Leading Voices in Real Estate

During this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate, Gunnar Branson, CEO of AFIRE, speaks with Matt about current issues facing the CRE business, including his thoughts on what is driving foreign capital into U.S. real estate right now as we are moving forward from the Covid crisis. As CEO of AFIRE, the Association for International Real Estate Investors, Gunnar leads the trade group with nearly 200 leading global institutional investors, investment managers, and supporting partners from 24 countries representing approximately $3 trillion in real estate assets under management in the U.S. Prior, Gunnar was CEO of NAREIM, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers. Gunnar is also the host of The AFIRE Podcast where he deep dives with business leaders on specific topics, strategies, and issues in the global real estate business.

Long-term colleagues Chaz Mueller, CEO of Progress Residential, and Dana Hamilton, Head of Real Estate of Pretium, jointly speak with Matt on this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate to talk about the single-family rental business. Progress Residential, a portfolio holding of Pretium, is the country’s largest privately held owner and operator of single-family rental. Dana and Chaz share the dynamics and drivers of the single-family rental business, which has only recently emerged as a significant real estate asset class, institutionalizing a heretofore wholly “mom and pop” business. Dana and Chaz were among the founding leadership team at Archstone, which in the late ’90s, along with the other apartment REITs, were similarly institutionalizing a non-institutional business. They talk about the parallels between the early days at Archstone and this still-emerging business in single-family rentals as a new and permanent institutional asset class.About ChazChaz Mueller is the CEO of Progress Residential (Progress), one of the largest providers of high quality, single family rental homes in the United States, with over 60,000 homes in many of the country’s fastest growing markets.Prior to joining Progress, Chaz served as President of Irvine Company Apartment Communities, a California-based real estate investment firm with more than 58,000 apartments, and as CEO of The ConAm Group, an owner and manager of more than 50,000 apartments. Chaz also spent nearly 20 years at Archstone, a leading publicly traded multi-family REIT valued at over $20 billion, where he held various positions including President, COO and CFO.Chaz is on the Executive Committee of the National Rental Housing Council and the Board of Directors of the McCombs Real Estate Investment Fund at the University of Texas. He has worked to help underprivileged urban youth for almost 20 years, serving on the Boards of Colorado Uplift, Urban Youth Ministries, Elevate USA and ACE Scholarships. Previously, he was on the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Multi-Housing Council, Chancellor’s Advisory Council at Texas Christian University and Board of Trustees of Valor Christian School in Denver.Chaz received a BBA in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.About DanaDana Hamilton is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate at Pretium, a specialized investment management firm with more than $20B AUM, where she has played a leadership role in Progress Residential, the firm’s single-family rental platform, as well as its single-family rental funds and separately managed accounts, which together own and operate more than 60,000 single-family homes for rent.Dana has more than 25 years of experience building successful real estate operating and investment companies in the U.S. and in Europe. For most of her career, until February 2013 when the company was sold, Dana was a key member of the management team that grew Archstone-Smith (NYSE: ASN) into an industry-leading owner of apartments in the U.S. and abroad. At Archstone, Dana was most recently President, Europe, responsible for building the firm’s first non-U.S. operating and investment platform, while continuing to serve on Archstone’s U.S. Executive Committee. Prior thereto, she was Executive Vice President, National Operations, responsible for all corporate services including human resources, training and organizational development, marketing and communications, pricing and revenue management, business development and corporate research.

Neveo Mosser leads a fascinating second generation family business that operates mostly in the multifamily space. His father founded the company in the 1960s; they have owned many of their generational assets now for decades. Mosser specializes in owning and managing rent stabilized apartments in the Bay Area and now also in Southern California. Mosser is one of a handful of sharpshooter companies that operate in this niche in the business.As he will explain, there are two sides of the Mosser business: the owner-operator side and a relatively new business, Mosser Capital, which invests in this asset class for third party capital. Neveo and Matt discuss the dynamics and drivers of his business, how they have fared through COVID in San Francisco, a market that overall saw some of the largest rent drops in the country, and the dynamics of his career path as a second generation business leader.For more than 30 years at Mosser Companies, Neveo has developed a deep expertise in investing and property management in the multifamily and hospitality sectors, including acquisitions, turn-around projects, workforce housing unit renovations, capital improvement projects, and repositioning value-add and distressed assets. At Mosser Capital, Neveo has led and contributed to all facets of the company, including strategic vision, developing new capital partner relationships, acquisitions, recapitalizations, dispositions, geographic expansion, and asset management.He is a past president of the San Francisco Apartment Association and the Coalition For Better Housing, two leading organizations representing apartment owners in the San Francisco Bay Area. He continues to serve both the San Francisco Apartment Association as well as the Coalition for Better Housing as a member of the executive board of directors and The Oakland Jobs and Housing Coalition. He was also a member of the executive board of directors for the California Apartment Association. For over 20 years, he served as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Residential Rent Board, under Mayors Willie Brown, Gavin Newsome, Ed Lee and London Breed. Additionally, Neveo is a member of the iREOC Board of Governors and University of California Berkeley Fisher Center Policy Advisory Board. He has served on the board of directors for the African American Cultural Center, The Tenderloin Museum, and the SF YMCA.

