bold look. The new logo features interlocking C’s, a nod to the Chevy Chase, Maryland, roots and the firm’s commitment to collaboration and community. The modernized color palette is anchored by deep navy with green and blue accents to signify both stability and optimism. It also has a new positioning line, Real Estate Partners, that reinforces its role as a trusted partner across all commercial real estate sectors.
“Our new name and visual identity reflect who we are today: a principled, dynamic team committed to creating long-term value for our tenants, investors, and communities,” says president and CEO John Ziegenhein. “We’ve always embraced growth, and this next chapter allows us to build on our legacy while expanding the services and partnerships that will define our future.”
Ziegenhein adds that the firm has grown beyond its name over the years. “This rebrand captures our broader capabilities and our renewed focus on delivering value at every level, from strategic investments to tenant experience.”
As part of its vision for the future and growth, CCLC is embracing artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance leasing analytics, streamline reporting, improve tenant engagement, guide stakeholder operations, generate concepts for design and development, and collaborate with partners on future developments.
“We, as an industry, have been a laggard in new tech. CCLC is taking a lot of initiative to really put ourselves out there—understanding what tools are available to us and how to be proactive in terms of integrating them in a thoughtful way,” Ziegenhein says.
The firm created a formal technology strategy four years ago and modified it last year to specifically call out AI.
“We started small. There’s a whole world of AI tools out there,” he says. “We always emphasize that it’s meant to be an enhancing tool. It’s meant to make us more efficient and not to replace anyone.”
It now is using 15 to 20 different AI resources on a daily basis and is leveraging the platforms of larger companies, such as Bozzuto, its residential property manager, and CBRE, its commercial property manager.
Some examples of the AI usage include corporate operations to assist with the compilation of board meeting materials, predictive analytics on equipment to try to catch issues before they happen, and leasing and tenant relations communications.
He says AI also is making it easier to analyze data when looking at financials, leasing, or future investments. “If you are aggregating your own data and then third-party data, having those speak to each other was difficult,” he notes. “AI is bridging that gap by taking multiple data sources, interpreting, and generating new outcomes where you might have spent months trying to predict. You have to teach your module what you’re looking for.”
He adds that it’s allowing for a lot more efficiency; however, he notes, “We’re making a very distinct point internally that AI is not to replace your thoughts and experiences—you have to challenge AI like you would challenge everything else.”
Another area CCLC is delving into AI is on the design and development side. It’s working with architect Gensler on a sector plan for Montgomery County’s Friendship Heights neighborhood, where CCLC has 20 acres of land holdings. Graphics and visualization through AI are making it easier and quicker to share redesign plans with the community and government officials. Where five years ago, it might have taken four or five months, now it’s getting to the market quicker.
“It’s really great when you’re going through a project this large and communicating with the community. Now they can see what the final product might look like, versus a false conclusion based on massings alone. We can take them through a walking tour on video,” Ziegenhein says. “It’s going to help shape the conversation and help drive the planning process, with the end result ultimately being what the community wants. I think we are just on the cusp of these bigger tools and how they may shape our cities. That’s going to be the really exciting part for us as a developer, putting these advanced visualization tools to work going forward.”
While he encourages companies to start embracing AI, likening it to the internet in the late 1990s, he does have some concerns.
One of the biggest challenges is making sure people aren’t loose with how they use it.
“You still need to have the human element to go through everything to ensure accuracy,” he says.
He says the firm has been proactive in training and has an in-house policy that only certain AI modules can be used from a data protection standpoint.
“There’s no perfect solution. You’re not going to find one AI tool that does all the exercises that you need,” he adds. “It’s all about continuous learning, and there’s no one size fits all.”