Real Perspectives Podcast

When Matt Macko and I first met, he was just kicking off the formation of this business in San Francisco, which was going to focus on building more sustainable spaces and buildings. In a similar way, we were also trying to make a name for ourselves in an industry that over the last decade transformed the Bay Area commercial real estate market into one of the most important ones across the world.

Matt got a big break with Boston Properties who have put him and his team to work on what would become the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and as the story usually goes, the rest is history. Stok today works with clients across the country and the globe, and Matt’s vision of creating radically better buildings is coming to full realization.

Julia Weatherspoon is an architectural designer at SmithGroup and current president of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, (SF NOMA). With a mission to to create more inclusive spaces within design, her projects range from workplace commercial interiors, aviation, community and civic design, and now Higher Education. Julia holds a Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Arizona.

Hao Ko is a Managing Director, Principal and architect at Gensler’s San Francisco office. His internationally recognized projects include The Tower at PNC Plaza and NVIDIA Headquarters. He is an alumnus of UC Berkeley and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Lisa Cholmondeley is a Principal and architect at Gensler’s San Francisco office.  Currently, she is the Project Manager and Senior Architect for the design and execution of Related’s 240-acre, 10+ million square foot mixed-use development in Santa Clara. Prior to joining the San Francisco office, Lisa’s career at Gensler included experience in London, Doha, and Abu Dhabi. Lisa is an alumnus of Cornell University, and holds a Master of Arts degree in History and Theory of Architecture from The Architectural Association.

Lisa and Hao are active leaders on Gensler’s regional and firm-wide Global Race & Diversity Committees.

On today’s show, we’re going to do a quick San Francisco commercial real estate market overview, and today, that is brought to you by Zac Monsees. Zac is a vice president at Transwestern in San Francisco, and his team advises on leasing and capital markets transactions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on behalf on institutional landlords, family trusts and owner-occupiers.

Zac joins us today from his office in San Francisco to talk about what he’s seeing shaping the market today and how that may impact real estate in the near future! 

Veronica Hinkley Reck is a licensed architect with over 25 years of experience designing award-winning affordable, market-rate and senior housing projects. Veronica brings a particular passion for creating beautiful, sustainable affordable housing that is specific to its context and population and that truly enhances the lives of its residents and their communities. 

She founded and ran her own practice for 15 years, during which she helped transform several of the Bay Area's newest neighborhoods—including San Francisco's Shipyard, Mission Bay, Hayes Valley and Alameda's Site A. In 2019 she joined SERA Architects in Oakland, where she is a Design Principal and the Director of Housing for California. Current projects she is most excited about include the McEvoy Apartments in San Jose, which is a 365-unit affordable high rise, all electric, LEED Platinum, mass timber project near Diridon Station; and The Magnolias, a 66-unit affordable, all electric, LEED Platinum Modular project in Morgan Hill.

Jon Scholes was named President & CEO of Downtown Seattle Association in November of 2014, following six years as the organization’s Vice President of Advocacy & Economic Development. He believes the health of downtown Seattle is critical to a healthy city and region, and he’s led this organization during a time of explosive growth for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. This provided immense opportunities but also challenges for Downtown Seattle Association, and he is acutely aware of them both.

Jon’s passion for taking on big issues is reflected in his nearly 20 years of work in nonprofit advocacy, local government, regional policy and senior positions on political campaigns. At DSA, he leads a diverse team focused on creating a healthy, vibrant and inviting downtown, and he works closely with the city of Seattle officials to help revitalize a downtown that has been affected by the pandemic and other endemic issues associated with a large urban environment.

Mike Sroka is the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Dealpath, a company that describes itself as a platform that enables smarter deal management in the commercial real estate world. Prior to Dealpath, Mike has spent over a decade growing venture-backed software companies including Fanhood (acq. by FOX), Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and OneSeason (acq. by Cantor Fitzgerald). He co-founded Dealpath in 2014 in no small part due to the requests his colleagues made for ways to improve how things got done in the industry, and he’s built an enterprise that in 7 years counts Blackstone, Nasdaq and JLL as its investors and advisors.

Tom Deane serves as the CEO of Project Mark. He has spent 10 years in the Construction Industry working primarily in Cost & Risk Management. He's been involved on a multitude of different projects, from new healthcare facilities to major high-rise developments. He has a bachelor's degree in Quantity Surveying from Limerick Institute of Technology.

Noel Brady has taken on the role of Project Mark’s COO. Prior to co-founding Project Mark, Noel also spent 10 years as a construction manager in the industry. He previously worked for AECOM and AECOM Tishman on a range of projects across the Irish, UK and US markets. He has a Bachelors degree in Quantity Surveying and Masters in Construction, Business and Project Management. He is also a chartered project manager with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and Association for Project Management (APM).

Both now live in San Francisco and are extremely excited about the Contech space. 

Jonathan Needell is the president and chief investment officer of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.-based Kairos Investment Management, a commercial real estate investment firm focused on acquisition, asset management and development of a mix of property types that over time have invested over $1 billion in more than 12 million square feet of commercial space, including 11,000 multifamily units.

Jonathan is responsible for overseeing all those activities including business planning, sourcing and structuring of construction, mini-perm, permanent debt and joint venture financing, among other roles.

Jonathan’s experience spans over three decades across the industry, including roles as an Investment Director and Chief Financial Officer of Bellevue, Wash.-based Schnitzer West from 2003 to 2006 and a Director of the Corporate Finance Group in the Investment Banking Division of Merrill Lynch.

Randy Tsuda is the President and CEO of Palo Alto, California-based Alta Housing, an affordable housing development firm that has been active in Silicon Valley for over 50 years. 

Randy joined Alta Housing in 2018 after serving as the Mountain View Community Development Director for over 10 years. His career includes experience in the non-profit, private, and public sectors, and spans real estate, city planning, affordable housing, and economic development. 

Tony Gonzalez is the Chief Operating Officer of San Jose BioCube, a 37,000 square foot life science and biotech incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley. With a decade of lab facility expertise, Tony oversees all BioCube operations, which includes specialized co-working spaces and lab facilities for high-growth startups in this area of innovation. Prior to BioCube, Tony managed high-profile laboratory facility projects including the $43.5 million build-out for Roche Group, a top-2 global pharmaceutical company.