Leading Voices in Real Estate

Mary Ludgin is one of the best big-picture, strategic minds in the commercial real estate investment business. She is the Head of Global Research at Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm with $45.5 billion in assets under management. The initial interview focused mostly on the effects of COVID on the built environment, with a fascinating discussion on ripples of the COVID crisis post-vaccine, both from a national and global perspective. Recorded a week prior to the George Floyd killing and the resulting national outcry, Matt had a follow-up conversation with Mary on June 3rd to discuss issues relating to social and racial equity in our country, the current unrest, and opportunities for the real estate industry to do better.Mary is Heitman’s Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Research and an equity owner of the firm. She is a member of the firm’s Board of Managers, Global Management Committee, North American Private Equity Valuation Committee, and Private Equity and Debt Investment Committees. She is the author of numerous articles and research studies relating to real estate markets, portfolio management and strategy. Prior to joining Heitman, she was an urban planner for the City of Chicago and she worked in retail site location.Mary received an AB from Vassar College and an MA and PhD from Northwestern University. She is a Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and sits on its Global Board of Directors. Mary also chairs ULI’s Chicago District Council. Among other professional affiliations, she served two terms on the board of the Pension Real Estate Association and was its president. Mary is also a former president of the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. She was named a fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute in 2000, is a docent for the Chicago Architecture Foundation and is a member of the board of the Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago.Leading Voices in Real Estate has tried to present conversations with leaders in the real estate world from a diverse set of backgrounds, with different perspectives, and from all sectors of the industry. We will be working to bring more leaders of color into the conversation and will be thinking, with all of our guests, how our industry can better address inequities internally within our companies and in the work that we do.

Amy Rose, President and CEO of Rose Associates, joins Matt for this week’s Leading Voices in Real Estate interview. Rose Associates is one of the largest, most storied apartment owners and managers in New York City with over $15 billion of assets under management and over 17,000 units owned or operated. Amy is a third-generation leader of this company originally founded by her grandfather and great uncle and is Rose Associate’s first female CEO. Most of the podcast is a deep dive into how her firm is dealing on a day-to-day basis with the COVID-19 crisis in the highly impacted New York market. Her insight provides commentary on the importance of civic leadership during Covid, the responsibility of owners and developers to their tenants and community, and the resilience of New York City to bounce back from this crisis. Additionally, the episode concludes with Amy sharing her unique real estate story, including the history of the family company and the importance of female leadership in the industry.Amy is responsible for managing the company, formulating and executing long-term strategies, sourcing new business, capital and investments, and driving the company’s focus on acquiring and adapting high quality assets. Under her direction, the firm has completed over $2.24 billion in acquisition and development projects in the last five years. Additionally, she oversees the Rose property management and operations platform which delivers a full range of services designed to increase revenue and enhance asset value for over 14,000 units in the New York marketplace. During her tenure, Rose Associates became one of the region’s top property management firms with a primary focus on rental properties.Amy is a frequent speaker in premier professional conferences and participates as a guest lecturer at The NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and Columbia Business School. She was recognized by Bisnow as one of the 2018 and 2019 New York Power Women and Real Estate Forum named her as one of the 2016 Women of Influence.Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan. She serves on the Board of Directors of Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc. and The Real Estate Roundtable as well as the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee of The Real Estate Board of New York. She is an active member of Urban Land Institute, The Young Men’s/ Women’s Real Estate Association of New York, WX, New York Women Executives in Real Estate and The Young Presidents’ Organization. Amy serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of Literature, Science and Arts and the Ross Real Estate Advisory Board at the University of Michigan. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of The Jewish Museum.

