Matthew Vander Werff, Founding Partner, MVW Partners

WEBVTT
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Welcome, Matthew.
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Thank you.
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Fellow uh Miami Shores neighbor here.
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That's right.
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Miami Shores in the motherfucking house, Ben.
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What about that, huh?
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Yeah, I guess I'm too south for you.
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Yeah, you're too south.
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You're not Miami Shores.
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I'm on the north side.
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Yeah.
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Ben, where do you live?
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Uh 39th in Biscayne.
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Oh, okay.
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So on the way, but not quite there.
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Nice.
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Uh welcome, Matthew.
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Thank you very much.
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We're excited to have you.
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Uh let's start with a cheers, right?
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Oh, yeah.
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We're drinking white wine.
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What kind of wine is this?
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What do we pick?
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Drinking uh what did you pick?
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Uh right.
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Um, and uh thank you to uh Vinya for providing beverages.
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Cheers.
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Cheers.
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Cheers to see you guys.
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You ever been to uh Vinya on TV TVC?
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I haven't.
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I think you should check that place out, being a retail guy.
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Yeah, I think you'd like the vibe over there.
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What is Vinya?
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Uh it's kind of like uh it they have like just super high-end wines and liquors and a nice little it's kind of a neighborhood vibe.
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Um I went there on a Friday afternoon and it was just kind of locals just drinking good beverages and eating good like little appetizers.
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Oh, so they they actually serve on premise as well as sell bottles?
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Yeah, and so I think you can yeah, you can grab a bottle, pay a corking fee.
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Interesting.
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Yeah.
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Um, I think you'd like them.
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Cool.
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You should check them out.
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So cheers.
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Thank you, Vinya.
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Thank you, Nick Garcia, too, for for providing the beverages.
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The wine's great.
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Uh, and we're at Bureau, too.
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Um, you know, a good friend of ours, Mike Feinstein.
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That's right.
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Yeah, and met him recently.
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Yeah, he's a super good guy.
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He's been, you know, he's he was our first podcast guest.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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What year was that?
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Uh that was uh about almost five years ago, 2021, I believe.
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Oh, during the pandemic.
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Yeah, we started uh somewhat in the pandemic.
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And so Mike is Mike is a big supporter.
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Um and uh I'm glad you met him recently.
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Hopefully you guys will do a couple things together.
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We'll see.
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Yeah, I like it.
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So have you uh listened to any podcasts?
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I listened to a couple, okay.
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So you know where this is going.
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Yeah, we're going all the way back.
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Yeah.
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I saw you're an Iowa guy.
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I am from Iowa, yeah.
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I mean, we won't hold that against you.
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Um I think you're the first Iowa guy here on the podcast.
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I'm for sure.
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I think so.
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Um I think I'm one of like three in the state.
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Yeah, probably.
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Yeah, they don't make it out.
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They don't for the most part.
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Yeah.
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Where in Iowa?
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A small town called Newton, Iowa.
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Newton.
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Where is that in the state?
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It's in central Iowa, about uh about an hour east of Des Moines.
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Okay.
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The claim to fame was uh yeah, a lot of corn and soybeans, soybeans.
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Um a Maytag uh headquarters of the world used to be there with before like it got acquired by uh Whirlpool.
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But it was like a you know factory town.
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Wow.
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15,000 people.
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Football was like a thing.
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Uh yeah.
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Your your last name is kind of uh is it Dutch?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Tell us about the family history.
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How do they end up in Iowa?
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I don't know actually.
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You don't, huh?
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I'm not super close with my uh with my father.
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Um but yeah, I'm half Dutch.
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Uh my mom's uh Swedish and German.
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Okay, yeah.
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All the all the Swedes, Germans, Norwegians went up there.
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Yeah, I'm from Minnesota.
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Oh, cool.
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Yeah, where?
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Um I grew up in a small town called Hastings, it's like on the border of Wisconsin.
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Uh so same, it's the same shit.
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Yeah, corn corn and soybeans, as far as you can see.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And high school football.
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Exactly, which I did not partake in.
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I was a snowboarder wakeforter.
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Oh, cool.
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I was the what's the word?
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The rebel, I guess.
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I guess.
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I guess.
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Yeah.
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And so uh your town was what was the name of the town again?
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Newton.
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Newton.
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And it was kind of an industrial town.
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Yeah.
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How how many people do you know 15,000 people when I was there?
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It's probably like 12,000 now.
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My biggest employer was uh was Maytag.
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Maytag.
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Yeah, I bet.
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Bigger town than I was in.
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Yeah.
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I think Casting's like five.
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Oh wow.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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My my mom grew up like in the in the country, and the closest town was like 200 people.
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Yeah.
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Dang.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So what was it like growing up there?
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Wholesome, I would say.
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I think it's changed quite a bit since you lived there since until you were in you went to college?
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Yeah.
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I uh I lived there until until uh in my early 20s.
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Yeah.
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I started off at the University of Iowa and then I studied abroad in Australia.
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And then I was like, what the heck am I doing in Iowa?
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So I uh that that's when I left.
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So you went to elementary school, high school?
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Yep.
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All in uh all in that same small town.
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Wow.
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Um play any sports?
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Yeah.
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Football, basketball, baseball, tennis, and track, but football being the football was life.
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Like you start going to Canada.
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Yeah, that's like as all American town as you can get.
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But yeah, Iowa.
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Like when I think when I like think of all American town, I'm like, it's someplace in Iowa.
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Yep, yep.
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Tall, big, corn fed people.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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Friday night lights.
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Yeah, exactly.
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That's exactly how it was.
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What position did you play in football?
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I was a corner.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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You're pretty you're pretty tall.
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What are you, six two, six three?
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Just almost, almost six three, yeah.
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Yeah.
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Um, and you played baseball as well?
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Yeah.
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Well, what position did you play in baseball?
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Uh, center.
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Center, huh?
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Yeah.
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Football was my main, my main sport.
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And you know a little basketball too?
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A little basketball.
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I I could uh I was blessed with a a pretty serious vertical leap.
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So um yeah, I could I could dunk by the time I was uh like in ninth grade, like five nine, five ten.
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White man can jump.
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I mean he all he had to do is roll to the gym, throw it on the dunk, like ladies, I'm going this way.
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I was, I mean, don't be wrong, I was like a hundred pounds.
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Like it was I was a pretty skinny kid growing up.
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Yeah, but dunking in ninth grade is legit.
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Yeah, it was.
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That's legit.
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So were you a three-sport athlete in high school?
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Four sport, but nearly every sport that you did other than football was just keeping you in shape for a football season.
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Like literally, like you start going to camp at I don't know, second grade and weightlifting camp in like fourth grade.
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This guy's a fucking jock.
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Yep.
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Uh used to be a long time ago.
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Were you a good student?
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I was a yeah, I was a very good student.
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Really?
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Jack with brains.
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There you go.
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Look at that.
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The full package.
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Yeah, the full package.
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Did you like school?
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You guys are making me blush.
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Yeah, you know, you know, school.
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Um, I'm the first to go to college in my family, so I didn't I didn't have like a lot of guidance.
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I didn't necessarily know what to do, where to go.
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I have one older sister.
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Okay.
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But when I was given, I was given an academic scholarship to the University of Iowa, instead of instead of looking outside of the state, which is what I probably should have done from day one, it just made sense to just go to the University of Iowa.
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Of course.
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And you got the you got a sports academic scholarship.
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Academic scholarship.
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Did you play any sports at Iowa?
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I I uh wound up actually playing Ultimate Frisbee, which was also it was a very serious sport there.
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We really we traveled all over the country, we went to to nationals.
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It was like a legit, legit thing.
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It was like I mean, that's a D1 school, isn't it?
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Uh you know what you're doing.
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Yeah, but I mean, back then Ultimate was still a club sport.
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Yeah.
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But um, we got some funding from the university, but ultimate was was legit.
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Some of my my teammates actually went on to world win the both the nationals championship in the United States and also the world championships.
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Wow.
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Yeah, I love Ultimate Fisbee.
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Have you ever played it, Ben?
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I haven't.
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It's fucking sick, dude.
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It's like it's a combination of like American football with with with like proper football, soccer, right?
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Yeah, um, and uh, I mean, it's like it's the the dimension is pretty much a soccer field, right?
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Yep.
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And uh you just gotta and it's a little bit like basketball too.
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You can't run with the frisbee.
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Yep.
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Um I I loved it.
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I played it a little bit in college.
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I played it on an intramural team there in college too.
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But uh it's a it's a really fun sport.
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Yeah, it's a good time.
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Nice.
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Look at that.
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What else were you into uh growing up?
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Uh was just sports in school, was that your whole life?
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Pretty much.
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What was uh what did you have a job in high school or any early jobs that you were?
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Oh, yeah.
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What was your first job?
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My first job.
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Well, being from Minnesota, you probably know what detasseling is.
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Detassling corn.
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On the corn, yeah.
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So uh I think it was 12 years old was my first job, probably making like two or three bucks an hour.
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This is a just ripping this the this this is a terrible job.
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I bet that you would you would wake up at like four, go on a bus to the fields, and you walk through the fields and remove the tassels from the corn.
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You'd work all day in the sun and like I said, maybe make two or three bucks an hour.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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And why what made you do that?
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You just wanted your own money or oh yeah.
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I grew up with uh with a single mom, so we didn't have a lot, so I had to kind of fend for myself.
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And then uh working at the local grocery store, of course, all through high school.
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Nice.
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What did your mom do for a living?
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My mother worked at uh the local hospital.
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Okay, yeah, and she she's a single mom raising two kids.
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Yeah, yeah.
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What was your sister like?
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Uh, she's five years older than me.
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Um, I think she was just trying to kind of figure it out as well.
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She could student as well?
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No.
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No, that's more our lane.
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Yeah, we should have her on the podcast.
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Yeah.
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And those winters are brutal.
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What did you guys do in the winter for fun?
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Because we did a lot of dumb shit.
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Donuts in parking lots with your rear-wheel drive vehicle in your high school parking lot.
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No one can whip a car better than a Midwest.
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You know what's funny?
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It winds up teaching you how to drive so so well in clement weather, you know.
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Yeah, whenever I'm with people and it's like snowing, everyone's freaking out.
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Yeah, I'm just you want to see something sweet.
00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:36.080
Yeah.
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:38.559
Were you in uh the tornado alley over there too?
00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.480
You get a lot of tornadoes, sure.
00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.279
Yeah, you see any cool you come over up close to any tornadoes.
00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:48.159
It took out the middle school um when I was uh when I was in elementary school.
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:48.639
Shit.
00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:49.360
Yeah, it's real.
00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.519
It's it's I think they're way scarier than hurricanes.
