Real Finds Podcast: Commercial Real Estate Unfiltered

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Alana F. Dunoff, ProFM, FMP, IFMA Fellow, a strategic facilities planning consultant, adjunct professor in Temple University’s Facility Management program, and principal of AFD Professional Services. With more than 30 years of experience helping organizations align people, process, and place, Alana brings a unique persp...

Today’s Guest: Xander Snyder, Senior Commercial Real Estate Economist at First American. Xander blends a rare mix of family-office investing experience and data-driven economic analysis, helping institutional investors, developers, and lenders make sense of real-world market trends. With 15+ years in the business, he’s part economist, part operator, translating macro shifts into actionable market...

Today’s guest: Joe Galvin, Chief Research Officer at Vistage (44,000+ members worldwide). A former Gartner analyst and sales leader, Joe now runs one of the country’s most data-driven windows into the mid-market CEO mindset. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index. His data captures what business owners and leaders are actually seeing on the ground — what they fear, where they’re cutting or investing, an...

There’s a lot of noise about modular housing construction, and then there’s what actually pencils. Today, Rory Rubin, CEO of SI Container Builds, breaks down how steel-framed, factory-built homes and multifamily can be ~50% faster to deliver and ~10% less expensive (out the door) than traditional site-built, while still meeting code, appraising, and insuring like any other home. We get into the re...

There’s a lot of noise about modular housing construction, and then there’s what actually pencils. Today, Rory Rubin, CEO of SI Container Builds, breaks down how steel-framed, factory-built homes and multifamily can be ~50% faster to deliver and ~10% less expensive (out the door) than traditional site-built, while still meeting code, appraising, and insuring like any other home. We get into the re...

When you talk about the future of work meeting the reality of buildings, few voices are clearer than Bob Cicero. A technologist who fell in love with architecture, Bob has spent his career at the intersection of people, space, and technology—showing how platforms, sensors, and design can turn offices into AI-ready, data-driven workplaces that people actually want to use. He’s helped flip the old A...

When you talk about longevity and impact in American real estate, few names carry the weight of Ray Garfield. From flying jets for the U.S. Navy to restructuring billion-dollar companies and advising the Rockefellers, Ray’s six-decade career has crossed every frontier of commercial real estate, finance, syndication, capital markets, and public infrastructure. He’s seen every cycle since the 1970s,...

Downtown office vacancy is stuck near record highs. O’Hare and Elk Grove industrial areas can’t build fast enough. Suburban landlords are dangling a year of free rent just to keep tenants, while industrial outdoor storage, basically fenced asphalt, is suddenly a $200 billion institutional asset class. In this solo breakdown, Gordon Lamphere, broker of 100+ Chicagoland deals a year, unpacks the nar...

What happens when a university’s classrooms, labs, and dorms sit half-empty, while its budget bleeds red? On this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Chris Morett, founder of Coheer Campus & Workplace and longtime higher-ed real estate strategist, to unpack one of the most overlooked corners of the built world: college campuses as real estate assets. Chris sp...

What is work really supposed to look like in the 21st century, and why do so many workplaces still feel broken? On this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Corinne Murray and Sara Escobar, co-authors of Work, Then Place, to challenge assumptions about productivity, workplace strategy, and the evolving relationship between people, culture, and space. Corinne and S...

Illinois has become ground zero in America’s housing debate. Families feel squeezed by rising rents and mortgages, developers complain about endless delays and red tape, and policymakers face pressure from every side to “fix” the problem. At the heart of this struggle is a simple but profound question: why is it so difficult to build in Illinois compared to other states? And more importantly, what...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast , host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Clifford Booth, founder and CEO of Westmount Realty Capital, one of the earliest pioneers in cold storage investment. With more than four decades of experience in industrial and multifamily real estate, Cliff has seen it all, from buying his first property to house his family’s antique business in Dallas to building on...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Rob Kress, founder of Waypost Advisors, to explore how mid-market manufacturers and distributors can strengthen supply chains, mitigate geopolitical risks, and boost operational efficiency in a world defined by tariffs, uncertainty, and shifting trade policies. Rob draws on more than two decades of leadership in large i...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes AK Schultz, co-founder of SVT Robotics, to explore the early innings of warehouse automation and robotics integration and why most real estate investors and operators still don't understand the scope (or risks) of what’s coming. AK’s career arc is anything but traditional: former Army tank and reconnaissance officer, nuclear...

In this powerful episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Megan Gluth, the CEO and owner of Catalynt, to unpack the raw truth about entrepreneurship, economic policy, and building a company with purpose in a wildly uncertain world. From growing up below the poverty line in rural Iowa to owning and leading a global chemical supply and contract manufacturing business, M...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Hunter Kosar, founder of Twisted Nail, a Texas-based logistics company shaking up the trucking and aggregates industry. Hunter’s path from investment banking to hauling dirt might sound unconventional, but it’s exactly that outsider perspective that’s helping him rethink one of the country’s most fragmented and under-op...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Jared White, Managing Director at Quadrum Global, to unpack what it really takes to develop trophy real estate in a post-2020 world, from ESG-certified London offices to price-breaking Brooklyn condos. Jared brings a rare blend of legal acumen, financial sophistication, and hands-on development experience honed over mor...

In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes Phillip Gulley, co-founder of Cofactr, a company that helps critical industries like aerospace, defense, and MedTech manage the tangled web of modern supply chains. Gulley shares how he stumbled into the world of trade and logistics by building hardware, only to discover that real success required managing compliance, tariffs...

In this must-watch episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with legendary construction attorney and author Barry LePatner to uncover why the U.S. construction industry is broken and what needs to change. From cost overruns and project delays to failing infrastructure and supply chain turmoil, Barry breaks down the hidden risks facing every developer, investor, and public...

On this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, Gordon Lamphere sits down with Rod Kritsberg, a New York-based developer and fund manager behind some of Manhattan’s most ambitious boutique office transformations. Rod shares how his team identifies overlooked architectural gems in high-barrier neighborhoods like SoHo and the West Village and turns them into fully reimagined, institutional-grade office p...

In this deep-dive episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes Kent Gourdin, professor and director of global logistics and transportation at the College of Charleston, to explore how global trade, port infrastructure, and transportation policy are rewriting the rules of real estate investment and logistics strategy. Together, they examine how the aftershocks of pandemic-era di...

In this eye-opening episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes Andrew Farah, the CEO and co-founder of Density, a company revolutionizing how we measure and understand physical space usage in office environments. Together, they explore the hidden inefficiencies of commercial office spaces, the myths around return-to-office mandates, and how anonymous, real-time space data can...

What happens when geopolitical uncertainty meets supply chain complexity? In this eye-opening episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere welcomes Kristian O'Meara, known as “KO”, a seasoned global supply chain leader and Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at JAGGAER. Together, they unpack the ripple effects of major trade policy shifts, most notably the U.S.-China tariffs,...

Power Planning Is Now Real Estate Planning: Why Data Centers Are Redefining Site Value In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Pete DiSanto, a marine engineer turned microgrid and energy infrastructure expert, to unpack one of the most pressing challenges in commercial real estate today: how power access, not just location, is becoming the ultimate driver of...

In today’s episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Jimmie Brennan, founder of Love Mondays Office Space, for a deep and heartfelt dive into what makes the modern office truly work for businesses and people alike. Forget gray carpets and soulless cubes. The office isn't dead, but the uninspired one is. Together, Gordon and Jimmie break down why the future of office sp...