This week’s episode features a real estate legend: Leonard Wood, the Founder and Former CEO of Wood Partners, one of the nation’s leading apartment builders. Since Leonard founded Wood Partners in 1998, the company has developed over 79,000 homes with a combined value of more than $14.1 billion. Additionally, he is the Founder of the Leonard Wood Center for Real Estate Studies as a part of the Kenan-Flagler Business School. In this episode, Leonard talks about leadership lessons learned and important values for the real estate industry. Leonard also addresses potential issues for the next generation of real estate leaders as the industry moves into a post COVID world of urban development.In 2013, Leonard retired and merged GLJ Partners, a southern California apartment development company he founded in 2008, into Trammell Crow Residential. That same year, he joined the Advisory Board of Trammell Crow Residential where he continues to serve today. Before the inception of GLJ Partners, Leonard founded Wood Partners, LLC in 1998. Wood Partners was the largest multi-family builder in the U.S. in 2004, the 3rd largest in 2005, and the 6th largest in 2006 according to Builder Magazine. Leonard retired as CEO of Wood Partners in 2007, but continued to serve on the Board of Directors through the end of 2013.Prior to founding Wood Partners, Leonard joined Trammell Crow Residential (“TCR”) as Partner in charge of North Florida in 1982. During Leonard’s tenure at TCR, he was responsible for the Southeast, Texas, Midwest, and Southwest Regions and started over 54,000 multi-family units representing an investment of more than $2.5 billion. In October of 1996, Homegate Hospitality, Inc. (“Homegate”) had its Initial Public Offering. Homegate combined TCR’s development capabilities with Wyndham Hotel Company’s management expertise to create an extended-stay hotel chain. Leonard was on the Board of Directors of Homegate. In December of 1997, Homegate merged with Prime Hospitality, a New York Stock Exchange lodging company. Subsequently, Prime sold to Marriott.Leonard is a 1972 University of North Carolina M.B.A. graduate, with an undergraduate degree from N.C. State University in 1968. As an Audit Manager with Arthur Andersen & Co., Leonard had an extensive real estate clientele, including Brandermill and Fripp Island.Leonard is a former Chairman and served on the Multifamily Leadership Board of NAHB. He also is a former Chairman and served on the Board of Directors of the National Multifamily Housing Council. Leonard is a past Governor, Trustee, and Chairman of the Multifamily Council of the Urban Land Institute. He is active in numerous charities with a particular focus on education. He has also been active with various wounded warrior programs. His youngest son, Kevin, served two tours in Iraq. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. In 2001, Leonard received the MBA Alumni Merit Award from the University of North Carolina. In 2007, Leonard founded the Wood Center for Real Estate Studies as a part of the Kenan-Flagler Business School and is the current Chairman of its Advisory Board. In 2018, he was awarded the Davie Award, the highest award a UNC alumni can receive. He formerly served on the Board of the Darlington School. He was also a Board member of Cole Credit Property Trust III, Inc. and Cole Corporate Income Trust, Inc. Leonard served on the Board of the Ocean Reef Club, the largest private club in the world. He is a Past President of Card Sound Golf Club in Key Largo, Florida.

As we enter the second month of the Covid-19 lockdown, Matt met with longtime industry colleague and friend Doug Bibby, President of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the leading trade association for the apartment industry. In addition to discussing the implications of the national crisis on the multifamily housing, Matt and Doug unwrap the significant evolution of the apartment industry over the past two decades. The conversation with Doug provides prior context of the multifamily housing industry, shares resources and strategies that the industry is implementing during the crisis including NMHC’s Rent Tracker, and the industry’s continued agenda around affordable housing, fighting NIMBYism, rent control, and overall housing supply.The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) is a national organization of more than 1,400 member firms involved in the nearly $2 trillion multifamily housing industry. Under Doug’s leadership NMHC represents the industry on Capitol Hill and before the regulatory agencies, promotes research and the exchange of information, and advocates for rental housing across a broad spectrum of issues. Prior to joining NMHC, Doug spent 16 years as a senior officer of Fannie Mae, where he served on the company’s Management Committee throughout his tenure. He was part of the top management team that is credited with the remarkable turnaround at Fannie Mae in the book Good to Great.Doug began his career with the worldwide communications firm J. Walter Thompson where he served a variety of clients both domestically and internationally over his 12-year career with the company. At the time of his departure from J. Walter Thompson, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the firm’s Washington, D.C. operations. He has been active in the non-profit community of Washington, D.C. for the past 30 years.Doug graduated from Denison University with a B.A. degree and was honored with the university’s Alumni Citation Award in 2004. He also holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

With so much uncertainty in the world due to Covid-19, Matt sat down (virtually) with Spencer Levy, Chairman, Americas Research & Senior Economic Advisor at CBRE, on March 24 to discuss the impact this crisis has across all sectors of commercial real estate. This is a special episode focused on Covid-19, versus our ongoing conversations which are geared towards leadership and the business of our guests. Spencer outlines the potential implications the pandemic has across various sectors including multifamily, retail, industrial, and office and digs into the impacts on a few specialty product types like co-working, seniors housing, data centers, and self-storage. The discussion provides commentary on the immediate response while touching on potential short-term and long-term effects this may have on real estate and the world economy, taking a globalized approach and looking at current government response.In addition to the conversation about Covid-19, Spencer introduces CBRE’s Global Outlook 2030 report and acknowledges that while there will be immediate and short-term impacts on commercial real estate, addressed trends likely will continue into the decade. Some of these trends include the global adoption of U.S.-style institutional ownership and management of multifamily communities and widespread automation of commercial real estate valuation services.Spencer Levy is the Chairman of Americas Research and Senior Economic Advisor for CBRE, the largest commercial real estate firm in the world. Spencer is the chief spokesman on real estate matters for CBRE in the Americas. He is regularly quoted in major business publications and frequently is a guest on business television, including Bloomberg, CNBC, PBS and Fox Business. He is widely considered one of the finest commentators in the entire Commercial Real Estate industry.By leveraging his 23 years of experience in commercial real estate, including the past 11 at CBRE, Spencer has redefined the role of research leader. Spencer combines his experience as a lawyer, investment banker and capital markets leader to create presentations that go deep and touch on all aspects of commercial real estate. Combined with his unique and engaging presenting style, this makes him one of the most respected commentators and advisors in the business. Spencer regularly speaks at major events of the country’s leading commercial real estate organizations, including CORENET, NAIOP, ULI, ICSC, NAREIM and CREW. He also has guest lectured at major universities, including his alma maters Harvard and Cornell, in addition to Columbia, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Indiana, Georgetown, Pitt, Auburn and many others. Spencer is a recipient of multiple industry awards, including the CORENET Luminary Award for Excellence in Public Speaking, the CBRE Trammell Crow Master Builder Award, the CBRE Gary J. Bebon Teamwork Award, the CBRE Capital Markets “MVP”, and was named a State of Maryland Influencer in Real Estate.While a New Yorker for most of his life, Spencer currently hails from Baltimore and is a proud husband of 19 years and father of three children. Spencer sits on the boards of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women and Harvard Alumni Real Estate.We hope that you enjoy this episode and find the conversation to be helpful as you are navigating the crisis in your personal lives as well as in your business endeavors.

