Real Estate Addicts

Architect Dartagnan Brown, founder of Embarc joins REA and discusses how his firm has become one of the preeminent architectural design firms for multi-family private developers in New England. Dartagnan brings us through his incredible personal journey escaping hostile foreign governments, finding his way to the United States and then shares his entrepreneurial story as founder of Embarc. We talk about the tension between traditional and contemporary design and what aesthetic Dartagnan appreciates most. The conversation continues comparing architecture in major cities around the country. Dartagnan explains what a massing study is and how architects provide developers value during the acquisition process by performing massing studies for their clients? What is a 40B project? What are the pros, cons and limitations of a 40B project? What is the difference between gross square footage and net square footage? How does a good architect add value by designing an efficient building? How does an architect who understands fundamentals of construction costs add value to their client? Finally, we have some fun with a new game called “over-rated, under-rated or appropriately rated” where we take Dartagnan temperature on new products, design elements and trends in architecture. We hope you enjoy & as always appreciate your rating, reviewing and sharing!

Zoning and land use attorney Marc LaCasse joins us to discus his 30+ year career in law and how he’s built an extremely successful boutique practice focused on real estate law and zoning in the City of Boston. We talk about how the permitting and entitlement process generally works around the country and Marc explains why the word “entitlement” isn’t often used in Boston. We debate the pros and cons of a vague and uncertain zoning process and the hosts take different sides on whether a more transparent process would be in developers favor. In addition, we discuss how zoning differs from state to state.

Our good friend Ricky Beliveau owner of Volnay Capital joins us on REA as we talk bout the business case for social media in real estate, scaling a real estate development business, outlook on the market, developing in less mature and tested markets, and we delve into failures, success and the role of luck and hard work in our careers.

Hosts Dan Rubin, Ray Hurteau (IG: @HRVHomes) and Marc Savatsky (IG: @Choose_Boston) take you back to how they each started their careers in real estate development, detail their first projects, share advice, warnings, and also their goals for the Real Estate Addicts Podcast.