The Buildings We Inherited

In boardrooms, bond planning sessions, and facilities walkthroughs, the same realization keeps surfacing.

Buildings that were constructed 30 to 40 years ago were never designed for the systems they are now expected to support.

They were built before the internet.
Before connected devices.
Before the idea that a building could generate, process, and respond to data in real time.

And yet, here we are, asking those same buildings to carry the weight of a fully digital society.

That is not just a facilities challenge. It is an infrastructure transition story.

A Financial Signal

Watch the source video on YouTube
Embed URL: https://www.youtube.com/embed/-kHIYtSLbTU

The transcript from the conversation at the video above makes the point plainly: many buildings were built 30 to 40 years ago, before internet-era requirements, and roughly $3 trillion in building refinancing is coming up globally in the next two years. That scale is forcing owners and operators to make hard decisions quickly.

This is often described as a “maturity wall.”

But the more important signal is not only financial.

It is structural and operational.

What this refinancing cycle really represents is a moment of decision:

  • Which buildings still work?
  • Which buildings need to change?
  • And which ones can no longer support the systems we depend on?

Because refinancing is no longer just about extending debt.
It is about testing whether an asset can still perform in a connected economy.

The Hidden Parallel in Michigan Schools

In Michigan, this same dynamic is playing out—just under a different name.

We do not call it refinancing.
We call it:

  • bond cycles
  • sinking funds
  • capital improvement plans
  • facility consolidation

But functionally, it is the same moment: a decision window where capital planning and system capability collide.

School districts across the state are being asked to make long-term investment decisions about buildings that were never designed for a digital learning environment.

Most of these schools were:

  • built or modernized between the 1960s and 1990s
  • designed around analog systems
  • engineered without the need for high-capacity data networks

Today, they are expected to support:

  • 1:1 student devices
  • AI-enabled curriculum
  • building automation systems
  • safety and security technologies
  • community access beyond school hours

This is not a minor evolution.

It is a complete shift in what a school building is expected to do.

Refinancing Analog Buildings Into a Digital Economy

The core tension is simple:

We are reinvesting in buildings that were never designed for connectivity.

Across the private sector, this creates financial pressure.
Across the public sector, it creates planning risk with direct consequences for students, educators, and communities.

Because when a building cannot support digital systems, it becomes:

  • more expensive to operate
  • harder to adapt
  • less effective as a learning environment

And over time, less viable.

The refinancing wave in commercial real estate is showing us what happens when this performance gap becomes too large.

Buildings do not fail overnight.
They fall behind—until they cannot catch up.

The Retrofit Imperative

Across sectors, the reality is unavoidable:

  • The majority of buildings that will exist in 2050 already exist today
  • Retrofitting is no longer optional—it is the primary path forward

In older buildings, the challenge is not just one system.
It is the entire stack:

  • electrical capacity
  • cabling pathways
  • control systems
  • integration between mechanical, lighting, and IT systems

Many legacy facilities still rely on analog controls and isolated systems that do not integrate with modern digital infrastructure.

This is why retrofit costs often concentrate not on visible improvements, but on the hidden infrastructure required to make systems interoperable. The good news: emerging systems like fault-managed power distribution use cabling practices compatible with standard retrofit protocols, meaning you don’t need to tear out the entire building. New power and control systems can layer onto existing pathways, making the upgrade sequence both realistic and phased.

A Different Way to Think About School Modernization

If we continue to approach school investments as isolated upgrades—roofs, boilers, lighting—we will continue to chase problems.

But if we recognize this moment for what it is, we can do something different.

We can treat schools as infrastructure platforms that produce educational, operational, and community outcomes.

Not just buildings.

Platforms that support:

  • learning systems
  • energy systems
  • workforce development
  • community connectivity

In this model, digital infrastructure is not an add-on.

It is the foundation.

From Buildings to Systems

This is where the conversation shifts from maintenance to performance.

School modernization is no longer just about physical condition.
It is about system capability.

Can the building:

  • support integrated data systems?
  • optimize energy use dynamically? (Modern systems can reduce facility energy costs by 75%.)
  • adapt to new learning technologies?
  • serve as a hub for community connectivity?

If the answer is no, then the question is no longer whether to invest.

It is how to invest correctly.

The Hidden Cost: AC-to-DC Conversion Losses

Legacy buildings are hemorrhaging energy in ways most facility managers don’t track.

Consider how power actually moves through a traditional school or campus building:

  • Transmission lines deliver power to the site (5–20% line loss before it even arrives)
  • An electrical panel converts AC to DC for equipment
  • That conversion loses 2–3 percentage points
  • Inside the building, there are typically 3 to 6 additional AC-to-DC conversion stages
  • Each hop loses more power

In older data centers and large facilities, the impact is staggering: roughly 65% of total energy consumption goes to non-useful power—cooling losses, line distribution losses, and conversion inefficiencies—rather than actual work.

This is not a compliance issue. It is a cost issue.

A 5 megawatt data center that converts from air cooling and traditional power distribution to direct liquid cooling and managed power delivery can reduce energy costs by 75%. That same infrastructure can also support 2.3 times the computational load for the same energy input.

For schools, the principle is identical. As buildings become platforms for learning systems, data systems, and building automation, the energy efficiency of the underlying power and cooling infrastructure directly affects operational budgets, available capacity, and long-term viability.

Intelligent infrastructure means paying attention to losses that traditional facility planning ignores.

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

The refinancing wave in commercial real estate is often described as a risk.

In many ways, it is.

But it is also an inflection point.

The same is true for Michigan schools.

Bond cycles, consolidation efforts, and facility planning processes are converging at the same moment the definition of infrastructure is changing.

This creates a rare alignment:

  • financial decision points
  • aging assets
  • new technological expectations

If we align these elements, we can move beyond maintaining buildings.

We can transform them.

The Compass Direction: Not Yet, But Next

In many communities, the capacity to fully modernize is not yet there.

That is okay.

The goal is not immediate perfection.
It is intentional direction and sequencing.

Start with:

  • integrated infrastructure planning
  • scalable network architecture
  • alignment between facilities and technology teams
  • workforce pathways tied to real building systems (Network engineers, IT staff, and technicians—not just electricians—can now install and manage intelligent power and control systems, opening new career entry points and addressing skilled labor shortages.)

This is where the opportunity expands.

Because when students learn in buildings that operate as intelligent systems, those buildings become classrooms themselves.

Closing Reflection

The refinancing cycle is telling us something important.

Buildings are no longer valued only for their physical structure.

They are judged by their ability to participate in a connected, intelligent world.

For Michigan schools, the question is no longer:

How do we maintain what we built?

The question is:

How do we transform what we inherited into something that can carry us forward?

That is the work ahead.

And it is already underway.

References

Bombal, D. (Host). (2026, June 19). 1000W touch safe power—Class 4 Fault Managed Power for AI infrastructure [Video podcast]. David Bombal Podcasts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kHIYtSLbTU

Featuring Stephen Kelly and Denise Lee (NTT DATA/Cisco partnership on energy networking systems and fault-managed power delivery)

Further Reading