Real Perspectives Podcast

Ted Jung is the Chief Credit Officer with Parkview Financial, which is headquartered in Los Angeles and he lives and breathes lending across a broad spectrum of commercial real estate transactions. Ted's background has prepared him well for this position, and he brings to his role 17 years of institutional life insurance and banking experience in the commercial real estate lending industry on a national platform where he has provided loan credit approvals in excess of $12 billion.He has extensive knowledge of underwriting and originating large loans for all major asset types with institutional sponsors across both primary and secondary markets throughout the U.S. His experience across the capital stack includes senior perm mortgages, mezzanine debt, construction loans, CTL's, and equity. Let's hear what he has to say about the state of the industry from his perspective.Welcome to the podcast, Ted.

Today's conversation is with Adir Levitas, the founder and CEO of Faropoint, an Israeli-founded company that identified a remarkable opprotunity in the last-mile space of the industrial sector. The company has emerged from its entry into the US market to be one of the fastest-growing industrial investors in the country. Our conversation focuses on the inception of the company and how it evolved its technological capabilities to realize the opportunities in a space that was often overlooked by investors. We will also address the comapny's plans to expand across the country and its efforts to leverage its status in the industry today to become a national player in this very important commercial real estate segment.

Since the start of COVID, the mortgage industry has been on a tear, once it picked up from a couple of months of relative quiet. But the tide may be turning now, and Thomas Yoon, the CEO of Excelerate Capital, will tell us how things are going in this very dynamic part of the industry.Thomas is an entrepreneur, so he's seen his share of ups and downs in this space, but it is his entrepreneurial spirit and outlook on life and business that is now taking him to invest in new companies while maintaining his focus on the industry in which he's been successful so far. 

Sustainability is close to my heart. I strive to live in a way that reduces energy consumption, I'm aware of my carbon footprint, and when I can, I try to bring the best of the sustainability in commercial real estate to light in order to motivate others and provide some inspiration for our industry and beyond.Today's guest will do exactly that. Joe Rozza has recently been hired by Ryan Companies as their new chief sustainability officer. He's based in Atlanta and brings to commercial real estate over 25 years of deep and strategic experience committed to environmentalism and sustainability. Our conversation today focuses on the state of the sustainability industry across commercial real estate and what specifically he was brought to Ryan to accomplish. There's a lot on his plate, but he is very hopeful about this industry and what it can do to help combat climate change in a meaningful way.

Sooner or later, analytics and artificial intelligence were going to make a splash in the real estate industry, and today's guests, Archer Co-Founders Thomas Foley and Fred Canney, will tell us how their company is looking to accomplish that.Thomas, who comes from the commercial real estate space, met Fred, who worked in gold mining and the two decided to mine data for their next venture and help identify properties and the right time to buy and sell them. It's a new world out there, and Archer is helping lead the way in this exciting new transformation.

In the world of commercial construction, it is not often that we encounter a female CEO, but for Skyline Enterprises, this transformation is not new and Jessica Carps is not a usual candidate for a role like this. With its roots in the Bay Area, Skyline has now expanded to Washington, Texas, Illinois and Southern California, but its focus remains steadfast toward its clients, which is what has been driving that growth.Today's conversation takes us through the commercial construction industry and its drivers in a new, post COVID world. Skyline, which has successfully navigated the last two years is poised for exceptional growth, and Jessica's here to tell us a little bit about how they are going to achieve that.

There has been a lot said about the impact we are making on our environment, and the commercial real estate industry is at times at the forefront of that. This is why we wanted to talk to someone who really understands the impact we're having on our world and who can help us navigate these issues better.Our guest today is Leslie Moulton-Post, the President and CEO of ESA - Environmental Science Associates. Her firm employs scientists, planners, historians, archaeologists, engineers, designers, and technical specialists to provide critical thinking in the areas of environmental and community planning, analysis and assessment, natural and cultural resources management, environmental restoration and design, and regulatory compliance, which helps guide successful policy development and project planning, and deliver enduring projects across the world. For over 50 years, ESA has led the charge on these things, and its finest work is likely just ahead of it.