00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:52.960
Fuck yeah, way scarier.
00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:56.720
You just they they come up whenever, like carricanes you can prepare.
00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:02.080
You get a little bit of notice, like you'll feel like the humidity and the temperature drop like that.
00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:08.240
The sky will turn green, and then you the sirens come on, you know it's time to ride your bicycle home and go to the basement.
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:15.279
We used to watch uh Twister just to scare ourselves whenever there was a storm, just to just just to get in the vibe.
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:16.720
That's funny.
00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:17.600
Uh shit.
00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:18.399
Hell yeah.
00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.639
So what what was your town like?
00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:23.600
I mean, it you said it was like 15,000 people.
00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:24.000
Yeah.
00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.799
Um, did you live like near a main street?
00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.480
Um, did you live in the burbs?
00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.919
No, no, there's no burbs.
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:30.240
Yeah.
00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:34.799
There's like uh it's a small town, and then you blink, and then you're in cornfields.
00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:38.639
Yeah, so you guys lived kind of near the street-ish area.
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:39.120
Yeah.
00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.360
We literally had a you're exactly right, a main street.
00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:42.320
It's called First Avenue.
00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:45.120
And you could kind of walk everywhere from there and bike.
00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:46.559
It's a little bit bigger than that.
00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:51.679
I mean, you'd wait till you're 16 and had a car and and you'd go cruising.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.000
Yeah.
00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.120
You know, scooping the loop.
00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:54.240
Maybe go to Target.
00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.279
We didn't have a Target.
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:55.679
Oh wow.
00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:56.399
We had a Walmart.
00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:56.879
There you go.
00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:57.679
Maybe go to Walmart?
00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:58.240
That was a big deal.
00:10:58.320 --> 00:10:59.039
Yeah, a big deal.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:01.120
To go to the Walmart.
00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:01.519
Yeah.
00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:04.000
What was the first time you left the town?
00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.679
Like to go to a big city.
00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:06.720
Oh man.
00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:08.799
We didn't we didn't travel when I was a kid.
00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:14.960
Um, my first time on an airplane was when I was 18, and my second time was studying abroad in Australia.
00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:16.399
So yeah.
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.960
18, where'd you go on your airplane the first time?
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:25.200
I went to um Lake Tahoe with my high school girlfriend's uh family.
00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:25.759
Nice.
00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.360
That's an epic getaway for uh first time on an airplane.
00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:29.919
That's right.
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:30.240
Yeah.
00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:31.840
And the second time was to Australia.
00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:32.240
Yeah.
00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:33.440
Great destinations.
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.240
I know.
00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:35.279
Dang.
00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:49.039
Studying abroad was probably one of the best things I could have I could have ever done because it got me out of my comfort zone, saw a bit of the world, start to rely on yourself and gain confidence, and came back to Iowa and said, Yeah, it's time to leave.
00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.120
So you you studied, you went to Iowa.
00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:52.639
What did you study undergrad?
00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.639
I was I thought I wanted to be a physician, so I was I was pre-med.
00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:57.360
Okay.
00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.519
And then you tapped out after how many years?
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:06.480
I was there uh two and a half years, and then I wound up, I eventually transferred to Boston College.
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:07.440
Okay.
00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:11.440
And then what what what what what motivated you to go to Boston College?
00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:13.279
Good question.
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:17.039
Um I wanted to go to a private school.
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:21.840
I realized that I had probably sold myself short coming out of high school.
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.320
Like, you know, these schools, they need people from everywhere, including from Iowa and Minnesota, et cetera.
00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:33.759
And the competition, you know, like there'll be like 50 kids from Connecticut applying, but there might be like one person from Iowa.
00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.399
So um yeah.
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:38.720
Um BC was a great school.
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:40.639
Did you get a scholarship to BC too?
00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:48.399
BC only as far as I know, they don't do uh they don't do academic scholarships except for presidential scholars.
00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:48.799
So no.
00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:51.120
So you were paying full boat yourself.
00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:52.240
Full bowl myself.
00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:52.559
Yeah.
00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:59.519
And I waited tables to I worked at high-end restaurants um all through college and thereafter.
00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:00.399
Gotcha.
00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:01.840
In in in Boston.
00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:02.720
In Boston, yeah.
00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:08.159
So you kind of paid your way through college waiting tables.
00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:09.519
I love it.
00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.279
Cost a lot of money to go to Boston College.
00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.679
Yeah, Boston College is an expensive school, dude.
00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:14.559
Yeah, it was back then.
00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:16.240
Did you did you leave with that there?
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:17.120
Of course.
00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:17.840
Yeah, right.
00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.279
Took me a long time to pay it off.
00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.480
What were what were you studying once once you went to Boston?
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:23.360
You you're not pre-mediction.
00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.720
Yeah, so I so I wound up um graduating from BC.
00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:32.159
I still uh I was pre-med psych and didn't know what I wanted to do with myself because I didn't want to be a physician.
00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:38.240
And then I wound up uh uh taking three years and I wrote a screenplay thinking I want to be a filmmaker.
00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:39.519
What was it about?
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:41.919
Uh a lot of it was autobiographical.
00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:42.559
That's cool.
00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:42.960
Yeah.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.720
I always thought it'd be so cool to be a writer, but then I'm like, I got what the fuck to write about.
00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:48.720
That's a great place to start.
00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:52.000
So you wrote a you wrote a screenplay about your life?
00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.159
About a uh a chunk of my life, yeah.
00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:54.399
Yeah.
00:13:54.799 --> 00:14:02.879
After uh after um Boston College, I I went on a road trip and my truck broke down in the middle of nowhere.
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.399
Where where was this road trip to?
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:08.000
And where was it was it was cross country from Boston all the way up.
00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:14.720
I was gonna go up to to uh to Vancouver, and I got I got all the way to Wyoming and my truck broke down.
00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:16.000
Kind of truck were you driving?
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:17.120
It's a tough place to break down.
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.480
A 1985 Jeep Cherokee Two-door.
00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:21.279
Oh, okay.
00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:22.559
Oh yeah, that's nice.
00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:23.120
Yeah.
00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:24.639
So Jeeps actually worked.
00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:25.919
That's a collector today.
00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:26.720
That's right.
00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:32.559
And I wound up uh to be honest, I wound up um living and working in on this ranch in in Wyoming.
00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:40.399
And uh and then when I decided to leave to go back to um so your car broke down in Wyoming, you ended up staying on at this ranch there?
00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.159
Yeah, like destiny, huh?
00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:43.120
Yeah, that was wild.
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.440
So you were you how long did you work on this ranch for?
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:46.639
Maybe like three months.
00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:47.039
Yeah.
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.320
That's like everyone's dream now.
00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.240
Now that Yellowstone came out, everyone wants a piece of that.
00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.279
That's exactly right.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:57.120
I learned how to properly ride a horse, like English style, and it was uh it was really interesting.
00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.519
But that's actually now what the screenplay about is about this.
00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:06.879
The screenplay, um my grandfather was was was dying uh back in Iowa, and I wanted to race back to try to see him.
00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.960
Um, so I started to drive back, and you can't make this up.
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.480
That vehicle also broke down and I I had to start hitchhiking.
00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:21.120
And um uh the only person that would pick me up was this old cowboy.
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.320
And um this is what the screenplay is about, by the way.
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:29.840
Um he asked me to buy him a six-pack of beer in order in exchange for driving me.
00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:33.840
And when I shook his hand, I realized he was missing a finger.
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:38.399
And then when I handed him a beer, I realized he was missing two other fingers.
00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:47.039
And so the name of the screenplay is Seven Fingers, and it's the story of my character and the seven-fingered cowboy traveling across the state.
00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:47.679
That's sick.
00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:48.399
Oh, that's cool.
00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.399
Yeah, it's a great premise, yeah.
00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.799
Yeah, so what happened with the screenplay?
00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:00.080
So the the specific restaurant that I worked at in Boston um was like it was the the it restaurant back then.
00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.440
This is like in the early 2000s.
00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:02.639
What was the name of the restaurant?
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:03.440
Mistraw.
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:05.120
It's still there.
00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:11.360
It I mean, I never made less than six figures as a as a server, working like three to four days a week.
00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:11.840
Wow.
00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:12.159
Yeah.
00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:12.799
It was great.
00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:14.080
I was the you were a server.
00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.080
I was the youngest server ever hired there.
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.240
Again, this was in the early 2000s.
00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:25.519
And I worked there because I would make good money, but also because like any producers that were in town would would roll through there.
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:27.360
Isn't that like a theatric name, Mistral?
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:33.279
Isn't that like Mistral actually is a French name and it refers to the wind that blows out of the north of Africa?
00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:34.559
Maybe I think of Minstrel.
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:35.840
Yeah.
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:36.159
Okay.
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:36.639
Yeah.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:43.519
And uh anyway, I met a producer who offered to option my script, and then I realized I didn't want to sell it.
00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:48.559
And at that time, um, the digital film reserve uh revolution had just started, right?
00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:53.440
So the the cost to produce a film went down drastically, and I was like, all right, I don't want to sell this.
00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:59.200
Um, but I need to figure out something to do in order to make money to hopefully make my film someday.
00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:09.759
And then that's when I realized that producing a film and developing real estate are are similar products, but but different uh sorry, similar processes, but just different products.
00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.240
Meaning you have an idea for something, you raise money around it, you build a team around it, you build it, and then you sell it.
00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:23.599
And um that was the BS that I spun to get into grad school at Columbia because I had no real estate experience.
00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.200
Those are two big jumps, though.
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.839
How do you go from psych to making a movie to real estate?
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.000
Like those two jumps are sure.
00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:38.160
Like how do you get how do you go deviate so far from psych to movie making and then so I left I left out a big chunk.
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:46.079
So when I when I quit the University of Iowa, um what had actually happened was that was when Abercrombie and Fitch was huge, and they were scouring the Midwest.
00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:48.240
Uh and like early 2000s, yeah.
00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:49.920
Yeah, late 90s for me.
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:54.720
Okay, and a modeling scout, modeling and acting scout saw me at the University of Iowa, invited me to New York City.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.119
Now I know why Ben's got a little man crush on his hand.
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.400
So uh they actually brought me to New York City.
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.000
I started acting and modeling.
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:07.279
Um, but I realized it was it was not for me, but I was intrigued by filmmaking.
00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:11.440
And and so being in front of the camera was actually a means to an end to get behind the camera.
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:19.599
And so when I was at BC, I I kept on modeling and acting and um and then waiting tables, and that's really ultimately how I got through it all.
00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:24.000
Um uh so it wasn't such a uh a huge jump, yeah.
00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:25.759
Because you're already kind of in there, yeah.
00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:26.559
That's funny.
00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.319
I went to art school for photography too.