On Tuesday, May 10, the real estate community lost one of its great thinkers and leaders, Art Gensler, the Founder of Gensler, the world’s leading design firm. This is a re-release of our November 19, 2018 Leading Voices interview with Art Gensler, who founded the eponymous-named design firm in 1965, which has grown to become the largest design firm in the world. For a fuller appreciation of Art’s life and work, visit www.gensler.com/art-gensler-legacy on the Gensler website. This original interview was sponsored by JLL and featured a joint conversation with Art and Riki Nishimura, then a Director with Gensler.This re-release is timely given the current depth of thinking, in which Gensler is one of the world’s thought leaders, around reimagining the workplace and the future of our cities in a post-pandemic world. For a more current discussion on the topic, please also revisit our July, 2020 interview with current co-CEO of Gensler, Andy Cohen.From original release:When Art Gensler started his firm in 1965, Gensler solely did interiors. Today, it is not just an interior or a design firm; rather, Gensler thinks of itself as a full-scale, client-focused design firm with a team of 6,000 in 48 offices around the world.He remembers knowing he wanted to be an architect from since he was 5 years old, and credits his ability to visualize things and communicate that vision well to his skill as a planner.After working in the service, he went on to work for a Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in NYC, spent time in the British West Indies, and created the entire architectural standards guide for Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons. At 30, he struck out on his own.EvolvingArt says that when he founded Gensler, it started slowly by focusing on producing high-quality work. The recognition Gensler received for these early projects led him into the consulting field, and soon Gensler was being tapped by Pennzoil to do more than just interior design. Now, their workload is about 50% architecture and 50% interiors, branding, graphics, product design, and consulting.“You’re designing space for people that they’re going to use, not just look at, but actually physically use which is the most important space that we’re going to do. So I’ve always felt that the interior is as important as the outside.”Creating an Excellent TeamArt emphasizes that at Gensler, it’s not just about the designer. The receptionist and the accounting department get just as much recognition as the designer. And ultimately, their clients are the priority.“Success for designers and people in our industry is not how big the pile of chips is in front of you. Success is a happy client and a successful project.”When Apple asked Gensler to create a brand new retail experience, Art was up for the challenge. While he says it was hard work and wasn’t easy, it was a project he will always be proud of.ChallengesThere’s a balance you have to strike in development. Art shares the example of how Steve Jobs never did focus groups because he said they didn’t know what was possible.You have to push things and people out of their comfort zone to a certain point.“We have to now really build frameworks which are adaptable and modifiable, and the inside is going to be more modifiable than the outside, but they’ve all got to be changeable because the world is changing and people have to recognize that.”AdviceArt: Get a good, broad education. You need a breadth of knowledge to be a future contributor to society. Also, learn how to speak in public.

Matt spoke with Jim Risoleo, President and CEO of Host Hotels & Resorts, during this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate. Host Hotels & Resorts is the largest hospitality REIT with over 46,800 hotel rooms worldwide and the largest owner of high-end hotels in the United States with brands including Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Westin, and Hyatt. Given today’s COVID environment, much of the conversation revolves around the pandemic’s impact on the hospitality sector, how Host Hotels & Resorts has weathered the storm, and his predictions for business resumption coming out of the pandemic. Additionally, Jim shares his insights as a leader within the real estate industry as the chair of NAREIT, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.Jim became President and Chief Executive Officer of Host Hotels & Resorts in January 2017. He joined the company in 1996 as Senior Vice President for Acquisitions, and was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer in 2000. In 2012, he became Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Company’s European business activities and, in 2015, Jim assumed leadership for all of the company’s West Coast investment activities in addition to Europe.Prior to joining Host Hotel’s and Resorts Jim was Vice President, Development at Interstate Hotels Corporation and a Senior Vice President, Commercial Real Estate at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Jim serves as a director of Cole Office & Industrial REIT, a public non-listed REIT, and is a member of its audit committee and Chairman of its valuation and compensation committee. He previously served as the non-executive Chairman of Cole Office & Industrial REIT from 2015 to 2018. In addition to serving as Chairman and an Executive Board member of NAREIT, he is an Executive Committee member of American Hotel & Lodging Association, a member of the U.S. Travel Association CEO Roundtable, and a member of the Real Estate Roundtable.

