The Distribution by Juniper Square

Lisa Picard is the former CEO of EQ Office and currently serves as an advisor to Sway Ventures.

Lisa’s 25-year career spans nearly every area in real estate, having developed $8+ billion in complex ground-up projects. Most recently, she was the CEO of Blackstone’s office investment platform, EQ Office, leading the 200-person organization and strategy for a portfolio valued at over $27 billion. 

Lisa has a track record for innovative, high-quality projects that push the market in areas of customer experience and sustainability. Lisa holds two master's degrees from MIT and continues to lecture on topics including design thinking and mindful leadership, as well as driving innovation and understanding risk. Prior to Blackstone, she opened the West Coast office for Skanska Commercial Development, launching four development deals in five years valued at over $3 billion (with successful exits to institutional investors).

Lisa has also held leadership positions at Canyon Ranch Resorts and Hines and spent several years developing investment strategies for three different institutional funds on new and existing multifamily and industrial assets.

Links:

Lisa on LinkedIn

Lisa's Medium page

Brandon on LinkedIn

Juniper Square

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Topics:

(00:02:25) Lisa’s background and career

(00:14:00) What was your experience at Blackstone and moving into PE from development?

(00:21:49) Leadership Lessons from the Pandemic

(00:24:46) What are you hoping to unlock in real estate through technology?

(00:33:21) What should founders know about the RE technology sector?

(00:37:20) What are you predicting for the future of Office?

(00:46:33) What is your thesis on the fundamental health of gateway cities?

(00:50:13) What happens to some of these obsolescent assets?

(00:52:57) What advice would you give to operators?

In this episode of The Distribution by Juniper Square, Brandon Sedloff sat down with David Howard, CEO of the National Rental Home Council (NRHC). Founded in 2014, NRHC is a non-partisan organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of the single-family rental (SFR) industry. As CEO, David is responsible for managing all aspects of NRHC’s operating priorities and directing the organization’s legislative and public policy objectives.

During their conversation, the two discussed: 

Links:

David on LinkedIn

The National Rental Home Council

Buildforrenthomes.com

[email protected]

Brandon on LinkedIn

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Topics:

(00:01:18) David’s career and background

(00:09:31) What is rental housing and how do you differentiate SFR and build to rent?

(00:20:44) What are you seeing in supply vs. demand for rental housing?

(00:29:52) Is there a new category of renters-for-life?

(00:35:14) Do you see any Multifamily firms merging into SFR?

(00:40:02) What is some advice for folks in multifamily looking to get into residential?

(00:46:23) Why has rental housing become politicized?

On today’s episode, I sit down with Sean Burton, CEO of CityView, a vertically integrated real estate investment management and development firm focused on workforce and attainable housing in the Western U.S. Sean joined CityView in 2003 first as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer and then as President from 2008 through 2015. Now, as CEO, Sean is focused on the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the company. 

In our conversation, we talked about…

Links:

Sean on LinkedIn

Cityview

Brandon on LinkedIn

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Topics:

(00:01:17) Sean’s career and an overview of Cityview

(00:03:29) Why has the term ‘urban infill’ fallen out of favor?

(00:04:25) What does it mean to be a specialist investment manager?

(00:07:05) Have you branched out into 3rd part Property Management?

(00:08:02) How has the discourse around returning to cities impacted the markets you work in?

(00:11:00) What other markets are you in besides Los Angeles?

(00:13:30) What’s most surprised you about a market when you entered it?

(00:14:48) Why have you not expanded east from Texas?

(00:16:21) What’s happening on the ground in Los Angeles given what people say about the city in the national media?

(00:19:53) The Measure ULA Transfer Tax

(00:23:05) Who are your partners at Cityview and what are the headline stats of the organization?

(00:27:55) How do the fundamentals of all the different markets you’re in compare to one another?

(00:33:28) How does the discourse around the state of the economy affect developers?

(00:36:21) Would you buy distressed value-add opportunities?

(00:37:33) How are you perceived by the institutional investment community as a specialist?

(00:40:19) Where is capital coming from in your fund?

(00:43:59) Sean’s Role in the Biden Administration

(00:48:00) What’s something interesting about LAX that most travelers might not know?

(00:49:51) What is your priority over the next 18 months?

BentallGreenOak is a leading, global real estate investment management advisor and a globally-recognized provider of real estate services with approximately $83 billion of assets under management. BGO serves the interests of more than 750 institutional clients with expertise in the asset management of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential property across the globe. BentallGreenOak has offices in 28 cities across fourteen countries with deep, local knowledge, experience, and extensive networks in the regions where we invest and manage real estate assets on behalf of our clients. BentallGreenOak is a part of SLC Management, which is the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life.