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:28.880
Oh, cool.
00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:29.200
Yeah.
00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:29.839
Where?
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.920
Uh Columbia College in Chicago and then art center in uh Pasadena.
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:34.640
Nice.
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.759
So similar Midwestern boys trying to be artists.
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:38.480
That's right.
00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:40.880
And then I realized that uh and then real estate.
00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:41.359
That's right.
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.839
The the risk involved with a film is far different than the risk involved with with real estate.
00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.079
What piqued your interest with real estate?
00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:58.880
You know, like um when I moved to New York City and kind of starting to get to know started to get to know neighborhoods and how cities changed and evolved and and the And I'm sorry, you moved to New York City.
00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.039
This is after college?
00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:01.759
No.
00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:07.519
So when I when I dropped out of the University of Iowa, okay, I left there to move to New York City.
00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.880
And that was in between um Iowa and Boston College.
00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:12.240
You were there for how long in New York?
00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:13.359
About a year.
00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:21.279
And that's when you were doing the modeling and then I just took my modeling portfolio, took it up to Boston, and I just kept on doing it.
00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.759
It was the best part-time job ever when you're a college kid.
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:24.160
Yeah.
00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:27.519
Um but real estate, he interrupted you.
00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.599
You're talking about when you moved to New York, seeing the neighborhoods.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:35.519
Yeah, and I, you know, I I wound up living in a handful of different cities, and I st I really fell in love with the built environment.
00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:41.119
And the idea of being able to to affect that built, built environment um kind of changed me.
00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:50.319
And um I love the idea of of being able to have an effect on and shape the neighborhood that that you're in or the environment that you're in.
00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:54.960
You still feel that today, or has the bureaucracy hasn't beaten it out of you yet?
00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:06.240
No, I mean, obviously, like with Little River, that was uh, you know, that's a dream project, like a once-in-a-career lifetime kind of thing, where you can actually really truly affect change.
00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:15.119
Um we tend to like to work on projects like that where we can actually make a make a dent, but we really care a lot about the process as well.
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:24.880
We care a lot about like really thinking through what is right for the neighborhood, what is the right group, what is the right tenant, what is the right feel, what is the right fit, what is the right look.
00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:27.839
Um yeah, it still drives me today.
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:28.720
Interesting.
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:30.000
That's awesome.
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.039
So, what neighborhood do you live in New York?
00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:35.279
I couch surfed.
00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:36.559
Yeah, for a year.
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:37.599
For a year, yeah.
00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:38.400
Holy shit.
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:39.279
It was tough.
00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:43.279
Unlike friends, girlfriends, whatever we talk here.
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:44.079
Friends.
00:20:44.160 --> 00:21:00.319
I I found out that I had a distant Swedish relative who then set me up and I'd stay at this friend's house for a month, or that friend's house for a month, or that person will be traveling, or it you know, the life of a broke model is is not a glamorous one, that's for sure.
00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:06.799
You know, you're you're you're broke all day and then you get invited to parties at night, and you you're not supposed to eat the food of cocktail parties.
00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.480
No, that's how we would feed ourselves.
00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:09.039
Yeah.
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:14.240
So were you uh were you kind of in a party scene there, or not really?
00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:14.640
No.
00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:15.519
No, not really.
00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.119
I mean, you'd go to like nightclubs now and again, but not really.
00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:21.359
And what year was this that you were living in New York?
00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:26.240
Man, that was uh 1997, 1998.
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:26.720
Okay.
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:28.640
That's a sick era to be in New York.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:29.920
It is a sick era to be in New York.
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:30.799
It was a fun time.
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:31.200
Yeah.
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:32.880
I mean, I cut my teeth.
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:40.000
Like moving to New York City, not having anybody, not knowing anybody, it gives you a lot of confidence that you can be like, hey, you know what?
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.559
I can move anywhere and kind of start from scratch.
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:43.200
100%.
00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:44.000
100%.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.200
Especially back then, there was no no Google, no nothing.
00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:49.759
You were just out there in the world, yeah, making it happen.
00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:50.319
Yep.
00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:54.400
So when did the Australia thing come about and how did that come about?
00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.640
So that was when I was still at the University of Iowa.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:57.599
Oh, it was, okay.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:57.920
Yeah.
00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.119
And that, you know, coming back.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:21:59.519
Okay.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.640
Coming back from there, I was like, and then looking for a sign, and the modeling scout saw us, and I was like, All right, that's the sign, time to get out.
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.480
How long were you in Australia?
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:09.599
Nine months.
00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:10.559
Oh, that's a long time.
00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:11.599
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:11.920
Yeah.
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.720
And I'm sorry, how did you get discovered as a model again?
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.359
Modeling scouts would would scour the Midwest and go to college campuses.
00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:20.480
And what they would like.
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:23.920
And they just stop you and say, hey, hey, do you want to try this out?
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:24.480
Or yeah.
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:26.559
No one's ever stopped me.
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.759
I was in better shape back then.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:30.880
How is that possible?
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:31.599
I don't know.
00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:32.079
I don't get it.
00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:33.440
I'm kind of tall.
00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:38.240
I was also 50 pounds heavier back then.
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:38.880
Maybe that was it.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:40.240
I was in much better shape back then.
00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:41.200
Yeah, that's for sure.
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.599
All that football working out, I'm sure.
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:44.240
Yeah.
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.839
So then so you start getting into real estate after you wrote your screenplay.
00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.319
What's uh what's the move towards real estate?
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.960
Well, like what did you do to start getting into it?
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:55.759
So um I had some friends in Denver at the time.
00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.839
Um I moved out to be with them and they were like fixing flipping houses.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.640
And um Great City, by the way, Denver.
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.200
Great city.
00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:04.000
I love Denver.
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:05.279
Great city.
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:11.519
Um but I I kind of got uh uh screwed on a deal, and I was like, you know what?
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.200
I think I need to go back to grad school to really like learn more and like dive into the industry.
00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.119
You got screwed on a deal flipping a house.
00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.359
No, it was with some people that I was working for.
00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.400
I had a a small renovation company, so I'd do all the work.
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:22.960
Gotcha.
00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.200
And then I got screwed on payment, and I was like, you know what?
00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:26.960
I think I want to be more on the principal side.
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.640
That's when I went back to Columbia.
00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:40.240
And you know, when you evaluate that kind of going to grad school or going to a job, um, you know, going to a school at Columbia is basically like replacing like some you know mid-20-year-old job for me.
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.559
And um, it was a great program and kind of got me in the door.
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:49.119
So you're you're working in Denver, you're like, let me let me go back to graduate school.
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:49.680
Yep.
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.319
Um, no scholarship at Columbia.
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:54.160
No, also very expensive.
00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:57.359
Are you making any money at uh in Denver?
00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:57.839
No.
00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:59.599
How many years did you live in Denver for?
00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:00.720
Two two years?
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:01.279
Yeah.
00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:02.000
All right.
00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.640
So you're like, all right, let me go, let me get more in dad.
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:05.599
Let's go that yeah.
00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:06.880
Let's go.
00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:07.359
Yep.
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.759
Now let's go to the most expensive school in the country and the most expensive city in the United States.
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:12.400
All right.
00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:12.799
Yeah.
00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:14.559
And so you were there for two years?
00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:21.039
The Columbia MS Red program uh back then was uh three full semesters, so it's back basically a a full year.
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:21.599
Okay.
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:24.079
Um, we didn't ask you this question.
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.119
Uh, what were your favorite subjects in high school?
00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:28.079
Calculus.
00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:28.720
Calculus.
00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:29.200
Oh shit.
00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:30.400
Calculus and physics.
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:30.640
Yeah.
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:31.839
Wow.
00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:32.640
Dang dude.
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:33.200
We're out.
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:34.000
Yeah.
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:35.759
So out.
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:38.799
Physics is cool, but I'm like a I'm like a passive.
00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:40.480
I was in physics for like three weeks.
00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:42.079
I'm like, I have no idea what these fuckers are saying.
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:42.960
Well, they don't know either.
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:44.480
That's the beauty of physics.
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:46.480
Philippe, remind me where'd you grow up?
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.599
I grew up in uh just outside New York City in Westchester County.
00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:50.319
Okay, got it.
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:51.119
Rybrook.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:51.680
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:52.079
Yeah.
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:52.799
Cool.
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.160
So I uh I can appreciate New York City too.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:04.079
I was in that, you know, I was in high school from from 88 to 92, and then college, so 92, 96.
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:07.839
So I was always bouncing back and forth between Syracuse and New York.
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:08.319
Sure.
00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.000
So uh those were some good days, good times in New York.
00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:12.799
Yeah.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:16.000
I remember I'm trying to remember what what the nightclubs were.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.480
Like some of the nightclubs were were fun.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:19.599
Tunnel.
00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:20.640
I remember tunnel.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:22.160
I didn't go to it, but I remember it.
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:22.559
Yeah.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.079
Um the Limelight.
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:25.359
I remember Limelight.
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:26.000
Yeah.
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.359
Uh those are the ones that those are the big ones I went to.
00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:33.839
Um, there were there were a handful of other ones too, I can't remember, but those were the two big ones I would go to.
00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:34.559
Sure.
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:43.839
Um, so you go to so you basically go to Columbia with not very much real estate experience.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:44.720
Little to none.
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.119
Yeah.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.559
I imagine you had some pretty good grades through college.
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:48.880
Yeah.
00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:57.359
And uh and then you go to Columbia real estate school.
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:02.480
You you've basically been renovating homes as your the extent of of your real estate knowledge, right?
00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:02.720
Yeah.
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:13.279
Um and there's probably people that have more experience, probably people uh don't have as much experience as you or similar experience as you.
00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.599
Um what what starts happening at Columbia?
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:21.759
You know, real estate development is a very difficult thing to teach.
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.599
What I've I think what I've learned is that you know, you really learn on the job.
00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:27.279
Um, I didn't realize it at the time.
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:29.039
Now looking back on it, I realize it.
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:36.079
And, you know, I think learning how to underwrite was probably the main thing that I took away from from grad school.
00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:41.839
And then kind of realizing that development is is mainly like, you know, you're problem solving.
00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:42.559
Thank you.
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:47.680
Uh you're problem solving all the time and you're making it up on the job, on the f on on the fly.
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:51.839
Um that's what I really kind of gathered.
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:54.400
But remember, I was didn't have a lot of money when I was there either.
00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:56.960
And you know, grad school is so much about socializing.
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:00.000
And so I mean, you start making some incredible connections there, right?
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:00.400
Definitely.
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:02.640
And I mean that's what it opens doors at the end of the day.
00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:05.039
I mean, that's why you end up going to schools like Columbia.
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:05.519
That's right.
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:06.960
You're really buying a network at the end.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:07.759
You're buying a network.
