🎙️ Local Real Estate Developers

What if the biggest reason your development deal isn't moving forward... isn't the project, it's your capital stack? In this episode, Sal Tarsia, Managing Partner of CastleGreen Finance, reveals one of the most overlooked financing tools available to local real estate developers: C-PACE financing. From adaptive reuse and historic renovations to ground-up construction, Sal explains how...

What does it take to help build and manage thousands of retail locations across the country? In this episode, Danni Gallagher shares how she went from studying architecture to leading large-scale development programs for some of the biggest retail and healthcare brands in America. Over nearly two decades at CVS, Danni worked her way from construction management to executive leadership, helping ove...

What happens when two women with no development experience decide to stop playing small? In this episode, Amirah and Kodah share how a Facebook connection turned into a development partnership that's now building cottage communities across Portland. Starting with a modest $6,500 mobile home flip, they learned the fundamentals of investing before taking on larger development projects. Along the...

What happens when nobody is coming to save your town? For Luke Henry, the answer was simple: buy the buildings, take the risk, and start building. In this episode, Luke shares how he went from mowing lawns and house hacking his first property to acquiring eight vacant downtown buildings and helping transform Marion, Ohio's Main Street. He breaks down the realities of small-town development, ea...

What does it take to go from hospitality jobs and side businesses to helping build a $450M mixed-use sports and community development? And how do you step into development when you never set out to be a developer? In this episode, Beth Underhill shares her path from catering and entrepreneurship to real estate investing, student housing, and ultimately leading a large-scale 103-acre sports and mix...

What happens when a local stops waiting for permission… and starts rebuilding the block himself? In this episode, Justin Hampton shares how he went from making $39K a year and renovating his family’s first home to buying an entire block in Montgomery, Alabama. Justin breaks down the real side of development, failed inspections, contractor issues, financing challenges, imposter syndrome, and learni...

What happens when local developers finally stop building alone? After 50+ podcast episodes, we realized everyone was asking the same thing: “Where are our people?” That’s why we’re launching the first-ever LRED Meetup in Louisville, Kentucky. This isn’t another corporate conference. We’re bringing together developers, city leaders, architects, investors, and locals who are actively building projec...

What happens when a teacher quits his job, gets ghosted, and bets everything on a camera? In this episode, Taylor Gangis shares how documenting Tampa Bay’s growth turned him from a high school math teacher into one of the city’s rising voices in development media. From internet backlash to community storytelling, this conversation dives into why local voices matter in shaping the future of our cit...

Most local developers don’t fail because the deal was bad. They fail because nobody showed them how the money actually works. In this episode, Jordan Blanchard breaks down the hidden world of USDA lending, rural development financing, and capital stacking. From hotels and adaptive reuse projects to infrastructure and community development, he shares how local developers are unlocking funding most...

What if the land you think you control… isn’t actually accessible? And how many deals are quietly sitting on legal landmines no one checked? In this episode, real estate attorney Richard Crouch breaks down the hidden legal side of development deals, the part that decides whether projects move forward or fall apart after real money is on the line. From missing easements and title issues to investor...

What happens when the projects you’re building… stop meaning anything? And what does it really take to build something your community actually needs? In this episode, Kelvin Enfinger shares his journey from growing up in a construction family to working high-pressure national retail jobs… and ultimately choosing a different path, one focused on local impact in Pensacola. From tight deadlines and r...

What if the deal you almost ignored… was the one that changes everything? And what if becoming a developer isn’t about knowing more, but being willing to figure it out when it gets messy? In this episode, Kelsie LPJ Johnston shares her raw journey from small local projects to building a 15-unit cottage community in her own town. No formal training. No perfect plan. Just taking action on an opportu...

What do you do when the deal you thought would change your life… falls apart at the last minute? Most people stall. They second-guess. They quit quietly. These two didn’t. In this episode, Valeria Jaramillo and Michelle Stevenson pull back the curtain on what it actually looks like to step into real estate development with no safety net, just conviction, pressure, and a whole lot of uncomfortable...