Sonny Kalsi was a co-founder of GreenOak Real Estate in 2010 and, together with the GreenOak Real Estate team, grew the business organically to $12 billion of assets under management in 10 countries with over 100 employees, prior to its 2019 merger with Bentall Kennedy. Before co-founding GreenOak Real Estate, Sonny was the Global Co-Head of Morgan Stanley’s Real Estate Investing (MSREI) business and President of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds until 2009. At its peak, the MSREI platform had approximately $100 billion of assets under management in 33 countries. Sonny has oversight responsibility for BentallGreenOak’s U.S., European and U.K. businesses and is a senior member of the Firm’s global Investment Committees.

Sonny is a graduate of Georgetown University and continues to be very involved with the school in advancing academic initiatives. He has been cited by Private Equity Real Estate magazine as one of the “30 Most Influential” people in private equity real estate globally. Sonny is on the board of several organizations including Georgetown University, Teaching Matters, Room to Read, Asia Society and the Hirshhorn Museum.

Links:

Sonny on LinkedIn

BGO

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Brandon on LinkedIn

Timestamps

(00:01:28) Sonny’s career and background

(00:03:58) What was your experience working at Morgan Stanley?

(00:06:58) What did you learn from experiencing the previous RE downturns?

(00:09:03) How did your career take you to BGO?

(00:19:53) How do you think about the unified vision of BGO?

(00:24:41) What are investors looking for in this market environment?

(00:28:35) What are things that BGO can do to maintain and nurture investor relationships?

(00:29:54) How would you describe what’s happening on the ground right now?

(00:34:57) What’s working really well in your portfolio?

(00:37:53) What are you seeing in Office?

(00:44:11) How are things progressing with your environmental goals?

(00:47:16) How are you going about achieving gender parity at BGO?

(00:51:42) What advice would you get to other CEOs and Founders on getting started with ESG initiatives?

On today's episode, I sit down with Ted Martell, a Co-Founder, and Principal at Maverick Real Estate Partners, a firm he started in 2010 with his partner David Aviram. Maverick is a real estate private equity fund manager that invests in commercial real estate credit in New York City. Since its founding in 2010, Maverick has invested 730 million across 130 loans.

They have developed and deployed proprietary algorithms that convert data into actionable intelligence, uncovering hidden opportunities, pricing risk, and optimizing decision-making. In our conversation, we talk about the founding story of Maverick and the painstaking efforts that Ted and David went through to get their initial set of data, the current state of debt markets in New York City, and what may happen with the Signature Bank loan portfolio, and why a focus on a singular market and strategy has been fundamental to Maverick's success.

This conversation was recorded in June of 2023. I enjoyed the conversation with Ted and learning more about how a local sharpshooter like Maverick has scaled their business and found success both on the deal side and by raising capital from some of the smartest and most sophisticated institutional investors in the market.

Links

Maverick Real Estate Partners

Ted on LinkedIn

Learn more about Juniper Square

Provide feedback for the podcast

Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn

Timecodes

(00:01:45) Ted’s career and Maverick

(00:10:09) How are you focusing your energy to find opportunities in the current market?

(00:16:12) Are there any indicators that will help us get unstuck in this environment?

(00:19:41) When do you think we will start to see transactions on the Signature Bank portfolio?

(00:21:02) How do rent regulations play a factor in underwriting?

(00:24:34) Would someone buy the entire portfolio at that scale or divide it?

(00:26:50) The evolution of Mavrk’s data-driven investment approach. 

(00:34:25) What are you seeing from investors right now?

(00:37:49) What’s the most common question you get from investors?

(00:41:27) How are you assessing the fundamentals of the RE environment in NYC?

(00:47:38) What are some leading indicators you’re focused on to strike when the opportunity presents itself?

Alex is the Co-founder and CEO of Juniper Square, the leading investment management solution for the real estate industry. Alex previously served as a founding executive of New Energy Risk (acquired by XL Capital) and started his career at Microsoft, where he held a variety of product leadership roles. Alex holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from the University of Washington.

Founded in 2014, Juniper Square is transforming the private equity industry with innovative solutions that deliver a more modern, efficient and effective approach to managing private partnerships. Designed to provide real-time information and workflow for all parties involved in a private partnership, Juniper Square enables forward-thinking GPs to lower administrative costs, increase investor satisfaction, and raise more capital.

Links:

Juniper Square

Alex on LinkedIn

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Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:01:04) Alex’s background and career as an entrepreneur

(00:02:40) The genesis for founding Juniper Square

(00:07:13) Pivotal moments for scaling the organization

(00:12:01) Digitization of Investor relations before Juniper Square existed

(00:16:05) Why was Real Estate the asset class to build Juniper Square around?

(00:20:58) How does Fund Administration fit into Juniper’s long-term business goals?

(00:26:04) Where else is there an opportunity for additional disruption?

(00:30:13) Where do you see outsourcing in the next 5 years?

(00:33:19) How do you think about attracting and retaining the best people?

(00:35:39) What’s been most surprising in developing a Fund Admin function?