00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:08.480
I agree 100%.
00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:14.160
Like the education, like you can pretty much get a similar the fundamentals you're gonna learn in whatever school.
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.160
You can probably go online and learn a lot of that shit.
00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:19.359
But you know, today, uh, it's the connections.
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:20.079
That's right.
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:32.160
So um, but there there's gotta be some you're you're taking courses and like what what other interesting what what were interesting courses in the Columbia program for you?
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.279
Was there like an urbanism program?
00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:42.240
Uh you know, we did real estate law, real estate finance, um, construction management.
00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:44.000
Is there an entrepreneurship program?
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:44.640
Not really.
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:45.039
No.
00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:47.920
I mean, listen, the program has evolved quite a bit.
00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:54.559
I mean, we're going back now to uh 2000 2006, 2007, or so 20 years ago now.
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:56.960
Because the program started in like 2000 or something like that, didn't it?
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:01.200
In the I think in the I think in the late 80s actually.
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:02.079
Is that when it started?
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:05.119
Yeah, it's one of the schools that's one of the oldest, yeah.
00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:05.359
Yeah.
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:11.839
Now there, I mean, there weren't a lot of schools to apply to when I was like you've got uh University of Denver.
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:15.200
DU is actually the the oldest program by far.
00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:21.839
You got MIT, NYU, USC, Georgia, I don't remember all the funds.
00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.160
Yeah, and like I said, it's a difficult thing to teach.
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:41.359
And like and and like you said, you're basically buying a network, and I decided to do it in New York City, thinking that you know, if you if you can learn it in New York City, where it's just like cutthroat, then hopefully that trains you to set you up for like Miami or somewhere else.
00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:42.240
Yeah.
00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.920
So what happens after graduate school?
00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:57.440
So I got recruited out of Colombia to uh by a Columbia alum to move down here to Miami to open uh open a new shop down here for a Texas-based developer.
00:28:57.680 --> 00:28:58.480
I'm sorry, Texas?
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.240
A Texas-based developer.
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.000
So do you guys remember Tramel Crow?
00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:03.039
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:14.880
So um uh when Trammel Crow blew up, um two of the guy, two of the five guys that kind of ran the country started a new company called Simmons Veter Partners, and they had just opened a Miami shop.
00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:17.200
Um, a guy by the name of Justin Toll.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:20.000
Uh he opened it and then he he hired me.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.480
And and then um, of course, I had perfect timing, right?
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:27.680
This is 2007, right before the great financial crisis.
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:31.759
And so, like all real estate developers, we became distressed investors.
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:35.680
And um I'm sure you guys have heard these stories a million times.
00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:46.640
Like so many people were expecting another RTC crisis and expecting, you know, real estate to be trading for like pennies on the dollar, and they're passing on like deals that like 50 cents on the dollar.
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:50.799
And now a lot of the people that actually did those transactions did quite well.
00:29:51.279 --> 00:30:02.640
Um but uh when you're partnered with with big funds, you know, they're looking for 20 unlevered IRRs on you know short-term holds, and it's it was it was tough.
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:04.640
So we didn't we didn't really get much done.
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:08.240
And then Justin and I were hired by 15 Group.
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:09.839
I don't know if you guys know what the 15 groups are.
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:14.400
They're like a they're like a ghost, I feel like, in uh in the Miami real estate scene.
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:20.960
Yeah, you know, Mark and Ian um um very, very intelligent people with great timing.
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:23.039
They had um They're based out of where?
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:23.759
Here in Miami.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:25.119
15's based out of Miami.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:25.680
Yeah.
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:49.359
And they had um they had bought up um a ton of uh of apartments all across the country and they ramped up to like 19,000 units and then sold the majority of that portfolio as as far as I know um to condo converters during the condo conversion craves and made a lot of money and then hired me and Justin to really kind of spearhead their their company and start doing more deals.
00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:51.920
And we did some really great deals.
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.839
Um so then we've you know, this is post-financial crisis.
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:58.000
We bought, you know, broken projects.
00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:04.640
So in Edgewater, you know, what is now Padaiso Bay, you know, that was that was our first major deal.
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:09.200
We bought that for like 9 million and flipped it for 25 to related.
00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:13.119
And then two blocks south of that, that was the old platinum deal.
00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:18.000
Bought like 15 broken condos and the phase two site, and then flipped that.
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:19.680
That's now Biscayne Beach.
00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:21.920
And these deals like did exceptionally well.
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.079
Did some deals in the design district.
00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:27.839
Yeah, I assembled the uh what was it called?
00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:29.440
Was it Westcare?
00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:30.960
The drug you remember?
00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:32.000
Oh, yeah.
00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:33.119
I remember him.
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:35.119
So I I I asked Matthew Gisson.
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.480
Yeah, Matthew Gisson, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:37.200
Matthew Gidson.
00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:40.480
Um I was one of the brokers that put all those houses together.
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:49.039
So so for that deal, so for for the for Paddy Sobaye, I had assembled like 25 different properties and had to go door to door anonymously.
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:51.680
It was rough, it was a rough go.
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:52.160
Yeah.
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:57.920
Um, but I think that's probably really where I cut my teeth on the assemblage side of things.
00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.359
And uh, you know, over there.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:01.920
Why do you say that's where you cut your teeth on the assemblage?
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:03.759
Like what what was it about that?
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:14.799
Because trying to like trying to stay low key when you're going door to door, trying to purchase properties that are not listed for sale while also not overpaying for them.
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:20.160
And these are mostly like those are single family family, single families, all single family, all really sketchy.
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:22.319
You were literally, I mean, it was like super sketchy.
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:24.559
We were like knocking, literally knocking doors.
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:27.599
And there were owners that were owner.
00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:28.960
Do you remember suspect of me?
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:30.960
Do you remember Porfidio Garcias?
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:32.160
He was my favorite holdout.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:32.880
He had the corner.
00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:33.599
I remember that.
00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:39.279
He lived with like the ducks, he had his door open, those bay ducks would water waddle, waddle into his house.
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:44.160
He'd always bike around the block with no shirt on, slamming like big the big cans of beer.
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:46.640
Yeah, like the canned 40s.
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:47.680
Legend.
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.480
He got like 800 grand for his shitbox house.
00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:52.640
Yeah, those people made a lot of money.
00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:54.319
Uh yeah, that's funny.
00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:59.279
And didn't 15 group buy the um that big church building on Biscayne in like 700.
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:00.960
Yeah, I think that was that was after my time there.
00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:01.359
Oh, okay.
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.240
After it already left.
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:02.400
Yeah.
00:33:02.559 --> 00:33:05.599
It's a sick building, but yeah, it's probably impossible to develop.
00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:06.880
I don't know much about it.
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:07.440
Interesting.
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:08.480
But beautiful building, yeah.
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:09.359
What a run.
00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:11.680
So what what happened after uh 15 group?
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:17.119
So when I left 15 Group, I just I had just met Ashley, who is my wife and my business partner.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:18.559
All right, let's back that up a little bit.
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:21.359
So uh what year is 15 Group?
00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:25.920
When you leave 15 Group, I think at the end of 2012.
00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:26.559
Okay.
00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:27.599
Early 2013.
00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:29.279
And you meet your wife where?
00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:31.599
Down here.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:33.279
We I had struck out.
00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:40.880
Um, I'd always wanted to be in a relationship and wanted to start a family, and I just wasn't really finding the right woman.
00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:42.880
And uh classic Midwestern guy problems.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:44.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:52.720
And um I think that you know, when I first moved down here and I was on the beach, I kind of thought Miami was Miami Beach, and of course it's not.
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:58.240
And there's a whole nother, you know, uh portion of the city that is very different.
00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:05.839
And um anyway, um, I got introduced to my wife through uh uh a mutual friend uh Nina Johnson.
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:09.840
If you guys know Nina Johnson, she was one of the the gallerists, early gallerists in in Wynwood.
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:10.320
Oh, cool.
00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:10.639
Oh, yeah.
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:15.760
And now she's up in uh uh like on 63rd Street or so.
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:19.519
But um she uh she introduced us.
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:20.239
That's awesome.
00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:24.159
And then we were we were married uh a year to the date of of of of meeting.
00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:25.280
Wow, dude.
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:26.960
Yeah, pull the trigger quickly.
00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:27.840
I was older.
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:29.039
Is there a lot of pressure involved?
00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:31.920
No, no, no, you know not at all.
00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:34.079
I was just older and kind of knew what I wanted.
00:34:34.159 --> 00:34:35.519
So yeah, I got it.
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:37.760
But Ashley's Ashley is super interesting.
00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:45.519
Um she has a a business degree from one of the top design schools in the country, Parsons School of Design.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.679
And so um That's in New York, right?
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.800
Yeah, and she was she was actually commuting back and forth between Brooklyn and and Miami when we met.
00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:59.360
And um, I mean, we'll talk more about it, but but she's an amazing partner and she's like a business minded creative.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:01.599
And I kind of those are rare things.
00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:04.559
Business mind creatives are that's like an oxymoron.
00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:05.920
I know 100%.
00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:09.679
Yeah.
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:18.239
And you know, there's a design element to to everything that we do, and and she she is really the the heart and soul of of that for our company.
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:19.199
That's awesome.
00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:21.599
So you you left 15 group and then got married?
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:22.159
Is that what you said?
00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:28.719
Left 15 group had just started dating Ashley, and then um, and then we decided to start MBW partners.
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:32.239
Did you have a plan when you left, or you were just like, I just need to do something else?
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:32.880
No.
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:36.480
Um I didn't have a plan, didn't have any idea what we were gonna do.
00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:42.800
We considered moving back to New York, but we decided to uh to stay in the city to be closer to her family.
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:47.119
Her family's been here for like many, many generations, I think like five or six generations.
00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:47.920
Oh wow, okay.
00:35:48.159 --> 00:35:50.239
She's like OG, Miami people.
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:57.599
And um we got married, bought a house, and started Little River all in the same in the same month.
00:35:57.920 --> 00:35:59.119
You guys bought the house on the shores?
00:35:59.199 --> 00:35:59.440
Yeah.
00:35:59.599 --> 00:35:59.760
Okay.
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:00.960
Wow, that's a busy month.
00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:02.079
Yeah, that was a busy month.
00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:04.880
So you got married in 2013, 2014?
00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:06.159
I should know this.
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:07.199
You should.
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.960
God, I hope it won't sound like I just I think it was 2014.
00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:13.199
We're gonna have to edit, we're gonna have to edit this out, aren't we?
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:14.400
I think we are.
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:16.400
2013, 2014.
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:17.280
I think it was 2014.
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:17.920
Yeah, all right.
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:18.239
Yeah.
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:21.519
Um, my show was 2014.
