Real Perspectives Podcast

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 th...

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 brok...

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...

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...

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 b...

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’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...

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 com...

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 mot...

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...

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...

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 becom...

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 subj...

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, b...

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....

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 ch...

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...

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 conditio...

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 renova...

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.   MacL...

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 in...

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...

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...

Murphy McCullough is the regional manager for commercial development in Skanska’s Seattle office, where he has worked for the past decade. He’s delivered Skanska’s first development projects in the region, including the urban-inspired apartments at Alley 111 in Bellevue, the Brooks Sports headquarters and flagship store at Stone34 in Fremont, and Tommy Bahama’s headquarters at 400 Fairview in Sout...