This week on Leading Voices in Real Estate, Mitchell Silver, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and a global leader in urban planning, joins Matt to discuss his work for the city and his long career in city planning. With his appointed role as Parks Commissioner, Mitchell has been responsible for the management, planning, and operations of nearly 30,000 acres of public space in New York. Matt and Mitchell talk about bringing greater equity to the city’s investment in its parks, particularly in neighborhoods of color, and about the challenges brought by COVID to New York’s public places. Known as one of the thought leaders in planning and someone with great passion for the importance of a planning approach to the growth of our cities, Mitchell is the past president of the American Planning Association (APA) and is currently president of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) . Mitchell also shares many of his successes throughout his career and current role, including how to make parks and communities more equitable and his experience as a leader of color in urban planning.Mitchell is an award-winning planner with over 35 years of experience. Prior to returning to his native New York City as Parks Commissioner, he served as the Chief Planning & Development Officer and Planning Director for Raleigh, NC. His career has included roles as a policy and planning director for New York City’s Department of Planning, a principal of a New York City-based planning firm, a town manager in New Jersey, and deputy planning director in Washington, DC.One of the nation’s most celebrated urban thinkers, Commissioner Silver has been elected to Planetizen’s list of the 100 Most Influential Urbanists in the world (2017), and named an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (2017), a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences (2016), an honorary fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia (2015), a fellow of the American Planning Association (2014), and an honorary lifetime member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (2014). In addition, he has been honored as one of the top 100 City Innovators in the world by UBM Future Cities, and in 2012 the Urban Times named him one of the top international thought leaders of the built environment.Mitchell Silver was born in Brooklyn and grew up near Prospect Park. He attended Midwood High School and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from Hunter College. He is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a licensed Professional Planner in the State of New Jersey.Recommended Resources:AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct“America Needs You to Fall in Love with Planning Again” — APA President Mitchell Silver, AICP (American Planning Association President Mitchell Silver, AICP, gives his opening keynote address at the 2012 National Planning Conference in Los Angeles.)Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice (ICMA 2009)Mitchell Silver, Planning in the 21st Century: “What’s Next?” (2013 Harvard Graduate School of Design Lecture)

President, CEO, and Founder of Juniper Communities (an owner/operator of seniors housing) Lynne Katzmann joins Matt on this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate. Lynne founded Juniper Communities over 30 years ago and is the only woman-owned business among the top owners in the assisted living business and has been recognized by various organizations including Crain’s New York as one of the top women-owned businesses in the tri-state area. Lynne has been a leader for other seniors housing owners during COVID, providing transparency at the start of the pandemic in her vulnerable communities to now requiring staff members to be vaccinated. Additionally, she shares what it means to be a female CEO and company founder in a male-dominated industry, the hospitality model of seniors housing, and how she wants to leave the world a better place through her work.Lynne founded Juniper Communities in 1988, an organization that invests in, develops, and operates senior living and long-term care communities. In 2019, she was selected as the inaugural recipient of the McKnight’s Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions to senior living and skilled care; and in January 2020 she was inducted into the American Senior Housing Association Senior Living Hall of Fame.Lynne has held memberships and leadership roles in various professional and community organizations, including currently serving on the Board of Sabra Health, Board of Directors of the Elder Care Alliance, the Executive Board of the American Seniors Housing Association, the Advisory Board of Senior Living 100, the Board of Trustees of Partners for Health, the Board of Advisors of Tufts University Medical School, and as the Secretary and Treasurer on the Board of Trustees of Naropa University. Lynne holds a doctorate in health policy from the London School of Economics.

