Experienced Businessman and Entrepreneur
What 7 Brew Is Teaching the Rest of Us About Building Fast
A few months ago in Roseville, I drove past a 7 Brew stand and noticed nine cars lined up in the double lane even before I finished parking, prompting me to take a closer look. That sight stuck with me because, in nearly 30 years of developing and managing restaurant...
Interest Rates Changed Everything. Here Is What Smart Developers Did Next
For more than a decade, commercial real estate developers operated in a world defined by cheap capital. Debt was abundant, financing was predictable, and many projects penciled out with relatively little friction. Then everything changed. Beginning in 2022, the...
When QSR Exclusive Use Clauses Become Overly Restrictive
In retail real estate, exclusive use clauses serve a purpose. They prevent tenants from competing directly within the same center. For example, a burger restaurant prefers not to have another burger place open nearby. Similarly, a fried chicken brand would avoid...
The Commercial Real Estate Skills That Will Matter Most in the Next Decade
The commercial real estate industry has always rewarded those who adapt. From the shift to digital listings to the rise of REITs, the professionals who thrive are those who anticipate change and build toward it. The next decade will be no different, except that the...
Nyah Patel – Internship Interview
At LRE & Co, mentoring the next generation has always been more than a good idea — it's a genuine passion. We believe that the lessons learned early in a career can shape a person for life. I started my first job at 15½, working at McDonald's, and the values that...
The Retail Tenant That Changed How I Think About Community
There's a version of commercial real estate that treats tenants like line items. Occupancy rates. Rent rolls. NOI per square foot. I understood that version well for most of my career. It's not wrong; those metrics matter, and anyone who tells you otherwise is...
What 25 Years in Commercial Real Estate Have Taught Me About Knowing When to Walk Away
There's a deal I almost closed in 2009 that still comes to mind when I mentor younger investors. The numbers looked reasonable on paper. The seller was motivated. My team had put in months of due diligence. And then I walked away, three days before closing. It was one...
The Supply Drought That’s Defining Hospitality’s Next Decade
Why the pandemic's construction freeze created a generational opportunity and how the projects we built during it are now reaping the rewards. The hospitality industry has never received a stranger gift than the COVID-19 pandemic. For the owners and developers who...
The Golden Arches Never Lie: What McDonald’s Mastered That Most Brands Never Will
It’s not about the burger. It’s never been about the burger. McDonald’s built the most influential commercial real estate empire in the world and built a restaurant around it. In my previous piece about traveling through the small towns of southern Spain, I wrote...
Adaptive Reuse in the Pacific Northwest
Transforming industrial heritage into modern commercial space, and why the Pacific Northwest's working past is among its greatest development assets. The Pacific Northwest built its economy on timber, fishing, shipping, and manufacturing. Drive through Seattle's...