If you work in commercial real estate, you will have heard of Prop Tech recently, and it is likely that either you or one of your friends has an idea of how to improve commercial real estate through an innovative product or service. RET Ventures will likely be the firm you'll meet if this is your goal, because they are solely focused on Prop Tech and look for ways to bring these innovative companies to the mainstream.Today's conversation with Aaron Ru, a Vice President at RET, gives us a glimpse of his company's activities, how the world of Prop Tech breaks down and what are some areas where there has been lots of activity. It's a bright future for the industry!

Today's conversation takes us to the back yard! Not necessarily my back yard, but a place where some cities across the country are allowing homeowners to build free-standing structures, accessory dwelling units, or more colloquially known as granny units or in-law units. The world of ADUs had grown over the last decade, and some big cities have enacted laws allowing for speedier development of these in order to curb a shortage of housing.Our chat with Adam Stone, the CEO and co-founder of ADU OZ Fund, or ADU opportunity zone fund, is now looking to bring investment dollars into this opportunity and most importantly into areas known as opportunity zones. He's looking to really put a booster on this business and help bring housing in areas where its perhaps needed the most. Here is our conversation about his business and the cottage industry of ADUs that's quickly evolving.

Today's conversation is with Steve Glenn, the founder and CEO of Plant Prefab, the first prefabricated home factory in the nation dedicated to sustainable construction, materials, processes, and operations. Plant manufactures custom and single/multifamily homes that are high-quality, healthy, and durable. With their patented building system, Plant delivers low cost homes in half the time and with less waste than traditional site-based contractors. Plant models are fully customizable and available to individuals, developers, and architects.We talk to Steve about how his company is transforming the home and multifamily development business and how he sees the business progressing not just in the United States, but possibly globally, as well. These are not your typical prefab homes, and Steve is not your typical entrepreneur, either, and our conversation will reveal how his perspectives have shaped Plant and hopefully the process of building of the future.

The Swig Company is a privately owned real estate investor operator based in San Francisco with a venerable +80-year history of investment, development, partnership and management of commercial properties in major U.S. markets. Today's conversation with its CEO Jim Carbone and President Connor Kidd takes us through a period that the firm experienced over the last two years and how those times have helped the company re-affirm its strategy and vision for the future.Oh, and Jim announces that Connor will be taking over the company, which was hinted at by Connor's latest promotion and now reaffirmed during our conversation.

Bryan McLaren is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zoned Properties, a strategic real estate development firm whose primary mission is to provide real estate and sustainability services for the regulated cannabis industry. Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Bryan helps shape the industry across the country and brings an understanding of what cannabis can mean for the commercial real estate industry. In just a few years, this industry has expanded from farming to warehousing, manufacturing, retail, finance and transportation, in some places it is a significant player in the commercial real estate industry.Today's conversation takes us through some of the ins and outs of this industry and its impact on commercial real estate and beyond.

I have not worked in construction, but I can imagine the difficult task of having to redesign or reorient something during the design phase in order to meet new criteria or requests made by the development team. Finally, Alice Technologies has a solution that helps transform the industry through its generative construction simulation. Our conversation today is with Rene Morkos, the founder and CEO of Alice, who takes us through the company's offering, how he came up with the product and where technologies like these will take construction and design in the future.

Today, we head down to Southern California, where are met with Jodie Poirier and Amanda Spangler. Jodie is the executive managing director of Colliers' Greater Los Angeles region - she essentially runs the show for Colliers there - and Amanda's role as managing director of Orange County and Inland Empire extends the group's coverage into these two important Southern California submarkets. The commercial real estate market in this region has been impacted just like any other in the country. However, Southern California has two really big aces up its sleeve - it is the place where most of the stuff we buy from Asia enters the country, so its industrial market is one of the most important in the country. The second ace is the creation of content, which has exploded over the last two years as we've binged and spent time glued to our devices while waiting for COVID to end. Our conversation today takes us across Southern California's commercial real estate market as we try to assess the drivers of this industry and what it may bring in the near term.

Rebecca Rockey is an economist and the Global Head of Forecasting at commercial real estate brokerage and advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield. In her role, she studies how economies, demographics, financial markets and commercial real estate interact— both at the macro and micro level. Today's conversation covers some of the recent changes the Biden Administration enacted with the first phase of the Build Back Better bill. Its impact on commercial real estate is not insignificant and it promises to bring positive change throughout the industry. Rebecca's perspectives will help us understand the timing of this bill, how different categories of the bill will help impact the industry and we'll even touch on the dreaded I-word: Inflation.