This week on Leading Voices in Real Estate, Matt is joined by Jeff Berkes, President and Chief Operating Officer of Federal Realty Investment Trust. Founded in 1962, Federal is one of the oldest US REITs and is focused on the ownership, operation, and development of high-quality retail properties—from grocery-anchored shopping centers to large-scale mixed-use neighborhoods. As a non-mall retail owner, Federal has seen continued stability and success, despite the challenges of COVID and the realignments in the retail real estate sector due to the impact of e-commerce. Jeff shares Federal’s “secret sauce” of building mixed-use projects with retail, office, and residential to help drive the organization’s success and innovations and how Federal has worked with core tenants, including the hard-hit restaurants and retailers, to cope with the challenges of operating during the COVID shutdowns.Jeff is responsible for leading Federal’s day-to-day property operating functions, including leasing, development, asset management, and acquisitions, on both the East and West Coasts.Jeff joined Federal in 2000 as chief investment officer, and in 2011, became president, Western Region, where he was charged with growing the company’s presence on that coast. During the period between 2011 and 2019, the property operating income of Federal’s West Coast portfolio more than doubled, representing over 10% compound annual growth.Prior to joining Federal, Jeff was vice president of acquisitions and finance for Velsor Properties, a Northern Virginia-based private real estate investment firm. He served as director of acquisitions for Federal from April 1997 to August 1998. Prior to that, he was vice president of acquisitions for Heitman Financial/JMB Institutional Realty Corp. He also worked as a loan officer for ITT Real Estate Services and as a regional investment analyst for CB/Richard Ellis prior to joining JMB.Jeff has an undergraduate degree in finance and real estate from University of Denver and a master of business administration in international finance from George Washington University. Jeff is an active member of The George Washington University Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis Advisory Board, the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

This week, Robin Hughes, President and CEO of Abode Communities, speaks with Matt about her experience and leadership in the affordable housing community. Abode Communities is a nonprofit owner, developer, and designer of affordable housing. Based in Los Angeles, the organization is one of the top 50 affordable housing developers nationally and is the premier provider of environmentally sustainable affordable housing in California. The conversation begins with a discussion on how COVID has impacted Abode’s and other affordable owner’s residents, an important dialogue as the pandemic has disproportionally affected low-income communities. Additionally, Robin shares how growing up in public housing as a young child brings a lived experience into her current role where she not only serves as the President and CEO of Abode but also serves on numerous boards and committees in the affordable housing space including as chair of the Housing Partnership Network. Robin also provides advice on how to bring more people of color into more senior roles in the commercial real estate industry.Robin has been actively involved in affordable housing and community development for more than 30 years and in her 25 years as leader of Abode Communities. Under Robin’s leadership, Abode Communities has developed nearly 50 residential and mixed-use Communities; created new affordable homes for some 12,000 California residents and provided a social safety net through Beyond Homes, the organization’s social services program.Robin is an industry leader in housing policy at the local, state, and federal level. She serves or has served on numerous boards, task forces and advisory bodies where she continues to advocate for resources, programs, and policies to support the production on and preservation on of affordable housing for low-income residents. Hughes was chair of the Affordable Housing Advisory Council for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, a member of the JPMorgan Chase Community Advisory Board of Los Angeles, and has served on the board of directors for organizations such as Southern California Association on of Nonprofit Housing, Low Income Investment Fund, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, and Mercy Housing California.Prior to joining Abode Communities, Hughes held positions in the private and public sectors including The Richmond Group of Companies, Citibank, the Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles, and the Office of the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. Her experience is highlighted by four years as City Planning Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles. Robin was recognized by Huffington Post as “Person of the Day and Women in Business as Outstanding Nonprofit Director. Robin was recognized by Commercial Observer as Top 25 Real Estate Leaders in Los Angeles. She also won Black Business Association’s Executive Leadership Award and was featured on the cover of National Real Estate Investor as “Champion of Affordable Housing”.She received her masters and bachelor degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California, and received a certification from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program.

Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development for New York City, joins Matt on this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate. Vicki oversees 25 agencies responsible for both economic development and housing initiatives for the City, a portfolio in which the issues have deepened and accelerated during COVID. Matt and Vicki discuss her work during COVID, positive changes to the urban fabric that will likely persist post-COVID like outdoor dining and closed-off streets as well as her responsibilities for preparing for future health emergencies. As the former head of the city’s housing agencies, we also discuss the ongoing housing affordability crisis. Furthermore, Vicki shares her career story, which includes growing up in a rural Colorado uranium mining town to her clerkship at the Supreme Court (where she also met her husband) to leading the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and now her roles in city government.