00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:21.920
Yeah.
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:22.400
All right.
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:23.920
Well, probably a great time to buy there.
00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:25.119
It was a great time to buy.
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:29.199
It was right before people started really catching on to how great a community it is.
00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:31.920
We originally wanted to go into to Morningside.
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:39.679
Um, we live we we live historic home uh architecture and historic homes, and we were actually under contract on a home in Morningside.
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:43.519
And then our brokers were like, we really think you should check out Miami Shores.
00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:50.559
And I mean, you guys know it's such a great community, and it's easy to get to the interstate, it's like the northernmost edge of the city.
00:36:50.719 --> 00:37:00.000
So you're you still feel like you're you know in the city or part of the city or can be, um, but you get the beauty of a single family home and decent law size.
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:00.480
Yeah.
00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:02.320
No, it's it's one of the best neighborhoods.
00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:03.360
Like yeah.
00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:04.400
I agree.
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:05.360
I live there, yeah.
00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:06.079
It's fucking great.
00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:18.079
I used to live in Belmade and uh sure and uh you know the houses there are pretty small, so yeah, especially during COVID, a 1400 square square foot home is uh it's a little tight.
00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:20.480
Yeah, you start to realize how small it is.
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:24.239
So we started looking at the shores, but uh yeah, it's a great neighborhood.
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:25.119
You you have kids?
00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:26.159
We have one daughter.
00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:26.639
Okay.
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:28.000
How old?
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:30.320
Uh she is seven and a half.
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:30.639
All right.
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:31.840
As she would remind you.
00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:33.039
Yeah, and a half.
00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:36.320
Yeah, yeah, you can't fuck that up now, especially at that age.
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:37.599
I have a seven-year-old daughter too.
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:38.239
Oh, awesome.
00:37:38.400 --> 00:37:38.800
Yeah.
00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:40.320
Not quite half yet, though.
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:41.760
Just turned seven in May.
00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:42.480
Got it.
00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:47.840
So when you guys started uh your company, uh, what was kind of the goal?
00:37:47.920 --> 00:37:48.639
What was the angle?
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:54.719
Yeah, so um, I mean, as you guys know, um, there's not a lot in downtown Miami Shores.
00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:59.760
At that time, all of Miami Shores was still on septic tank systems.
00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:05.039
And consequently, you can't really get good restaurants or bars or coffee shops or whatever.
00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:09.519
And so instead of just complaining about it, we decided to do something about it.
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:16.480
And at that time, as you guys know, Winwood was was well on its way, but it wasn't really for us.
00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:23.119
Design District was obviously you know spectacular, but effectively a luxury outdoor mall.
00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:24.800
Um, it's grown so much more.
00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:34.800
But again, we wanted like to create some sort of neighborhood that was accessible to our place in Miami Shores with the right restaurants and bars and coffee shops and all the businesses that we kind of wanted.
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:42.320
But hold hold on a second, you're going back to your better half here, like what where did her interest in real estate come from?
00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:54.000
So she actually uh when we met, she was working um with her family office, and they were actually building out uh a private uh airport terminal at Opalaka.
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:59.440
And so they built um was what used to be called uh Orion Jet Center.
00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:10.159
So she would she would basically create the mood board, the vision board, and then interview, hire, and then manage all the creative professionals for that.
00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:12.400
That was a very large real estate project.
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:20.639
And uh it was just a natural fit for her uh to come and work with me on on Little River.
00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:21.599
And so that was your goal.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:25.119
You guys were gonna start a company and we're gonna go after assets in Little River.
00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:29.840
We were looking for the right project, and then a Little River opportunity came up.
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:39.519
You know, like I said, we wanted to kind of find somewhere nearby where we could kind of assemble critical mass and and and do our own thing and and create the neighborhood that we really wanted to spend time in.
00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:45.840
So the idea, the the idea was just to go buy as much as you could in the area and kind of re-innovate and reprogram?
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:48.960
We were um we had a partner back then.
00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:53.360
Um I know you guys know Aver Jane.
00:39:53.840 --> 00:40:13.199
And we were partners with Avra, and we had um we'd uh tied up Steve Rhodes' old portfolio, which was like five buildings, and we started walking the neighborhood in the neighborhood, just it felt like a neighborhood, like short wide streets, buildings like built right up to the zero lot line, and it felt like a movie set to me, to be quite frank.
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:14.480
Where were the five buildings?
00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:17.199
Were the five buildings, Steve Rhodes buildings close to each other?
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:17.760
Oh yeah.
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:26.880
Where Sonny's is now, where uh Legacy Fit is sure right now, right next door to that, where the flower shop is.
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:29.119
Um it's just north of the railroad tracks.
00:40:29.280 --> 00:40:31.360
It's on north northwest Miami Cork, yeah.
00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:34.639
Uh both north and south of the railroad tracks, five buildings.
00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:34.960
Yeah.
00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:39.920
And then we started to tie up as much as we could as fast as we could.
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:43.119
Using your learnings from the Paraiso assemblage.
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:44.239
That's right.
00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:47.440
And I and tried to stay as anonymous as possible, obviously.
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:48.400
How do you do that?
00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:56.239
Like uh you know, maybe you don't want to share all your tricks of the trade, but what what are some tips to not tipping people off that you're assembling stuff?
00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:57.920
Well tall white guy walking around.
00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:01.039
First of all, make sure it's not me who's going out there.
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:03.519
Um I guess fucking gringo, watch out for this guy.
00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:04.079
He's coming.
00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:06.320
So what we did was big pockets.
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:07.360
Yeah, big pockets.
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:10.559
Little did they know, by the way.
00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:28.320
Um what what we did was um, you know, I was like a a research data nerd, and so I looked at the entire neighborhood and I said, okay, let's put together dossiers on every property owner in the neighborhood to find out as much information as as we possibly could.
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:37.599
And then we had five or six different brokerage teams, and I would send each broker out with very specific assignments, but they couldn't talk about it with anybody else.
00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:43.119
So you basically profiled the property owners and then matched them up to a different broker.
00:41:43.440 --> 00:41:52.880
To to like the least threatening broker to go knock on a door because if you're getting a knock on a door from a stranger asking to buy your property, you know, you don't want to tip them off to what we were doing.
00:41:53.119 --> 00:42:03.039
And then of course you have you know shell entities and you just keep your name off of everything and you do it as fast as you can before the neighbors can really talk and prices start to run.
00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:07.679
Yeah, you gotta use like Delaware, Nevada, or Wyoming entities where they don't show the the names.
00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:08.800
Is that what you use?
00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:10.559
I don't remember.
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:17.599
Um, we would have our attorneys be like, you know, the registered agents and just keep my name off of everything as much as possible.
00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:23.119
And anybody is your friend when you're assembling, as you all very well are aware of.
00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:35.599
And in that first year, um man, we had like 60 transactions in the first 12 to 14 months, and no one had any idea what we were doing or who we were.
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:37.920
But okay, so 60 transactions.
00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:39.199
I mean, what was the market?
00:42:39.519 --> 00:42:40.880
How much did you guys pay for those 60?
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:42.159
Oh my goodness.
00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:45.199
It I mean, prices obviously have changed quite a bit.
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:51.599
Um and what and how did you get the financing to Yeah, uh who are your partners?
00:42:51.920 --> 00:42:52.880
That's an interesting story.
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:57.280
So um during the financial crisis, you know, I was I was a real estate analyst.
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:01.360
I should probably be able to find a pretty decent deal on a rental apartment, right?
00:43:01.440 --> 00:43:10.960
And I wasn't making a ton of money, but there were all these broken condominiums all over Miami Beach, you know, where you'd have like a South American buyer that, you know, bought it for next to nothing and was leasing it out.
00:43:11.119 --> 00:43:24.480
So I actually, I think one of the best deals I ever did was I rented a uh an apartment in a uh broken condominium building, luxury broken condominium building called the the Caribbean at 37th and Collins.
00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:27.039
And I was like the third person that moved in.
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:31.360
And then all these wealthy New Yorkers started moving in and they all became my friends.
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:35.440
And um, they said, Hey, if you ever go off on your own, like let us know.
00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:36.639
We'd love to take a look at things.
00:43:36.719 --> 00:43:39.599
So when we were starting Little River, that's what I did.
00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:47.760
And I went to one neighbor and and they were interested, and they said, Hey, like, meet this person and this person and this person and fucking wealthy New Yorkers again, Ben.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:50.159
Bringing their fucking big money down here.
00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:51.039
Good.
00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:58.559
It was um, yeah, that was my first time raising money, but I found out that I was I was decent at it.
00:43:58.800 --> 00:43:59.760
But how do you sell that story?
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:01.679
Because you can't really comp out what you're doing.
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:02.000
No.
00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:05.440
You know, you can't be like, once we do this, look at these similar things, look at the comps.
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:09.519
Like were these up in New Yorkers actually getting in a car and going to check out the neighborhood?
00:44:09.920 --> 00:44:11.280
I'm a very passionate person.
00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:13.920
Um, I'd like to think I'm fairly convincing.
00:44:14.159 --> 00:44:23.920
But um listen, that I mean at the end of the day, we knew that if if our vision didn't work out, we could turn around and rent the space out as as uh storage for 10 bucks a foot or so.
00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:26.800
You get even good enough basis to where you have some optionality.
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:27.199
Yeah.
00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:30.400
So on a risk-adjusted basis, it was it was fairly safe.
00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:31.199
Yeah.
00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:33.119
I mean, that's like every good trade, right?
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:35.440
Limit your downside and shoot for the moon.
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:36.239
Yeah.
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:38.639
Yeah, we definitely shot for the moon.
00:44:38.880 --> 00:44:41.199
Well, what was the moon shot vision on this one?
00:44:42.719 --> 00:44:47.440
Well, the portfolio, I mean, it feels it feels like a neighborhood, right?
00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:52.800
And um, I think it's now it's pretty obvious to a lot of people, but it was always just right there, right?
00:44:52.880 --> 00:45:09.760
You're you're just east of the interstate, you're surrounded by all these affluent um Upper East Side neighborhoods from Bay Point, you know, Morningside, Bellmead, Bayside, El Portal, uh, Shorecrest, Miami Shores, but they really have no downtowns to speak of or to walk to.
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:12.159
And this is just right there in the middle.
00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:23.280
And with three interstate access points within five minutes of our portfolio, access is really great, you know, whether you're coming from the beach or coming from down south or coming from up north or coming from the airport.
00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:24.400
Just made a lot of sense.
00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:26.880
Well located, it's on higher ground.
00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:30.960
You know, most of the little river is between five and fifteen feet above sea level.
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:33.119
So, you know, flooding wasn't really an issue.