In 1986, Scott Knies and a few of his colleagues set out to create a business-oriented organization that would help raise awareness of downtown San Jose. Over the next few decades, the San Jose Downtown Association would come to symbolize not only great dynamism in California's third-largest city but also help promote the good work the city and its corporate citizens were doing to enhance the life of downtown San Jose.As is the case with many other cities, San Jose, too, is experiencing a bit of a setback, but this is all prelude to some remarkable changes coming there over the next year or so. We sit down with Scott to talk about those changes and how the city will help shape Silicon Valley of the future.

Mark Anderson is the founder and president of MGAC, a Washington, DC-based owner's representation, and project and cost management consultancy that was born our Mark's focus on three simple concepts: have fun, do interesting work, and make money doing it. Since 1996, the company has developed and delivered full life cycle solutions for its clients from site selection, program development, cost and schedule modeling, design management, procurement strategy and construction oversight, to name a few.With additional offices in the US located in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle, MGAC has expanded its work across the Atlantic Ocean with its recent acquisition of U.K. property and construction consultants, RLF. Founded in 1885, RLF has 100 employees across four U.K. offices in London, Brighton, Birmingham and Glasgow, now places where MGAC can expand its operations.Here's our conversation with Mark and his view on the industry.

In a recent webinar that we held online, we took a deep dive into the drivers of the construction industry across the Bay Area and how it is evolving in light of global challenges affecting every aspect of development.I sat down with leaders at Clark Construction, Pankow Builders, Nibbi Brothers and Gidel & Kocal to ask how their businesses are doing, what challenges they've encountered over the past few years, and how the industry as a whole is adapting to the new normal of a post-COVID world affected by labor and supply chain challenges.Here is our conversation!

Bill Galipeau is BKM Capital Partners' new Chief Financial Officer. Joining the organization from his role as EVP and Head of Investment Operations at PIMCO, Bill brings 25 years of institutional-grade commercial real estate investment and operations experience that will help BKM in its new trajectory to be the leading industrial investment and operations platform in the Western United States.The Newport Beach company is an active player in the industrial market on the West Coast, which has been one of the busiest ones in the country. Where the industry is heading can be anyone's guess, but BKM and Galipeau will certainly be part of that evolution in the years to come.

The life science industry has been on everyone's mind since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. We all became experts in epidemiology and have been anxiously awaiting vaccines to help us get back to some semblance of normalcy.As a result, life sciences have been on a vertical trajectory, and the commercial real estate industry could not provide enough lab space for all the innovation and ideas percolating around. Form4, an architecture firm based in San Francisco, has taken on this challenge and is helping developers and property owners to reimagine space, in some cases obsolete property, as centers of biotech innovation. James Tefend and Colin Mosher work on these projects every day, and their understanding of the industry is deep and broad. Here's what they have to say about life sciences and the journey ahead.

Today's conversation takes us back to the hospitality industry, and I have the great pleasure of speaking with Greg Kennealey, the CEO of Denver-based Mission Hill Hospitality.Greg's tenure in the industry has taken him from managing groups of hotels for KSL, which helped him springboard into a partnership with this firm to form Mission Hill. The company today is looking to grow its portfolio in the select-service/extended-stay hotel industry, which, as we'll hear has been doing pretty well since the global COVID-19 pandemic began and is on the target list of many institutional investment organizations. Greg's business is growing, and he's joining us from his office in Denver to share how the industry is changing and how his company looks to build a differentiating advantage from the rest.

In mid-2020, as the global COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to make its way across the globe, the hotel industry was anticipated to be extinct in the near future. And it very nearly came to be!However, just a year later, the swing has been one of the most remarkable in the commercial real estate industry, and today's guest, Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, will tell us just how that came to be.Alan has been one of the most prominent brokers in hospitality in California and has had the front seat to a remarkable industry that continues to break records even while the uncertainties linger and business as usual is anything but that.

