As part of Alden’s ongoing Conference blog series, this month we’re highlighting “The Future of Real Estate Asset Management + Alden ONE,” a session presented by J. Gary Bowers of Baltimore Gas & Electric.
Bowers’ presentation focused on a future state for utilities to work toward: a more connected way to manage real estate assets, land rights, documents, research, workflows, and reporting in one platform.
For utilities, real estate asset management is not only about property. It is about the rights, records, obligations, and decisions that make field work possible. Easements, leases, licenses, acquisitions, dispositions, right-of-way (ROW) agreements, and land use reviews all shape how work gets planned, approved, built, and defended over time. That’s where Alden ONE comes in.
Behind that portfolio sits an enormous archive: between 750,000 and 1 million property-related documents spread across paper files, physical vaults, databases, and spreadsheets.When information is scattered across so many places, teams can find themselves repeating research, missing important historical context, and encountering risks only after a project is underway. Solving the problem takes more than converting paper to digital files. It requires a centralized, reliable system of record that preserves the past, makes earlier research reusable, and gives every team consistent information throughout the project lifecycle.
Alden has always managed assets from a lifecycle perspective, looking beyond a single task or project to everything that happens to an asset over time.
In the real estate context, lifecycle asset management means connecting the agreement, the geography, the project, the facility, the supporting documents, and the history behind the right. A ROW agreement may link to GIS data. A rights polygon can define where rights apply, because unlike a pole, which is represented by a single point on a map, a rights polygon consists of multiple connected points that form a boundary around a specific geographic area.
A parent parcel can preserve historical context after land has been subdivided. One easement may support multiple projects, properties, or facilities, and a land use review may involve Real Estate, Transmission, Environmental, Legal, External Affairs, Government Affairs, and other stakeholders. Alden and BGE are working to bring these pieces together inside Alden ONE so the record of the asset can keep growing over time.
Retained Research Is Compounding Value
One of the strongest takeaways from the session was the value of retaining research. When land rights research is completed for a project, the results need not disappear into a folder, inbox, spreadsheet, or project archive that future teams cannot easily access. Retained in the asset record instead, that work benefits the next team that touches the same parcel. The Alden ONE platform becomes a place where institutional knowledge is preserved and reused.
What a Future Workflow May Look Like
The future workflow begins with request intake, whether internal or external. An Alden ONE Conversation would be created and assigned, while the team researched rights, deeds, easements, and related documents. The results would be retained and linked back to the appropriate asset record. Documentation and reporting stay connected to the work. The important shift is that research does not end with a single request. It becomes part of the asset’s history.
More Than Technology
The future of real estate asset management is not only about technology. It requires a clear understanding of how utility work gets done, how records accumulate over decades, and how past decisions shape future projects.
Alden and BGE have spent time mapping what an asset means, how Alden ONE Conversations can support real estate activity, and how properties, facilities, documents, and reporting connect. The goal is not simply to digitize old records. It is to build a model that works the way real estate asset management needs to work for utilities and infrastructure organizations.
What the Future State Can Make Possible
As this work continues, the future state may make it easier to use emerging capabilities in practical ways. AI document scanning could help categorize and pre-screen large volumes of records. Predictive research results could surface relevant rights, restrictions, and prior research based on project inputs. Data Lake integration could support Power BI reporting and executive dashboards. Automated reporting could turn Conversation activity into reports on costs, timelines, land impacts, and response rates.
Parent parcel tracking is another important piece. Historic land rights do not disappear just because land has been subdivided. GIS-linked parent parcel information can help teams defend long-standing access without researching every subdivision from scratch. And because real estate rights in the field are rarely isolated to a single request, a connected system should reflect that reality. One easement can be linked to multiple projects, properties, and facilities.
Alden means “wise old friend,” and that idea fits this stage of the discussion. Before an organization decides how to modernize its real estate asset management, it helps to ask the right questions about where information lives, who needs it, and how it will be used going forward.
Looking Ahead with Alden ONE
Looking ahead, the value is in helping real estate data become more useful over time. Connecting all the pieces of information helps to add context to projects instead of creating more isolated records. For organizations with decades of property records and new infrastructure needs ahead, a connected lifecycle view will help utility real estate teams preserve what they already know and plan more confidently for what comes next.
Contact Alden to learn how Alden ONE can support the future of your real estate asset management workflows.
Utility real estate asset management involves managing the properties, land rights, easements, leases, licenses, right-of-way (ROW) agreements, documents, and related workflows that support utility infrastructure. A connected lifecycle approach can help utilities preserve historical context and make real estate information easier to find and reuse across projects.
Why is retaining land rights and real estate research important for utilities?Retaining research helps preserve institutional knowledge about properties, easements, rights, and prior decisions. When that research remains connected to the asset record, future teams can reference earlier findings instead of starting each project from scratch.
How can a connected system support the future of utility real estate asset management?Connecting real estate records, land rights, GIS context, documents, research, workflows, and reporting can create a more complete view of an asset over time. This foundation may also help utilities explore future capabilities such as AI-assisted document review, predictive research, automated reporting, and executive dashboards.