00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:39.199
We love the fact that the railroad tracks went right through the middle of the neighborhood, kind of reminding you that you know this is still a working city.
00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:39.519
Yeah.
00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:41.039
And I mean, you guys have been there.
00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:43.280
You that you you walk around, it feels like a neighborhood.
00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:45.360
Aver, I think I think I toured that area.
00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:46.559
Have you ever been in that pocket?
00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:46.880
Yeah.
00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:47.280
Yeah.
00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:52.559
I I think I went there probably shortly after she had bought the vagabond.
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:53.039
Okay.
00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:57.840
Um, and uh so I think it was right right after you guys had acquired it.
00:45:58.000 --> 00:45:58.239
Yeah.
00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:04.800
And I mean, you walk you walked in there, you're like, it's like you go someplace, you're like, okay, there's something different about this area, right?
00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:11.599
Like the there's there's there's a grid, there's the the way the buildings interact, yeah.
00:46:11.840 --> 00:46:21.679
You know, there there's there's there's a certain like energy there where you can feel like you have all the elements to build a cool little neighborhood there.
00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:39.039
Yeah, and so you know, there were there there on the fringe, there were some single-family homes there, but there was a there was a two to three block area that there was commercial uh real estate that was either industrial or retail, and it just needed to be curated properly, I think.
00:46:39.599 --> 00:46:43.440
I mean, listen, uh agreed, and you saw the same thing that we saw.
00:46:43.599 --> 00:46:48.239
Um, there was a lot of drugs and prostitution and crime at the same time.
00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:51.119
Um, and that was something we had to deal with.
00:46:51.360 --> 00:46:54.639
Um, but you're right, the the palette, it was there.
00:46:54.880 --> 00:46:56.239
The the bones were were there.
00:46:56.400 --> 00:46:56.800
It was great.
00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:59.119
You just had to like there weren't empty lots, right?
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:01.360
Like not a ton of vacant lots, yeah.
00:47:01.599 --> 00:47:08.000
And you know, most of these you know buildings were old old manufacturing buildings that were being used for a bunch of different things.
00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:17.760
There was a lot of illegal businesses there too, like you know, like rag shops where they're you know rag consolidators that take discarded clothing and ship them off, ship them off to the islands.
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:25.360
And um, but I think the city was also, I think, probably happy to see someone you know make some serious investments over there and start to clean it up as well.
00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:27.519
Well, it's cool to see because we don't get a lot of that in Miami.
00:47:27.599 --> 00:47:33.760
They're really creative, adaptive, reuse because most of the the buildings aren't that old and yeah, and most of the buildings that are old kind of suck.
00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:36.960
So it's kind of it's cool to see those industrial buildings get reprogrammed.
00:47:37.440 --> 00:47:42.239
We we really liked the the balance between old and new.
00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:58.079
I think you know, all too often in Miami, developers have just torn everything down, a lot of our beautiful historic buildings, and I understand it makes way for progress in some ways, but um a lot of other cities have done a much better job of keeping their beautiful historic buildings.
00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:04.320
Now, there's nothing really historic in Little River, but we still like the bones, and we thought we could make something interesting.
00:48:04.480 --> 00:48:10.000
And you know, in the future there'll be a lot more ground-up development, but I think that layering effect between old and new is going to be very interesting.
00:48:10.320 --> 00:48:10.960
It always makes it.
00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:14.480
It's like the surf club, I think, is one of those they did such a good job with that.
00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:15.039
I agree.
00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:19.440
And I mean, if it was all just the Richard Meyer white glass stuff, it'd be kind of like, yeah, whatever.
00:48:19.599 --> 00:48:19.920
That's right.
00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:22.079
When you have that contrast, it's sick.
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:22.559
Yeah.
00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:23.519
It's sick.
00:48:23.760 --> 00:48:27.679
So so did you guys achieve the goal that you were setting up to do in uh in Little River?
00:48:27.920 --> 00:48:28.800
I like to think so.
00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:31.039
I mean, it was a heavy lift.
00:48:31.199 --> 00:48:38.800
My goodness, it was a heavy lift, but you know, decade later, man, the portfolio is is quite a bit larger.
00:48:38.960 --> 00:48:45.199
Um do you guys still own there or did you sell so we re we took on a partner and recapitalized about five years ago.
00:48:45.360 --> 00:48:45.440
Okay.
00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:50.559
With uh so Avra has been a hasn't been a part of the project for a while.
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:58.159
Um Ashley and I really, really, really worked hard on bringing in the right things over time.
00:48:58.480 --> 00:49:09.039
You know, eventually we sold uh a full city block to Oolite Arts, which used to be known as uh Arts Center of South Florida, and they have a big campus planned there.
00:49:09.360 --> 00:49:22.079
And then um, you know, during the pandemic when we opened Sunny's and we had uh the Center for Subtropical Affairs, which was our outdoor music venue, um, we actually were partnering with someone to go vertical on our first uh ground up project.
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:26.800
We had also gotten the entirety of Little River designated as an opportunity zone.
00:49:27.039 --> 00:49:35.119
But if you already owned when you got the designation, um, you couldn't benefit from the program unless you recapitalized and reduced your ownership.
00:49:35.440 --> 00:49:44.719
So the combination of needing to go vertical uh and wanting to benefit from the OZ program made us say, you know, I think it's time to recapitalize.
00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:54.880
And so we brought in AJ Capital, we took everything that we had, um, sold it into a fund controlled by them, and we are the local partners and they are the majority partners.
00:49:55.199 --> 00:49:55.599
That's awesome.
00:49:55.679 --> 00:49:56.800
They seem like a really cool group.
00:49:56.960 --> 00:49:57.199
Yeah.
00:49:57.360 --> 00:49:58.639
They built some really cool shit.
00:49:58.880 --> 00:49:59.199
Yeah.
00:49:59.440 --> 00:50:06.239
They have a great eye and they've done a lot of great historic stuff all over the country and and internationally as well.
00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:13.039
And so um it was a really, you know, it was an ideal partnership uh where we could really kind of execute on our vision.
00:50:13.199 --> 00:50:21.199
Back then, interest rates were a lot lower, so money was a lot cheaper, and and you know, uh Sunny's was was just you know on fire at that time.
00:50:21.440 --> 00:50:25.119
So we were able to sign a bunch of our This is in 2021.
00:50:25.440 --> 00:50:29.280
20 uh 2020, 2021 or so, yeah, five years ago.
00:50:29.840 --> 00:50:32.800
And um, of course, you guys have seen a lot of the results.
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:40.719
So we have Sunny's and and Barbuce and Ogawa and Fuchs, La Natural, Imperial Moto.
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:42.719
We've got a handful more coming in.
00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:47.039
Wasn't there a really cool like old um Defender shop there too?
00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:49.119
Yeah, that was um I brought those guys in.
00:50:49.199 --> 00:50:51.519
That was uh that's a company called Classic.com.
00:50:51.679 --> 00:50:52.000
Okay.
00:50:52.159 --> 00:50:53.840
Yeah, they were uh Are they still there?
00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:54.239
No.
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:54.800
Oh, okay.
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:57.599
I feel like we should do a Cafecito Club at Imperial Moto.
00:50:57.840 --> 00:50:58.639
That'd be sweet, right?
00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:00.559
Yeah, that'd be a cool place to do it.
00:51:00.639 --> 00:51:01.280
Yeah.
00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:03.599
We should.
00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:04.239
We should.
00:51:04.480 --> 00:51:05.119
Introduce it.
00:51:05.360 --> 00:51:09.039
I always remember I always remember driving by and seeing those old defenders out there.
00:51:09.280 --> 00:51:09.599
Oh yeah.
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:10.159
I love it.
00:51:10.239 --> 00:51:12.480
They have a lot of classic car meetups at Imperial Moto.
00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:13.440
Oh, that makes sense.
00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:14.400
Tom Brand.
00:51:14.559 --> 00:51:15.920
Yeah, it's a good vibe for the area.
00:51:16.159 --> 00:51:16.559
Sure.
00:51:16.800 --> 00:51:20.079
They were our first coffee shop and uh they're doing really well.
00:51:20.159 --> 00:51:21.360
They've expanded quite a bit.
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:23.119
And everything you did there was retail, right?
00:51:23.199 --> 00:51:26.960
It was all no um retail and restaurant.
00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:28.159
My goodness.
00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:38.159
Um over the years, we signed about a hundred commercial tenants, and that included restaurant, retail, creative office.
00:51:38.400 --> 00:51:41.280
We like we have about 200,000 square feet of creative office users.
00:51:42.000 --> 00:51:51.599
Most people don't realize how much how many office users we have from architects, interior designers, landscape architect firms, um, a lot of creative office.
00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:52.639
It makes a lot of sense.
00:51:54.079 --> 00:51:54.320
Yeah.
00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:56.480
No one wants to drive to Prickle or whatever.
00:51:56.800 --> 00:52:09.119
Yeah, and you know, as as you know, maybe it would be like a company that used to be in Winwood, but maybe parking was a nightmare or they wanted to they still like like the gritty urban neighborhood, but for whatever reason, Winwood was no longer right for them.
00:52:09.199 --> 00:52:12.079
So we we get a lot of those um types of companies.
00:52:12.480 --> 00:52:13.280
That's awesome.
00:52:13.440 --> 00:52:13.840
Yeah.
00:52:14.159 --> 00:52:19.679
So that that that whole project sounds like it's kind of I don't know what the right word is.
00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:22.559
It's never on autopilot, but it's kind of like it's not on that autopilot.
00:52:22.639 --> 00:52:24.880
I mean but are you still actively managing that project?
00:52:24.960 --> 00:52:27.920
Are you AJ really AJ really runs the data?
00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:32.800
I mean, we're still you know partners on the project, but AJ really runs the the day-to-day.
00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:37.760
Um we have a lot of other projects going on though.
00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:44.239
Um at the corner of 82nd and 2nd, still in Little River, we have a um we have a large project planned.
00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:45.679
We bought a two-acre site.
00:52:45.840 --> 00:52:53.920
I think it's a spectacular ground-up multifamily site where we have a planned uh 28-story 450 unit apartment building.
00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:56.239
Um going up there.
00:52:56.320 --> 00:52:57.039
We're excited about that.
00:52:57.199 --> 00:52:57.679
Oh wow.
00:52:57.840 --> 00:52:58.000
Yeah.
00:52:58.159 --> 00:53:00.639
You guys so that's a that's your first real ground up development.
00:53:00.800 --> 00:53:02.719
That'll be my first real ground-up development, yeah.
00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:04.480
And this is gonna be market rate apartments.
00:53:04.719 --> 00:53:08.239
It's a live local project, so it'll be part market rate and and part market.
00:53:08.639 --> 00:53:09.840
That's right by Evan Flow.