Today's guest is Vancouver, British Columbia-based Tom Rossiter, the president and CEO of RESAAS, a business network platform that real estate agents across the globe can utilize to communicate, exchange ideas and information and ideally close deals faster. Tom's company is well known within the residential brokerage community, however, the company recently discovered a group of commercial brokers also adopting the platform for their use, bringing Tom's vision of expanding into other verticals more into focus.Now, as RESAAS is looking to grow, it is also seeking ways through which it can become relevant within commercial real estate and how it can add value inside that communication value chain.

There are few people who understand better what makes the Bay Area tick than Jim Wunderman. He is the CEO of the Bay Area Council, an organization that is fully focused on making the region the most globally competitive and economically productive in the world! The Bay Area Council is a public policy and advocacy organization that was formed in 1945 in an effort to shape the future of the region and keep it as the most innovative, competitive and sustainable in the world. But now that these goals have largely been achieved, the region is faced with a set of new challenges, in some cases challenges of riches, but nonetheless challenges that need to be addressed. In our conversation with Jim, we talk about those and provide a sense of the great opportunities that lie ahead, should these problems be resolved.

Ofer Avnery took a slightly different route to real estate. He created a technology company, sold it and then embarked on the path of easy life in real estate. Well, that's what he hoped to achieve but quickly found himself trying to transform one of the biggest business innovation laggards by building intelligent software that allowed him to see development opportunities where others may not.And, so Real Wave came to be, which today focuses on using some of that artificial intelligence to help him and his investors grow the business, expand into new markets and even create a development company for a new type of affordable housing.

In today's conversation, we sit down with Jerry Zevenbergen and TR Hazelrigg, co-founders of Seattle-based Avatar Financial. As CEO and President, Jerry and TR, respectively, run an organization focused on bridge lending across the commercial real estate spectrum, and they give us a sense of where the industry is today and some of the challenges that their clients are facing. Bridge lending can be a life-savior in some cases, and their perspective on the market helps us understand how it will evolve over the next few years.

Understanding the state of the commercial real estate industry today requires a global perspective, and RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) is one place to get that. In today's conversation, we sit down with Ann Gray, the Pasadena-based President-elect of this organization and also Principal of Gray Real Estate Advisors. Ann will lead the global organization in the fall of 2022, but today she tells us about their work and how it helps shape the world of commercial real estate across the globe. We also discuss the current state of the industry, which RICS evaluates quarterly through their Global Commercial Property Monitor, a sentiment study of occupiers and property owners.

Today's conversation takes us outside of the office and toward art. The art that you usually see in front of buildings and airports and apartment complexes. Gordon Huether is a Napa, Calif.-based artist whose specialty is this type of art, and we talk about the need for more of it across the world. We also discuss his early days and how he got introduced to it, what got him to create and how like every other business today, his is also impacted by the logistics issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a world that is often laden with uncertainty, one company looks to make things simpler and a little more predictable. Reali is a company that is vertically integrating the home buying experience, trying to make the process as smooth as possible and frictionless to one of the parties under most stress - the home buyers. We sit down today with Reali's CEO, Tyler Baldwin, to talk about how his company is doing that and what it hopes to make of the home buying experience in the future.

In today's conversation, I sit down with Anthony Romano, the CEO of CREtelligent, a company that powers the commercial real estate space by providing an innovative approach to gather a number of due diligence data. Anthony's prior experience in commercial real estate and technology prepared him well for this role, but it's the opportunity to transform an industry not known for innovation that motivates him the most.

Today's conversation takes us to Seattle, where we talk to Alison Beddard, the new Managing Principal of the Seattle and Bellevue offices, and the rest of the state of Washington for that matter, of Cushman & Wakefield. Alison's path to leadership was not a straight line, and it often isn't, but her story of self-confidence and ability to lead a successful organization stood out, and now it is paying dividends.We talk in our conversation about the Puget Sound region, the changes that the industry has experienced since COVID, and how all those variables are making the business of commercial real estate brokerage new and better.

Few people have had an impact on the industry as deep and as broad as our next guest. Michael Casolo, who today serves as the Global Chief Revenue Officer for Unispace, has spent 25 years working in an industry that changed very little over that time. Today, however, it's an industry ripe for change and disruption, the good kind, and he's helping lead the charge of that evolution.

