On today’s episode, I sit down with Michael Phillips, a Principal and the President of Jamestown, a global, design-focused real estate investment and management firm with a 40-year track record. During his tenure as President, Jamestown has grown its portfolio of assets in key markets throughout the US and expanded its investment footprint to South America and Europe, more than tripling the firm’s assets under management. 

Michael is the driving force behind the company’s adaptive reuse projects including Chelsea Market in New York City, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Industry City in Brooklyn, and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. 

In our conversation, we talked about making real estate more accessible and interactive, reinforcing the human connection to a physical place, why Jamestown decided to invest in timberlands more than a decade ago. Let’s get into it.

Links:

Jamestown

Michael on LinkedIn

Popular Jamestown Properties

Timberland Fund

ChatGPT

Learn more about Juniper Square

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Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:01:20) Michael’s Career and Jamestown

(00:03:20) What is the built environment?

(00:06:00) Jamestown’s incredible projects

(00:10:34) How do you identify what you will spend your time on?

(00:15:46) How are you thinking about the future of the office asset?

(00:19:48) What happens to all of these buildings that never come back online?

(00:25:13) How do the next 3 years look when it comes to the balance of power between employees and employers?

(00:29:28) What trends are you seeing come to the forefront in your portfolio?

(00:34:23) Jamestown’s Timber project

(00:41:33) What’s your take on folks avoiding ESG due to its impact on returns?

(00:43:53) The Metaverse, Web3.0 and its impact on real estate

(00:50:21) The Digital Twin

(00:51:35) How will AI change the landscape of this industry?

(00:53:40) What advice would you give to folks looking to innovate the way Jamestown is?