How does real estate development actually shape a city? And who gets to decide what stays and what changes? In this episode, Nicole Waters shares what it’s like to operate at the center of explosive growth in St. Pete. From working with developers and city officials to protecting local businesses, she breaks down the real dynamics behind community development. This is not theory. This is what it l...

What if the difference between staying stuck… and building something real… was just one decision to keep going? He wasn’t born into development. No big breaks. No shortcuts. Just a garage apartment, a wife working nonstop, and a guy laying brick for $12 an hour trying to figure it out one job at a time. In this episode, Kristi and Raphael sit down with Austin Tunnell to unpack the unfiltered reali...

What if the deal you’ve been chasing is one message away from changing everything In this episode, Kristi and Raphael pull back the curtain on what real development actually looks like behind the scenes. No polished case studies. No overnight wins. Just two active developers in the trenches sharing live updates from their own projects, the wins, the delays, the risks, and the moments where things...

What happens when a laid-off mom straps her baby to her back and decides to start rolling graham crackers by hand? For Rachel DesRochers, it turned into a 16-year journey of building businesses, empowering women, and creating one of the Midwest’s most impactful food entrepreneur ecosystems. In this episode of the Local Real Estate Developer Podcast, Kristi Kandel and Raphael Collazo sit down with...

What if the problem isn’t the developer… but the story no one told before the vote? In this episode, Kristi and Raphael sit down with Jon Jon Wasolowski, better known online as The Happy Urbanist, a Chattanooga local who is not a developer, not a city planner, but somehow became one of the most influential voices shaping how his city grows. From single stair reform to accessory dwelling units, fro...

What if the deal you keep driving past is not too risky… it is just waiting on you to believe in it? In this episode of the Local Real Estate Developer Podcast, Dana McMahan shares the real story behind acquiring and transforming a 16-unit building in Louisville. No trust fund. No institutional backing. Just a cashed-out 401k, equity from her personal home, and the willingness to bet on herself. W...

What if real estate stopped extracting from communities and started healing them? In this episode of the Local Real Estate Developer Podcast, Kristi and Raphael sit down with Neal Collins to unpack one of the most honest and unconventional development journeys we have heard. Neal did not grow up dreaming of commercial real estate. He started in the Peace Corps, worked in global community developme...

Most people wait until they feel ready. Steph Weber bought land and learned on the fly. What started as curiosity about real estate turned into a hands-on crash course in zoning, city processes, design decisions, and risk. Steph did not come from a development background. She learned by doing, asking questions, and staying in the room even when things felt overwhelming. In this episode, Kristi and...

What if the people shaping your neighborhood actually lived there? Desmond Dunn didn’t grow up knowing he could be a real estate developer. No one in his community looked like him who was building anything. So he taught himself. For ten years. Nights on Zillow. Deep dives into zoning code. Sketching site plans at the kitchen table while everyone else was out living life. In this episode, Kristi an...

What would it take for you to walk away from a 14-year corporate career with no clear plan and bet on yourself? For Dedria Kolb, it was the pull to build something real. In this episode of the Local Real Estate Developers Podcast, Kristi sits down with Dedria Kolb, a former corporate attorney turned first-time developer who left the legal grind to build a tiny home village in rural North Carolina....

What if the deal you keep driving past is not too risky… it is just waiting on you to believe in it? In this episode of the Local Real Estate Developer Podcast, Dana McMahan shares the real story behind acquiring and transforming a 16-unit building in Louisville. No trust fund. No institutional backing. Just a cashed-out 401k, equity from her personal home, and the willingness to bet on herself. W...

Local development is not just about finding deals. It is about people, trust, and choosing the right kind of capital. In this episode, Kristi Kandel and Raphael Collazo sit down for an in person conversation about what it really takes to scale local development while staying true to your mission. From juggling hundreds of moving parts in a development to deciding when to bring in partners, they br...