Design Development

When Mill Creek Residential launched in 2011, it didn't look like the typical startup. Roughly 75 people came together to form the company with capital relationships already in place, construction expertise in hand, and a clear thesis on multifamily development. Fifteen years later, their vision has scaled into a national platform serving 29 markets across the country with $11.3 billion in as...

Nothing in Celeste Tanner's background suggested a future in real estate. Before rising to President and Chief Development Officer of Confluent Development, she majored in English in college, had no ties to the industry, and was starting in an administrative role at Opus Northwest. Her first assignment - reorganizing the paper filing system - became an unexpected introduction into CRE. By rea...

When Toby Banta stepped in as Executive Managing Director at Eastern Real Estate nearly six years ago, the firm was hitting its stride. Even as COVID sent markets spinning, Eastern closed twelve deals in just two years - spanning multifamily, industrial, commercial, and hospitality - not only in New England but across the country.  Then, the market shifted.  Over the next three years, Eastern clos...

Few people begin as interns and rise to Chief Architecture Officer at the same firm.  Robin Bellerby is one of them. Over nearly 26 years, Robin has advanced through six roles at Humphreys & Partners Architects (HPA). Starting as a Project Manager, she oversaw more than 10,000 units and $1 billion in construction costs, and subsequently became Vice President. Her excellence in this position le...

In 2008, Philippe Saad was handed his first senior living project. It wasn't the market sector he envisioned pursuing, but he had to take the opportunity in light of the great financial crisis. This decision unexpectedly became the foundation of everything he's built since. Seventeen years later, Philippe is not only a Principal at DiMella Shaffer; he's also the Co-Founder of Projec...

Laura Gollinger has spent 13 years at The Collaborative Companies (TCC) advising clients on decisions that make or break a project. Rental, condo, or hybrid? How big should the units be, and who will they be built for? What will residents be willing to pay? What kind of parking is necessary, and what amenities will actually be used? Across billions of dollars in real estate, she's learned exa...

Brett Powell started his career as an architect who consistently dug into the numbers behind every project he designed.  Today, he is the Chief Financial Officer of a 120-person firm.  As Partner and CFO of Cline, Brett sits at the point where architecture and business decisions collide. He and Rens explore what it takes to manage the financial side of a design firm, from understanding a P&L t...

Mark Seck had a job offer at Fidelity Capital Markets waiting for him when he graduated from college. Then the financial crisis hit, and his start date was pushed back - indefinitely.  A temporary desk at a family friend's real estate firm changed his trajectory, and when Fidelity called back, he turned down the finance career he had been planning to pursue for years. That decision changed ev...

Stephen Skolas went from designing 96-story skyscrapers to figuring out how to fund, permit, and deliver projects at that scale. This skill range is rare in the industry. It's exactly what Davis brought him into leverage. Now Managing Director and Head of Residential Development at Davis, Stephen's career has been interdisciplinary from the start. He holds a Master of Architecture from W...

When Ryan Noone joined EMBARC, it was a start up of a mere four people, and he was an architect with just under three years of experience. Now they're an office of sixty-five, and Ryan is a Principal. EMBARC is a renowned architecture and interior design firm based in Boston. Ryan works across some of their most complex projects - commercial offices, restaurants, breweries, cannabis dispensar...

Andrew Bisbee is Principal at Cranshaw Construction leading the preconstruction and estimating. department. As their longest-serving employee, he has built deep expertise in construction technologies, project types, and industry complexity. Appointed to the firm’s Executive Committee, he leads estimating and preconstruction for healthcare, laboratory, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, retail,...

Dave Snell is an architect with a focus on creating great places for people to come together, live, work, and play. He is a Principal at Prellwitz Chilinski Associates (PCA), a leading architecture firm with a strong focus on mixed-use developments and innovative design solutions. Dave began his career at PCA as a co-op student from Northeastern University and has over two decades of experience in...