This week, Matt interviews Maria Hawthorne, President and CEO of PS Business Parks, where has been for over three decades. She started at the ground floor in a temporary position at Public Storage, the company’s parent, and moved up the ranks at PS Business Parks from running the East Coast, to Chief Administrative Officer, then President, and now to her current role as CEO in 2016. PS Business Parks is a REIT that acquires, develops, owns, and operates commercial properties, primarily multi-tenant industrial, flex, and office space. The company owns over 27.5 million rentable square feet concentrated in six states and has recently started the redevelopment of some of its office parks into mixed-use properties, primarily multifamily. Throughout her career, Maria had to carefully create a track record and build relationships to experience her growth within the company.Highlights from the EpisodeMaria carefully built a positive track record starting with her temp role at Public Storage to cultivating relationships and growth within her company.Maria is vulnerable and honest. She shared about a reset time at the company when the CEO sent her to the Center for Creative Leadership where she took a deep dive on what it would take to move herself up and into leadership.Maria found success through a long career at one company.

Recorded in front of an audience at a ULI Young Leaders event in Los Angeles, Matt sat down with Ricardo Pagan, Founder and CEO of Claridge Properties, a 100% minority-owned real estate investment and development firm.Born in the Dominican Republic, Ricardo emigrated to the U.S. when he was nine and is now a self-made entrepreneur in real estate under the age of 40. His path to success is different than other leaders featured on this podcast.Ricardo never attended a four-year college and started buying houses in his late teens and developing properties in his 20s. This eventually led to developing institutional deals, like the historic Westin Book Cadillac Detroit and 4-acre Brooklyn waterfront deal in Greenpoint. He is part of a partnership selected by the Los Angeles City Council to acquire and develop the coveted Angels Landing site, a $1.2 billion project that will eventually be the largest residential tower west of the Mississippi River.Throughout his career, he has completed well over $1 Billion in acquisitions and development of assets in New York City, Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, and Phoenix encompassing well over 3,500 residential units and over 500,000 SF of office space.

This week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate features Alex Mehran Sr., the Chairman of the Board of Sunset Development Company and the immediate past Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Sunset Development was founded in 1951 by Alex’s father who had emigrated from Iran, and today it is in its third generation of leadership, run by Alex’s son. Under Alex’s leadership, the company acquired and developed Bishop Ranch, a 585-acre mixed-use community in the Bay Area with best-in-class offices, retail, and entertainment. The development includes over 9.5 million square feet in workspace for 30,000 employees with 600 tenants including IBM, AT&T, Chevron, and GE Digital. Matt and Alex discuss the constant evolution of suburban office park developments, the successes of a multi-generational family business, and Alex’s civic leadership roles.Alex is a San Francisco Bay Area native. He graduated from Harvard College with honors and continued his higher education at Cambridge University in England where he earned a Law Degree, also with honors. After completing his formal education, Alex joined J. P. Morgan of New York where, for three years, he managed real estate companies and assets owned by the Bank. Shortly after, Alex joined Sunset Development in 1977.Beyond his civic engagement with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Alex is the Chairman of the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, a Trustee of the California Institute of Technology and a member of the International Council of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Alex has two adult children. He and his wife, Carolyn, live in San Francisco.

Ben Harris, CEO of Link Industrial Properties, Blackstone’s industrial sector operating platform, joins us for this week’s episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate. In this episode, we dive into the drivers of the robust industrial sector, especially how the overall secular changes in retail, logistics, and distribution are driving a re-make of the industrial real estate business. We also discuss Blackstone’s approach to Link and its businesses in other real estate sectors, both from the investment and operating angles, and the extraordinary growth of the Link platform from a start up to a 355-million square foot business in just over a year. And as always, we talk about Ben and his career path into this role.

With almost 40 years under his belt at Wells Fargo, Mark Myers is the bank’s Head of Commercial Real Estate. Under his leadership, Wells Fargo has been the #1 commercial real estate lender for the last 10 years. As a longtime leader in this space along with his upcoming retirement in February 2020, Mark shares his perspective on the vast changes in the real estate capital markets over this period and reflects on his career. He also expands on his outlook of the current markets and what he sees is a stable infrastructure moving forward for the business.