Jill Jago's path to architecture and workplace strategy was not a straight line from one opportunity to the next, and it rarely is. Her understanding of the trends and what shapes a successful organization, however, has been deeply impacted by her experience and work throughout the engineering and architecture world that she has called home for years.Today, she leads the Advance Strategy group at B+H in Seattle and helps organizations globally think about solutions that not always include a building. She also drives innovative thinking on sustainability and how post-pandemic, our world is likely going to change in ways that will transform the way we work, live and co-exist with others.

Today's conversation is with Jim Clewlow, the Chief Investment Officer of CenterPoint, one of the nation's largest and most influential industrial commercial real estate investors and developers. Jim's road to CenterPoint was an improbable one. He started in the commercial real estate industry after graduating from the University of Illinois and taking a research job with CBRE. He wanted to become an office broker, but opportunities there were scant, so he went to the industrial side of the business and had to learn on his own the ins and outs of that industry. And it was not a very exciting part of the industry at that time, either.Today, Jim and CenterPoint are helping define the industrial real estate market throughout the country, and Jim sees the industry's constant change as one of its most appealing features.

Today's conversation takes us to Los Angels where we talk to Hal Pohl, the Head of West Coast Acquisitions at Haven Capital. Hal has a long-standing experience in the industry, but Haven Capital is a newcomer to commercial real estate market, and they are trying to take a somewhat niche opportunity and bring it to the mainstream of the industry.How Haven Capital is looking to do that is the subject of our conversation, as well as a perspective on the different food groups of an industry that seems to be recovering with great speed.

Today's conversation is with Lauren Seaver, she is the President of Opportunity Housing Group, an entity that was founded out the Blake Griggs Properties enterprise and based in Danville, California. Lauren recently helped launch Opportunity Housing Group as way to address much-needed middle-income housing across California, a niche segment of the vast multifamily real estate industry sector, but one that impacts nearly a third of residents in major metropolitan areas. In her new role, she is responsible for all stages of the acquisition, due diligence, financing and asset management process. She brings to the organization over 8 years of experience in institutional multifamily and commercial development and acquisitions. During her career, Lauren has led the development, entitlement and acquisition of over $800 million in multifamily and commercial real estate.Welcome to the podcast, Lauren!

We speak today with Wayne Berger, the Chief Executive Officer of the Americas for IWG - also known as International Workspace Group or the company that owns Regus and another dozen or so companies around the workspace environment. Wayne's perspective on the workspace and occupier industry is unique but also broad. While IWG is based in Europe. Wayne's organizations spans North and South America. He sees the world from a very different perspective.Our conversation today takes us into the world of office use and the things that COVID has accelerated and changed perhaps forever. We discuss our perspectives on offices opening up and what companies will have to consider in the future. Finally, we take stock of the role shared workspace will play in that new world and the space IWG will ideally occupy.

Ashley Gidel's involvement with a company her father and partner started began at an early age. A family business that grew out of a necessity for extra work, the two founders were teachers in need of extra cash in the summer, Gidel & Kocal today is a well-known construction business serving the greater Bay Area in a number of sectors. Ashley just became the company's President and looks to change the face of construction across the industry and across the region.Here is her story of how she came to the company and how an improbable time led to an improbable role, but one that will set an example for others in the industry.

Prior to co-founding Hamilton Zanze in 2001, Mark Hamilton sponsored the acquisition, ownership, and development of nearly 40 properties in the Bay Area. Mark's main focus has always been locating value-add properties in changing urban neighborhoods and then re-working them into higher-quality buildings with higher incomes, improved tenant profiles, and higher resale values. Mark has considerable experience in partnership formations and operations, project planning and implementation, asset management and management oversight, landlord-tenant and rent-control issues, risk management, and zoning and building department matters. Before forming his own commercial brokerage and investment business in 1994, Mark worked in the San Francisco office of Marcus & Millichap, subsequently co-founding Property Resource Group (real estate brokerage) and Quantum Land Company (development).