(00:37:57) What does Capital Markets look like at Juniper Square?

(00:43:48) Thoughts on the current economic environment

(00:49:24) Growth and Efficiency in Venture Capital

(00:54:08) What will the next technological revolution be over the next 3-5 years?

(00:58:09) What are you most excited about as the company continues to build?

Edward Ring, Founder and CEO of New Standard Equities joins Brandon Sedloff for a special interview during Juniper Square's IMN CFO/COO conference in May of 2023.

Links:

New Standard Equities

Edward on LinkedIn

Learn more about Juniper Square

Provide feedback for the podcast

Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:00:52) Eddie’s experience at the IMN conference

(00:04:29) What are you seeing with lenders right now?

(00:06:09) New Standard Equities

(00:09:25) What is your take on the interest rate environment?

(00:12:04) What tools are at your disposal as you navigate this environment?

(00:14:01) How are you thinking about operational efficiency?

(16:07) What are you most optimistic/pessimistic about over the next 6-12 months?

(00:19:02) Do you have any concerns about the California workforce?

(00:23:27) Do you have any predictions for 2024?

Natalie Greenberg, COO at MJW Investments, joins Brandon Sedloff for a special interview during Juniper Square's IMN CFO/COO conference in May of 2023.

Links:

MJW Investments

Natalie on LinkedIn

Learn more about Juniper Square

Provide feedback for the podcast

Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:00:44) Natalie’s experience at IMN

(00:02:13) What gets you excited about the future of technology in this industry?

(00:04:28) Thoughts on interest rates

(00:07:46) Natalie’s role and MJW Investments

(00:08:24) How is student housing performing?

(00:10:06) What are you overseeing in your role as CFO?

(00:11:36) What changes have you seen in Investor expectations?

(00:13:02) How are retail investors thinking about real estate today?

(00:14:59) How do you think about operational efficiency and the role technology plays in managing Investor relationships?

(00:15:56) What are your areas of focus over the next 6-12 months?

(00:18:09) Thoughts on labor force issues on-property

(00:19:58) Do you have any predictions for 2024?

(00:22:26) What are you most excited about in the future?

Wesley Wilson, CFO of Avanath Capital Management, joins Brandon Sedloff for a special interview during Juniper Square's IMN CFO/COO conference in May of 2023.

Links:

Avanath Capital Management

Wesley on LinkedIn

Learn more about Juniper Square

Provide feedback for the podcast

Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:00:47) Avanath and Affordable Housing

(00:02:01) Wes’ experience at IMN

(00:03:42) How do rising interest rates affect your asset class?

(00:04:40) Do you have any concerns for housing over the next 18 months?

(00:05:45) What do you oversee in your role?

(00:06:22) How are you thinking about operational efficiency?

(00:07:28) What caused the decision to outsource one of your open-ended vehicles?

(00:08:54) How does technology help you make decisions?

(00:10:20) What are you hearing from investors and their ability to allocate capital and their expectations?

(00:13:49) What’s something people should know about your organization?

(00:14:58) What are you optimistic about over the next 12 months?

(00:17:55) Office to Residential conversions

(00:18:31) What priorities do you have as a CFO in 2024?

On today’s episode, I sit down with Michael Phillips, a Principal and the President of Jamestown, a global, design-focused real estate investment and management firm with a 40-year track record. During his tenure as President, Jamestown has grown its portfolio of assets in key markets throughout the US and expanded its investment footprint to South America and Europe, more than tripling the firm’s assets under management. 

Michael is the driving force behind the company’s adaptive reuse projects including Chelsea Market in New York City, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Industry City in Brooklyn, and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. 

In our conversation, we talked about making real estate more accessible and interactive, reinforcing the human connection to a physical place, why Jamestown decided to invest in timberlands more than a decade ago. Let’s get into it.

Links:

Jamestown

Michael on LinkedIn

Popular Jamestown Properties

Timberland Fund

ChatGPT

Learn more about Juniper Square

Provide feedback for the podcast

Connect with Brandon Sedloff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Timestamps

(00:01:20) Michael’s Career and Jamestown

(00:03:20) What is the built environment?

(00:06:00) Jamestown’s incredible projects

(00:10:34) How do you identify what you will spend your time on?

(00:15:46) How are you thinking about the future of the office asset?

(00:19:48) What happens to all of these buildings that never come back online?

(00:25:13) How do the next 3 years look when it comes to the balance of power between employees and employers?

(00:29:28) What trends are you seeing come to the forefront in your portfolio?

(00:34:23) Jamestown’s Timber project

(00:41:33) What’s your take on folks avoiding ESG due to its impact on returns?

(00:43:53) The Metaverse, Web3.0 and its impact on real estate

(00:50:21) The Digital Twin

(00:51:35) How will AI change the landscape of this industry?

(00:53:40) What advice would you give to folks looking to innovate the way Jamestown is?