Liz von Goeler is a Principal of Interior Design at Sasaki, a globally recognized design firm shaping environments for more than 75 years. With over 25 years of experience, she has led high-profile workplace, lobby repositioning, retail, restaurant, and multifamily projects for brands including Toast, PepsiCo, and Microsoft. Liz approaches every project with people at the center. She aligns space...

Ben Hansen is a profitability specialist, award-winning entrepreneur, and speaker who helps business owners stop the financial bleeding and restore healthy profits and cash flow.  Known as The Profit Doctor, he specializes in curing Profititis - when the revenue is there, but the profit isn’t. A 5x Inc. 5000 founder and former Fortune 100 executive (Dell, Microsoft), Ben built an eight-figure staf...

Ray Tse’s first fascination with architecture came by looking up - way, way up.  A native of Hong Kong, Ray spent a good deal of his youth gazing up at the city’s striking, monumental skyscrapers, like architect Norman Foster’s HSBC Headquarters and I.M. Pei’s Bank of China building. Ray and his family later moved to New Orleans, where the famous architectural heritage sits much closer to the grou...

Jonathan Garland is the President and Founder of JGE, a Boston-based 100% minority-owned architecture and design firm with a comprehensive portfolio comprised of multi-family housing, mixed-use development, academic, life sciences, commercial, and university projects.  JGE Development focuses on transforming underperforming assets and underutilized parcels into stabilized income-restricted, and ma...

Phil Cohen, Principal at Boston Communities, has over a decade of affordable and mixed-income housing development experience working in both the public and private sectors. Phil’s projects include over 4,000 units of housing and leverage local, state, and federal resources to create affordable and market-rate rental and ownership housing for families and elderly adults. Phil has worked with Low In...

Thomas O'Brien is the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of The HYM Investment Group, LLC. HYM is currently leading the development of over twenty (20) million square feet of mixed-use development in Greater Boston, including the following notable and complex projects: Bulfinch Crossing (the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage), Suffolk Downs, and Parcel 3 in Roxbury. Prio...

As a Senior Managing Director at Greystar, one of the world’s leading real estate firms, Gary oversees a diverse portfolio of investments spanning more than 5,000 multifamily units across Boston and New York, 2 million square feet of speculative life science space, and 1 million square feet of industrial assets.  With over 30,000 employees and $79 billion in assets under management, Greystar is re...

As listeners prepare to enter 2026, this episode offers a thought-provoking discussion navigating the often challenging interplay between career ambitions and personal life, with the goal of finding contentment in current paths while still striving for success. This week’s episode explores the balance between pursuing professional goals and maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends...

(Re-run) Eric Garrett is the CEO and founder of The Garrett Companies, a multi-faceted holding company focusing on national multifamily development, construction, and asset management. Over the span of a decade, Eric has engineered The Garrett Companies into a $500 million annual revenue business, achieving notable growth with a unique approach in site evaluation and development. Eric's backg...

Rob Hagan is an Associate Principal at CBT Architects, where he leads multifamily, mixed-use, housing, and hospitality work with a focus on retail planning and the public realm. With more than 25 years in practice, Rob brings a global perspective shaped by projects across the U.S., Abu Dhabi, Taiwan, and Europe. In this episode, Rob explains why retail and the public realm are inextricably linked...

This week's episode is a guest episode on the Growthitect Podcast with Tyler Suomala (also featured in Design Development, Episode 147). Our discussion offers an insightful exploration into building a robust, long-term growth strategy that effectively balances relationship building with strategic marketing, since word of mouth alone may not suffice in today's competitive landscape.  I un...

Anyeley Hallová is the founder and CEO of Adre , a socially responsible real estate development company. She's committed to introducing inclusivity and equity in real estate, focusing on sustainable and socially beneficial development practices. She has an extensive educational background, including a Master’s in City Planning from MIT and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard. Sh...

Matt Marotta is the Managing Principal and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Icon Architecture. With a diverse background in architecture and operations, Matt has been instrumental in leading projects across residential, institutional, and public domains. Having begun his career at Icon as an intern, Matt has risen through the ranks over two decades, becoming an owner and pivotal figure in the firm...