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:10.320
That's right.
00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:11.679
It's just south of Evan Flow.
00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:12.639
That's right.
00:53:12.960 --> 00:53:13.360
Dang.
00:53:13.599 --> 00:53:14.239
It's a great site.
00:53:14.559 --> 00:53:16.480
When you guys when are you guys breaking ground on that?
00:53:16.719 --> 00:53:17.519
Probably about a year.
00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:18.000
Yeah.
00:53:18.239 --> 00:53:18.480
Yeah.
00:53:19.039 --> 00:53:20.960
Going through the design process right now.
00:53:21.519 --> 00:53:23.199
And how's that process been?
00:53:23.519 --> 00:53:24.159
It's been great.
00:53:24.320 --> 00:53:25.760
We've got a great partnership there.
00:53:25.840 --> 00:53:32.000
Uh, we're partnered with uh the guys from uh Infinity Collective who own like the Esme Hotel.
00:53:32.239 --> 00:53:32.559
David Berg.
00:53:32.800 --> 00:53:33.360
David Berg, yeah.
00:53:33.440 --> 00:53:36.239
David Berg and Steve Caston, wonderful partners.
00:53:36.559 --> 00:53:38.880
And uh Hexagon, which is also a family office.
00:53:38.960 --> 00:53:40.000
It's a great partnership.
00:53:40.239 --> 00:53:40.880
That's awesome.
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:41.360
Yeah.
00:53:41.599 --> 00:53:43.280
Are you guys doing more residential like that?
00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:46.400
You see more more opportunity for project like that on the horizon?
00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:50.800
Or you know, that's not a typical project for MVW partners.
00:53:50.960 --> 00:53:56.960
Um, you know, we love adaptive reuse, we love, you know, rehabbing old buildings.
00:53:57.280 --> 00:54:17.039
Um I'm also working on a a small, a small-scale um infill housing uh uh project where basically trying to figure out that little conundrum of how can you fit like a well-designed three to five story building on a smaller lot because I don't think everything needs to be like an overly amenitized high-rise.
00:54:17.440 --> 00:54:28.719
Um so really kind of working through that, and we want to deliver like a like a kind of like a no-frills, well-designed apartment building, but in on a smaller scale.
00:54:29.920 --> 00:54:33.840
And then um we bought our new headquarters in Miami Shores.
00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:35.280
We're about ready to move in there.
00:54:35.360 --> 00:54:38.960
That's another historic building that we've that we've renovated.
00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:42.239
Um, and uh we really like Miami Shores, obviously.
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:45.679
Miami Shores is great, and we like to kind of keep it in our backyard.
00:54:45.840 --> 00:54:48.159
So we love that kind of upreast side area in general.
00:54:48.400 --> 00:54:49.360
Yeah, it makes sense.
00:54:49.599 --> 00:54:51.920
Yeah, because everything you've done has kind of been in that zone, right?
00:54:52.079 --> 00:54:56.960
North I mean, listen, the majority of my career, like an entire career was was in Little River.
00:54:57.039 --> 00:55:10.320
I mean, that was, you know, land assemblage, you know, a ton of renovation work, a ton of rezoning work, um, you know, commercial uh leases, residential leases, property management.
00:55:10.559 --> 00:55:14.159
Um yeah, that was a that was a big that was a big one.
00:55:14.559 --> 00:55:21.519
You don't have to say you don't have to say it here, but are there other neighborhoods that are similar to Little River that you kind of have your eye on?
00:55:21.679 --> 00:55:22.880
Because I wish.
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:23.519
Yeah.
00:55:23.840 --> 00:55:27.119
I mean, let's you know, it's like it's like we had you know Joe first, I'm sure.
00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:27.920
Of course, yeah.
00:55:28.079 --> 00:55:33.679
You know, and Joe was in Winwood and then he went and discovered, you know, uh West Palm.
00:55:33.840 --> 00:55:34.159
Yeah.
00:55:34.480 --> 00:55:40.880
Um I feel like you know, there's there are there's always neighborhoods that are overlooked, right?
00:55:41.199 --> 00:55:46.960
And are are are there still neighborhoods that are that haven't been picked over here in South Florida?
00:55:47.360 --> 00:55:48.000
Of course.
00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:49.920
Um of course.
00:55:50.000 --> 00:56:10.320
I I I spoke at an event recently and I think I had no real plan on what I was gonna talk about, but I think what I realized in the end is there are a ton of little rivers all across the country, and it just takes the right vision and and um and desire and effort to really kind of you know reveal them.
00:56:10.559 --> 00:56:10.880
Yeah.
00:56:11.119 --> 00:56:16.159
Um, but you know, I can't emphasize that enough how important the assemblage is.
00:56:16.320 --> 00:56:26.000
The assemblage is so important because if if your basis runs on you, if you can't get that key piece, it can just mess up the entire project.
00:56:26.800 --> 00:56:29.599
And I mean, that was a grueling project.
00:56:29.760 --> 00:56:34.000
I mean, it took you what a year or two to to assemble all that?
00:56:34.639 --> 00:56:42.400
Yeah, after the first year, the neighborhood caught on and we had to kind of pump the brakes because people had unrealistic expectations about what the property was worth.
00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:46.320
And then, you know, over time you just pick and choose what you wanted and what you didn't.
00:56:46.480 --> 00:56:52.400
And um I would say the core assemblage probably took place over like the first three or four years.
00:56:52.800 --> 00:56:55.039
Would you do it again if you found the right neighborhood?
00:56:55.360 --> 00:56:56.079
In a heartbeat.
00:56:56.159 --> 00:56:56.719
Yeah.
00:56:57.440 --> 00:56:59.119
I learned so many lessons from it.
00:56:59.199 --> 00:56:59.280
Yeah.
00:56:59.679 --> 00:57:01.280
What to do, what not to do.
00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:02.800
And yeah, it's a lot of fun.
00:57:03.039 --> 00:57:05.199
I mean, uh I feel so fortunate.
00:57:05.280 --> 00:57:06.960
It's it's a it was a blast.
00:57:07.199 --> 00:57:08.960
It was a lot of hard work.
00:57:09.199 --> 00:57:09.679
I bet.
00:57:09.920 --> 00:57:14.000
Do you think there's any other neighborhoods like that in Miami, or or would you have to look outside?
00:57:14.559 --> 00:57:15.360
Man, it's hard.
00:57:15.599 --> 00:57:16.239
It is hard.
00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:17.280
It's hard.
00:57:17.599 --> 00:57:20.559
I think I think moving north is interesting.
00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:22.960
I think North Miami is interesting.
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:28.719
Um, but I like to be able to drive to my projects if possible.
00:57:29.039 --> 00:57:31.119
Makes such a huge difference to drive it every day.
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:31.920
Quality of life.
00:57:32.159 --> 00:57:33.760
Quality of life, but also you see it differently.
00:57:33.920 --> 00:57:38.320
Like you'll drive that same street and then you'll get a great idea for this or that.
00:57:38.719 --> 00:57:46.239
And you know, I know that all these streets, I take the back roads all the time to look for new opportunities, and you see things that other people may not see.
00:57:47.440 --> 00:57:52.000
Is there a a dream project or something that you've wanted to do or build that you haven't done yet?
00:57:52.159 --> 00:57:53.840
Or would it be that again?
00:57:54.719 --> 00:57:55.920
I think it'd be that again.
00:57:56.079 --> 00:57:58.320
I'm excited about this small-scale housing thing.
00:57:58.559 --> 00:58:03.360
Like, you know, we we split time between Miami and then Brooklyn.
00:58:03.519 --> 00:58:13.280
And walking around, you know, Brooklyn, you have like these three and five-story buildings with no doorman, no amenities, but you they create vibrant communities.
00:58:13.440 --> 00:58:14.639
I love that scale.
00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:20.320
Like walking around, you know, as a human in a five-story building environment, it feels better.
00:58:20.559 --> 00:58:22.480
It feels more like a village almost.
00:58:22.639 --> 00:58:26.239
I'd love to find an area where I can really kind of kind of roll that out.
00:58:26.480 --> 00:58:27.599
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:29.840
I have a friend that lives in Park Slope, and I think it's in one of those.
00:58:30.159 --> 00:58:31.599
Yeah, that's where we that's where we live.
00:58:31.760 --> 00:58:32.079
Oh, okay.
00:58:32.159 --> 00:58:32.320
Yeah.
00:58:32.400 --> 00:58:35.280
So it's that same Sesame Street vibe of Yeah.
00:58:35.440 --> 00:58:36.880
You know, Sesame Street.
00:58:37.119 --> 00:58:38.639
I think that's where it was, wasn't it?
00:58:41.599 --> 00:58:41.840
I don't know.
00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:43.119
Probably it feels like it.
00:58:43.280 --> 00:58:43.519
It does.
00:58:43.920 --> 00:58:45.679
At least if my memory serves serves me correctly.
00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:48.079
The same big brown buildings with the stairs in front.
00:58:48.400 --> 00:58:49.280
Yeah, all the brownstones.
00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:49.440
Yeah.
00:58:49.599 --> 00:58:50.400
Brownstone Brooklyn.
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:50.880
Yeah.
00:58:51.119 --> 00:58:52.480
Yeah, so I totally see that.
00:58:52.559 --> 00:58:54.239
But it it is hard to make in Miami.
00:58:54.320 --> 00:58:55.840
I I don't know why.
00:58:56.239 --> 00:58:59.440
My street would be great on 39th in Biscayne.
00:58:59.760 --> 00:59:01.199
You know where the police car is on the building?
00:59:01.280 --> 00:59:01.440
Yeah.
00:59:01.760 --> 00:59:02.079
Back in there.
00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:03.119
Little look, yeah.
00:59:03.199 --> 00:59:03.760
Yeah, back in there.
00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:04.639
I totally agree with that.
00:59:04.800 --> 00:59:06.880
There's actually one woman that owns four houses in a row.
00:59:06.960 --> 00:59:08.880
It's all I think it's all T4R or O.
00:59:09.199 --> 00:59:11.199
That'd be a sounds like an assemblage opportunity.
00:59:11.599 --> 00:59:12.239
I've tried, she's the one.
00:59:12.800 --> 00:59:13.039
Yeah.
00:59:13.280 --> 00:59:14.000
Maybe, maybe.
00:59:14.079 --> 00:59:14.239
Yeah.
00:59:14.559 --> 00:59:15.679
The zoning really matters.
00:59:15.920 --> 00:59:16.880
T4 is really hard.
00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:17.760
I think it's O though.
00:59:17.840 --> 00:59:18.239
It might be O.
00:59:18.400 --> 00:59:19.039
Oh, it is T4.
00:59:19.280 --> 00:59:20.400
I can't remember if it's R or O.