Retail veteran James Chung launched the econic company in 2021 with a singular goal in mind: to provide seamless, bespoke services to landlords and tenants alike in a landscape unlike any other in recent memory. To do that, he draws on a fierce work ethic, an innate knowledge of the commercial real estate landscape, and an uncanny ability to close deals in even the most challenging market conditions.The way James sees it, a storefront is a “living organism” — from its impact on jobs, supply chains, and the community around it. He views his role as a connector and place-maker, and relishes the opportunity to curate some of the most unique, engaging retail environments in the country.James brings more than 20 years of experience as one of the top retail brokers in the country to his role as Founder and Principal of Econic. Prior to launching the firm, he spent 18 years with global CRE brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, most recently in the position of Executive Managing Director and as the head of retail for the Western United States. He was consistently a top C&W producer and was named National Retail Broker of the Year firm-wide in 2014.

Cyrus Sanandaji is the founder and managing director of Presidio Bay Ventures, a commercial real estate investment and development firm focused on the design, construction and long-term operation of a diverse set of product types for private and public sector tenants across the United States. Headquartered in San Francisco, Presidio Bay's primary expertise is in new construction and major renovation of complex, mid to large-scale office buildings, mixed-use urban infill multifamily communities, industrial distribution centers, and other special-use facilities. 

On the show today, we have the honor to speak with Patrick MacLeamy, who led global architecture and engineering firm HOK from its San Francisco office. Patrick started at the firm as a junior designer and eventually became its CEO, witnessing the firm’s growth from a single midwestern office to 27 locations across the globe offering architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and more.  MacLeamy joined HOK St. Louis in 1967, then helped establish the firm’s San Francisco outpost in 1970, later becoming managing principal of that office and then the firm’s CEO in 2016. MacLeamy led many signature projects at HOK, including Moscone Center in San Francisco and King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia. Over the years, he worked as a designer, project manager and even marketer at HOK, soaking up knowledge of all three disciplines. Trained as an architect, MacLeamy is a self-taught executive, who attributes his success to his ability to communicate clearly and his interest in “boring” things like financial metrics and digital standards, that architects often ignore.

You may not know this yet, but Kristina Lawson and Jennifer Martinez are the future of law. Not in a way that introduces some new legal theory or innovation in code, but in a way a law firm is run. Kristina Lawson recently became the managing partner of San Francisco-based Hanson Bridgett, and one of her initiatives was to task Jennifer Martinez with running the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the firm. And not just as a secondary role, but as a full-time employee focused on these issues.Hanson Bridgett is trailblazing a path for others to follow, and its work is already receiving recognition throughout the industry. How they got there and what they plan to do at the firm is the subject of our conversation.

Paul Ferro is a co-founder, principal, and Chief Executive Officer at Form4 Architecture. Committed to creating architecture that is rational, empowering and dynamic, Paul’s expertise ranges from office shells and interiors, athletic facilities, mixed-use, churches, and residential. Paul maintains his dedication to clients and the success of projects through his direct involvement with the design and final implementation of every project he leads. His hands-on approach ensures that concepts and goals are carried through and ultimately realized.

James Shannon has a storied career as an entrepreneur and technology leader. He possesses a deep passion for applying his knowledge and experience to create innovative and inspiring products. His experience includes the development of large-scale cloud services, award-winning mobile apps, integrated smart devices and cutting-edge consumer hardware for leading global brands. James leads the vision and strategic direction of the essensys platform. With extensive experience in enterprise SaaS and product development, James plays a key role at essensys in enhancing the user experience for flexible workspace operators and occupiers alike.

In one of the most active commercial real estate development markets in the United States, Skanska is one of the most active developers.

Changing the way an industry looks at diversity, equity and inclusion takes a different approach not just culturally but also with your choice of people that get to lead that transformation. Unispace hit a new watermark with their initiatives.

Matt Macko and Stok have helped reshape San Francisco's construction and development industry over the last decade. But Matt's next decade will prove to be perhaps the most important in his and his company's evolution.

Today’s conversation takes us across the architecture industry in the Bay Area, and we sit down with three designers who are working really hard to enable diversity and inclusion within their organizations around the industry.

Overview of the San Francisco commercial real estate market in early April of 2021.

Housing has always driven Veronica Hinkley Reck's work, and with SERA Architecture she has an opportunity to transform lives across the West Coast in many communities.