Leading Voices in Real Estate

In the second part of Leading Voices in Real Estate’s discussion surrounding sustainability in the built environment, Matt is joined by Elena Alschuler, Head of Americas Sustainability for LaSalle Investment Management, and Marta Schantz, head of ULI’s Greenprint Center for Building Performance. While much of the global conversation surrounding carbon emissions centers on transportation issues the built environment is responsible for about 40% of global emissions, while transportation is just 20%. Directly after recording this episode, the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report going further than any previous statement indicating that climate change is “a code red for humanity”. While some of these changes are irreversible, this demonstrates the growing importance of climate mitigation and adaptation globally, particularly in the real estate industry. Both Elena and Marta share their perspectives from their respective roles, Elena being with a leading real estate investor, and Marta leading a global alliance of real estate owners, investors, and strategic partners from the Urban Land Institute. They discuss strategies for organizations to reduce their carbon footprint as well as advice for current and future leaders of the real estate industry to tackle this issue head-on.About Elena:Elena is a central leader for LaSalle’s North America sustainability initiatives. She works closely with the firm’s Portfolio Management team on sustainability strategies, as well as its Asset Management group to develop programs for property-level initiatives, including certifications, efficiency projects, energy procurement, green leases, and health & wellness projects.Elena joins LaSalle from View Inc., where she led real estate activities including the firm’s strategy and execution to scale adoption of smart glass in the office and multifamily sectors across the US and Canada. Prior to View Inc., Elena worked at the US Department of Energy in Washington, DC as a Building Technologies Project Manager, as well as the MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and HR&A Advisors in New York.She has a Bachelor’s degree from Bard College, and a Masters in City Planning from MITAbout Marta:Marta Schantz is the senior vice president for the Greenprint Center for Building Performance at the Urban Land Institute, a research center and worldwide alliance of real estate leaders committed to improving the environmental performance of the industry – reducing carbon emissions, and increasing building value. Recent focus areas range from City/Real Estate Partnerships for Climate Policy, to Embodied Carbon in Real Estate, to Net Zero Buildings. Before her time at ULI, Marta worked at Waypoint Energy, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the US Department of Energy. Marta is a LEED Green Associate and a Fitwel Ambassador. She holds a BS in biological engineering with a minor in science technology and society from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.ResourcesLaSalle Investment Management Sustainability WebsiteULI’s Greenprint Center for Building Performance WebsiteLaSalle Report: ESG Themes Take Center Stage (May 2021)ULI Greenprint’s Blueprint for Green Real Estate Report (2020)United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment ReportA Code Red for Humanity: Latest U.N. Report Reveals Many Climate Changes Irreversible (Urban Land Magazine Article | August 2021)Benchmark Your Building Using ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®Greentech Media’s Energy Gang PodcastGRESB Real Estate Reference Guide (2021)Design the Future Podcast

In the first of our two-part episode series on climate change and the built environment, Greg Smithies, Partner of Fifth Wall where he leads the Climate Technology Investment team, joins Matt to discuss sustainability in the real estate sector. Greg is the second guest on Leading Voices from Fifth Wall as Co-Founder and Managing Partner Brad Greiwe was featured in 2019. Our industry, the built environment, is responsible for about 40% of total global carbon emissions, about 3/4 of which comes from existing buildings and about 1/4 from construction and deconstruction. Addressing our industry’s carbon footprint in addition to finding adaptation strategies to cope with climate change will be a large global investment in real estate over the coming years. Greg provides a high-level global perspective on sustainability and shares how Fifth Wall’s $500M fund focusing on “climate tech” is a start in a burgeoning area of investment.Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Greg was a Partner at BMW i Ventures where he led the Sustainability investing practice, investing in companies such as Prometheus Fuels, and PureCycle (NASDAQ: ROCH). Before joining BMW i Ventures, Greg led Finance & Operations for both The Boring Company and Neuralink simultaneously.Greg started his investment career at Battery Ventures where he covered early-stage enterprise technology startups, as well as industrial technology buyouts. Successful exits from his work there include Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.), and IST (acquired by Scott Brand).Greg was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and currently lives in Oakland, CA. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he received a BS in Economics and a BS in Computer Science.ResourcesThe REInterview: Real estate’s climate reckoning, with Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace and Greg Smithies (The Real Deal, March 2021)The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson

In our 100th episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate, Matt speaks with David Radcliffe, the head of real estate at Google, and the first corporate real estate guest on the podcast. David is responsible for managing all aspects of Google’s global real estate portfolio, industry-leading workplace services, and physical security services that enable the company to thrive. Through his leadership, David and his team create inspiring environments where 130,000+ employees in over 170 cities spanning more than 60 countries can do their best work every day. The conversation revolves around Google’s mentality to create unique, collaborative workspaces for employees to engage daily, corporate residences and communities beyond the workplace environment, and how the global tech giant is bringing personnel back in the office following COVID.In his 15+ years at Google, David has built and led teams that continually scale, evolve, and innovate Google’s dynamic workplace environment and services, promote employee health and drive sustainable solutions for both Google and our broader communities. From Google’s offices and workspaces to the food, events, and transportation options offered, the Real Estate & Workplace Services teams work closely together to provide an integrated workplace experience that’s a cornerstone of Google’s culture of collaboration and innovation. The Global Security & Resilience Services team work to keep Google and the Google community safe and ensure business continuity.David has deep roots in commercial real estate. Before joining Google in 2006, he served as a Senior Vice President at the Trammell Crow company, overseeing corporate accounts outside the U.S. Prior to that, he led global real estate and corporate services at PeopleSoft and JD Edwards. In 2011, CoreNet Global’s Northern California Chapter recognized David as its Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year.David earned an MBA with a concentration in Real Estate and Construction Management from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He currently serves on the External Advisory Board of Harvard’s Master of Design Engineering program, and holds CoreNet Global’s Master of Corporate Real Estate designation.

As everyone tries to make sense of the next cycle of the real estate industry post-pandemic, Matt is joined by Richard Barkham, Global Chief Economist & Head of Americas Research at CBRE, to discuss how COVID has affected various sectors of CRE. Richard provides his outlook sector-by-sector, including high-growth for both multi-family and industrial. He shares a balanced view on retail, given the need for various retail products like grocery and entertainment, and discusses the continued uncertainties and transitions in the office sector. Following, Richard shares his career journey in his unique senior-leadership position of real estate research and how his insights provide strategic direction for the largest global commercial real estate services company.Richard is a specialist in macro and real estate economics. He joined CBRE in 2014 as Executive Director and Global Chief Economist. Prior to taking up his position with CBRE, Richard was a Director of Research for the Grosvenor Group an international business with circa $10bn of capital under management in real estate. He was also a non-Executive Director of Grosvenor Fund Management where he was involved in fund strategy, risk analysis and capital raising. Richard is the author of two books and numerous academic and industry papers. In 2012 he published ‘Real Estate and Globalisation’ (Wiley Blackwell, Oxford), which explains the impact on real estate markets of the rise of emerging markets such as China and Brazil. He has extensive consulting experience and is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Construction and Project Management at the Bartlett School, University College London. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Reading where he taught, in the Departments of Economics and Land Management, between the years of 1987 and 1998.

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)