00:59:20.719 --> 00:59:21.119
Yeah.
00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:21.920
Yeah.
00:59:22.159 --> 00:59:23.199
But yeah, that makes sense.
00:59:23.440 --> 00:59:24.000
That'd be really cool.
00:59:24.079 --> 00:59:25.280
Miami definitely needs more of that.
00:59:25.360 --> 00:59:28.239
Just to cut that like more human scale.
00:59:28.400 --> 00:59:28.639
Yeah.
00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:32.480
Rather than the 11 floors with parking and like I said, more like a village almost.
00:59:32.960 --> 00:59:33.199
Yeah.
00:59:33.440 --> 00:59:37.039
With like, you know, corner ground floor commercial opportunities.
00:59:37.119 --> 00:59:42.079
You have a little bodega or your coffee shop or do you think Miami ever evolves to that point?
00:59:42.159 --> 00:59:46.159
Because it's still like we're a very dense city, but then we're not at the same time.
00:59:46.639 --> 00:59:56.000
Yeah, it's hard and it takes the right developer with the right vision, not looking to just squeeze every penny out of every entitlement, you know?
00:59:56.480 --> 01:00:08.559
Um but I think that if you do it right, you know, values in those types of areas become um I mean people want to live in those types of communities.
01:00:08.639 --> 01:00:11.920
So maybe then you know rents justify it or sales prices justify it.
01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:12.400
Yeah.
01:00:12.559 --> 01:00:13.119
That is the thing.
01:00:13.199 --> 01:00:18.480
I feel I see that a lot where a lot of times to build the best product, it's not necessarily the most profitable.
01:00:18.719 --> 01:00:18.960
Yeah.
01:00:19.199 --> 01:00:22.400
But if you want to put the best product into the world, you kind of got to do some of that stuff.
01:00:22.639 --> 01:00:23.199
That's right.
01:00:23.440 --> 01:00:24.480
You ever look at hotels?
01:00:24.559 --> 01:00:27.679
You have a lot of hospitality background if all your lot of hospitality.
01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:31.599
We had a hotel coming into Little River before I I recapitalized.
01:00:31.760 --> 01:00:33.679
Um I love the idea of it.
01:00:34.079 --> 01:00:35.119
I think it's a tough business.
01:00:35.440 --> 01:00:36.639
It is a tough business.
01:00:37.119 --> 01:00:38.719
Especially in Little River, that'd be tough.
01:00:38.880 --> 01:00:39.119
Yeah.
01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:40.559
But we definitely need something up there.
01:00:40.719 --> 01:00:42.880
There's I mean, AJ's obviously a pro at that.
01:00:43.039 --> 01:00:43.199
Yeah.
01:00:43.440 --> 01:00:44.960
They build and sell brands all the time.
01:00:45.199 --> 01:00:45.920
That's right.
01:00:47.599 --> 01:00:48.320
Interesting.
01:00:48.639 --> 01:00:50.559
Because that that aesthetic would be cool in Miami.
01:00:50.639 --> 01:00:51.920
We don't have any hotels like that.
01:00:52.159 --> 01:00:52.480
Yeah.
01:00:53.039 --> 01:00:53.760
That you guys do.
01:00:53.840 --> 01:00:55.519
Kind of like that adaptive reuse looking.
01:00:55.840 --> 01:00:56.000
Yeah.
01:00:56.159 --> 01:00:57.760
I wish we had more store buildings to do it.
01:00:57.920 --> 01:00:58.320
It's true.
01:00:58.400 --> 01:00:59.599
That is the hard part.
01:00:59.920 --> 01:01:03.599
To find a cool building in a good location that that works for it.
01:01:04.960 --> 01:01:06.800
So your office is Miami Shores.
01:01:06.960 --> 01:01:07.119
Yeah.
01:01:07.280 --> 01:01:08.960
So like your Miami Shores through and through.
01:01:09.119 --> 01:01:09.360
That's right.
01:01:09.599 --> 01:01:10.880
Where's your child going to school?
01:01:11.039 --> 01:01:12.400
Your daughter in Miami Shores, yeah.
01:01:12.559 --> 01:01:13.599
In Miami Shores as well.
01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:17.599
You still uh what do you do to besides real estate?
01:01:17.679 --> 01:01:18.400
What do you do?
01:01:18.639 --> 01:01:19.440
Uh I work.
01:01:19.679 --> 01:01:20.000
Yeah.
01:01:20.159 --> 01:01:21.280
Okay, besides work.
01:01:21.519 --> 01:01:22.239
What do you do?
01:01:22.480 --> 01:01:22.960
That's it.
01:01:23.199 --> 01:01:23.519
Work?
01:01:23.760 --> 01:01:24.559
I love what I do.
01:01:24.639 --> 01:01:24.960
Yeah.
01:01:25.119 --> 01:01:27.760
I mean, we're we're so fortunate to do what we do.
01:01:28.800 --> 01:01:31.119
Um, I probably should have some more hobbies.
01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:32.400
A little travel.
01:01:32.719 --> 01:01:33.840
We travel a bit, yeah.
01:01:34.400 --> 01:01:36.800
But like I said, I'm you know, we're going back and forth to New York a lot.
01:01:37.119 --> 01:01:40.320
How often do you how much time do you split between the two?
01:01:41.599 --> 01:01:43.199
Man, I don't know.
01:01:43.519 --> 01:01:46.639
75, 25, 75 down here, 25 up there.
01:01:46.880 --> 01:01:47.760
I got it.
01:01:48.239 --> 01:01:55.920
Having a place in New York or living in New York, you know, you you you think about space differently because what you're forced to do in New York and you know the constraints.
01:01:56.159 --> 01:01:57.280
I love the constraints.
01:01:57.360 --> 01:02:00.559
The constraints, you know, breeds creativity and you think about things differently.
01:02:00.800 --> 01:02:01.280
Yeah, of course.
01:02:01.519 --> 01:02:03.440
How big is your place in in New York?
01:02:03.760 --> 01:02:05.199
How many square feet?
01:02:05.599 --> 01:02:07.679
Oh really asking the penetrating questions here.
01:02:07.760 --> 01:02:10.800
Oh, I just I'm curious because it's like it's like it's a three-bedroom apartment.
01:02:11.119 --> 01:02:12.239
Okay, so it's it's comfortable.
01:02:12.480 --> 01:02:13.440
It's yeah, it's comfortable.
01:02:13.599 --> 01:02:14.159
Yeah.
01:02:14.400 --> 01:02:18.480
It's uh it's not uh you're not you're not living in a studio.
01:02:18.639 --> 01:02:18.960
No.
01:02:19.199 --> 01:02:19.519
Okay.
01:02:20.480 --> 01:02:23.280
Um but it's still less spacious than my new shores.
01:02:26.159 --> 01:02:27.599
Uh all right, cool.
01:02:27.760 --> 01:02:28.719
Anything else, Ben?
01:02:29.199 --> 01:02:31.119
I mean, you said work is your hobby, kind of.
01:02:31.199 --> 01:02:32.239
What's your favorite part about it?
01:02:32.320 --> 01:02:36.320
Like, what are you you love just looking at new properties, reviewing leases?
01:02:36.400 --> 01:02:40.880
Like, you know, talking to the talking to talking to what's the guy's name?
01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:43.519
Ro Pino at the building department about your tree permit.
01:02:43.840 --> 01:02:44.960
My favorite guy.
01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:47.280
Or the bats or the bat issue.
01:02:47.360 --> 01:02:47.760
Yeah.
01:02:48.159 --> 01:02:50.239
You know, like I don't know.
01:02:50.559 --> 01:02:59.920
Dreaming about what we wanted in Little River, it was like the best because you know, any new restaurant or coffee shop that you're checking out could be a potential tenant.
01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:09.119
So, like virtually everything you do, whether we're exploring in New York or exploring in Chicago or exploring in Los Angeles, um, wow, that's a great idea.
01:03:09.199 --> 01:03:09.840
It's a great concept.
01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:11.119
How could it fit over here?
01:03:11.280 --> 01:03:12.719
Or is there a local operator?
01:03:12.880 --> 01:03:14.559
We really like to focus on local operators.
01:03:14.639 --> 01:03:19.199
I think that was what we what we ultimately realized was there's a lot of local talent to celebrate.
01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:23.440
And then really kind of being a platform for that was also that's also a ton of fun.
01:03:23.679 --> 01:03:31.199
And to be a bit more of a creative landlord and and think about our our operators as partners and clients.
01:03:31.519 --> 01:03:33.280
Um, that's a lot of fun too.
01:03:33.360 --> 01:03:37.280
And and to just breathe life into an old forgotten neighborhood, it's a blast.
01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:38.880
I mean, that's refreshing to hear.
01:03:38.960 --> 01:03:52.960
I think, you know, we see what goes on with crazy rents in the areas, operators just get thrown to the side, and then you see the spaces sit vacant for years until reality comes crashing back in, and it's this constant like push and pull on trying to squeeze every dollar out of every operator.
01:03:53.039 --> 01:04:02.960
So yeah, I I mean if you want uh we've always thought that you need to give tenants the opportunity to really plant their their roots and grow.
01:04:03.360 --> 01:04:11.519
And you can't overburden them with some insane rent that might work out for the first six months, but then you know they fail.
01:04:11.599 --> 01:04:16.000
I mean, having a having a tenant fail is a is also a failure for the landlord oftentimes, right?
01:04:16.239 --> 01:04:29.920
And so we always tried to create structures that were creative, uh comfortable, um reasonable, but if they hit the ball out of the ballpark, then you share on that upside, you know, through percentage rent.
01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:32.000
So yeah, that makes sense.
01:04:32.480 --> 01:04:33.280
Well, awesome, man.
01:04:33.360 --> 01:04:34.159
It's really a fun day.
01:04:35.599 --> 01:04:36.079
Thanks for having me.
01:04:36.159 --> 01:04:38.719
We're definitely gonna be tailing them around the city now to see where the next spots are.
01:04:38.880 --> 01:04:39.360
I know, right?
01:04:42.159 --> 01:04:43.519
See what the next neighborhood is.
01:04:43.760 --> 01:04:44.719
Exactly.
01:04:45.199 --> 01:04:46.400
Thank you for having me, guys.
01:04:46.559 --> 01:04:47.679
Yeah, that was cool, Matthew.
01:04:47.840 --> 01:04:48.079
Thank you.
01:04:48.239 --> 01:04:48.559
Likewise.
01:04:48.880 --> 01:04:49.840
Have a great afternoon, man.
01:04:49.920 --> 01:04:50.239
Take care.
01:04:50.559 --> 01:04:50.800
Later.
01:04:51.039 --> 01:04:51.440
Bye.