Real Perspectives Podcast

Today, I have an opportunity to interview Scott Gebicke, the CEO of Mighty Buildings , who is looking to transform how homes are designed and constructed across the world. His mission is to bring a 3-D printed process that is sustainable, fast and ready for the effects of climate change that we are likely to experience over the next few decades and beyond. His company is also looking to bring this...

Rochelle Mills is the President and CEO of Innovative Housing Opportunities , a high-quality affordable housing provider and developer that has been growing across Southern California with an approach to make their communities indistinguishable from market rate properties, where residents can thrive, develop healthy habits, and achieve success and stability. IHO was formed in 1976 to help business...

For the last 15 years, Michael Iino has been on the frontlines of a real estate market in Northern California that has undergone one of the most dramatic transformations of any market in the US and perhaps even globally. Starting his commercial real estate career in San Francisco’s famed The CAC Group, Michael honed his skills there alongside some of the best brokers in the industry. When CBRE pur...

Today’s podcast conversation takes us into Southern California, where we meet up with Birtcher Development’s Brandy Birtcher, who is the CEO of the development company, and his daughter, Brooke Birtcher Gustafson, a managing director at the firm and the next generation of the family expecting to take over the leadership at the company. The family’s history in many ways is tied to the history of th...

There are few people in California that understand affordable housing more intimately than our next guest. Noni Ramos is the Chief Executive Officer of Housing Trust Silicon Valley , a CDFI or Community Development Financial Institution, which helps fund affordable housing development across the greater Bay Area.  Her organization has invested over half a billion dollars in affordable housing sinc...

We’re here today to speak with Justin Draplin, the founder the CEO of South Carolina-based Eclipse Cottages . This firm has brought to the market one of the most interesting prefabricated products, and Justin’s vision goes beyond ADUs and granny units that people can build on their lots. Eclipse is making one of the most sustainable cottages in the industry, which includes solar roofing, wireless...

Adam Clark is the President of the newly formed Aegis Development. Based on a foundation of award-winning developments, Aegis Development was created to pursue future site development for Aegis Living operations and to leverage the company’s distinct strengths in this area more broadly in the industry. Adam leads the newest endeavor to push Aegis Living forward in innovation and sustainability wit...

Our next guest is one of the Founding Principals of Relativity Architects , Tima Bell. His path to architecture, like everyone’s perhaps, is not a usual one, and it is rich in experience in art, creativity and an upbringing around Hollywood that has given him a unique perspective on the industry his firm serves today. Relativity is today very well known for its studio design, but as you’ll see fro...

Today, I am speaking with Patricia Kammer , a Principal Researcher, Workspace Futures - Research for Steelcase. She leads the strategic foresight practice and is responsible for identifying disruptive forces of change impacting the world of work to drive decision-making for the company. For the past 24 years, she has focused on complex adaptive systems and how we might design solutions that can le...

Today’s conversation will take us into the field of retail commercial real estate, and we probably can’t find a better person to talk about it than Alanna Loeffler , a Managing Director with Cushman & Wakefield who has recently moved to the West Coast to help lead the Business Strategy group within the firm’s Americas Retail Services. Alanna will go into detail about the industry, its drivers...

Today, I have the pleasure of sitting with Joanna Frank, the President and CEO of The Center for Active Design, an organization that promotes architecture and urban planning solutions to improve public health, and also operates the Fitwel healthy building certification system. The Center for Active Design was launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2012 to transform New York City’s groundbreaking A...

Today’s conversation takes us into a deep dive in the construction industry across the Pacific Northwest with Brett Earnest , the Senior Vice President of the Western Region for Clark Construction. Brett, who is based in Seattle, leads Clark Construction Group’s project development and delivery efforts in the Pacific Northwest. He is responsible for the company’s work in Washington, Oregon and Ida...

Today’s episode is with Chris Nelson and Sam Sukut, both are partners in San Diego-based Inland Pacific , an industrial brokerage firm. Chris and Sam talk to us about the state of the industry across Southern California, and especially how the life science sector has been influencing the market in the second half of 2022. Their insight is a valuable perspective on one of the most active markets in...

Today, I have the privilege of speaking with Jimmy Silverwood, the President of San Diego-based affordable housing developer Affirmed Housing .  Jimmy, as he’s known in the industry in order to be distinguished from his father, the founder the CEO James Silverwood, has grown up around real estate and from a very early age was exposed to the intricacies of the business. Today, the company’s focus i...

Today’s podcast episode is a little different than usual. We recently held a Northern California Life Science Webinar, which I found to be interesting and informative about where the industry is today and how it’s shaping up in the near future. As you’ll see, our panel is comprised of investors, developers, brokers and construction companies whose daily work in this area gives them just the kind o...

Today, I have the privilege of speaking with Tiffany Wright , the president of and chief energy officer - the name I invented for Tiffany by myself - of a Pacific Northwest-based brokerage, CPX.  Tiffany is somewhat unique in her role - a female leading a commercial brokerage firm - and also a keen strategist thinking of everything from motivating her team members to finding ways to grow the enter...

Today, we have the honor of speaking with Virginia Maggiore, a principal at RDC . Since joining the firm in 2019, Virginia has built the firm’s practice focused on Retail Store Rollout and Planning, adding notable clients to the firm’s roster and garnering accolades for her work from colleagues and clients. Virginia is a licensed architect, responsible for developing the in-store experience and wh...

Today’s guest is William Sankey , the founder and CEO of Northspyre , a company that was created from Sankey’s experience working on complex design and development projects and that has led him to apply AI and predictive analytics in order to de-risk those same developments and improve the overall project management workflow and significantly reduce costs. This conversation takes us on a personal...

Today, we sit down with Zachary Streit , founder and managing partner of Los Angeles and Nashville-based Way Capital, where he has arranged and closed in excess of $2 billion and has underwritten in excess of $6 billion of debt and equity financings for a broad array of real estate transactions. Zachary has significant experience arranging and closing construction loans, CMBS loans and private/har...

Our next guest is Kevin Donahey , who earlier this year was promoted form CEO of North American operations for Willow , a global technology company working within the real estate and infrastructure industries, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Seattle, New York, London, Manila and Amersfoort, to its Vice Chair and Global Head of Corporate Development. Kevin’s background, like that of so ma...

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 na...

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...

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...

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...

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...