00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:15.039
We're here with David Moret.
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:15.759
Welcome, David.
00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:16.160
Thank you.
00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:16.559
Finally.
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:17.440
Happy to be here.
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:21.359
Finally, we've been talking about getting David on for almost a year now.
00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.199
We saw we saw David at the real deal event.
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:23.679
When was that?
00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:24.559
Was that last October or something?
00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:26.320
Last November, October, yeah.
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.000
We did a little short one with him.
00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:29.679
We were under contract on a deal.
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.799
Which was when I mean that deal went under contract or at least under a letter of intent like August?
00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:36.960
I think it was August or September.
00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:37.439
Yeah.
00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:37.840
Yeah.
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:39.200
It's been a fucking shit show.
00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:40.799
A 10-month overnight success.
00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:44.000
But we we did finally close it uh a few weeks ago.
00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:49.119
And uh so uh but you're the reason you're here is not because we closed a deal with you.
00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.079
Oh we're gonna do it, we're gonna do a podcast with you regardless.
00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.560
But we just said let's just wait till we close the deal and we can talk a little bit about that as well.
00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:57.840
We didn't want to hex it.
00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.719
Yeah, exactly.
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:00.320
Exactly, exactly.
00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.280
Um, so uh welcome to Bureau Central.
00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.560
Um and uh we're drinking tequila today.
00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:07.760
We are from Vinya.
00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:08.640
What was it called?
00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:09.760
Um Entre Manos.
00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:10.480
Entre manos.
00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:11.200
Entre manos.
00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:11.680
That's really good.
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:12.319
Really good white.
00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:18.719
David uh wanted a white tequila, and I reached out to Nick at Vinya and he said, This is this is what you want to drink.
00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:19.519
I'm like, all right.
00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:20.319
It's delicious.
00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:22.560
It's a great way to start off a weekend.
00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:24.719
So uh it's Friday, 3 p.m.
00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:32.079
David's uh is going on a trip in a for a couple weeks too, so he's already sort of in in vacation mode almost.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:33.760
Oh, you're going to ICS next week, too, right?
00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:34.640
Yeah, I got a little work before.
00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.760
You got a little work before we get started, let's do a cheers.
00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:39.120
We can stay right there, David.
00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:40.159
All right, excellent.
00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:40.799
Cheers.
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.680
Cheers, thank you guys for the opportunity.
00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:46.480
It's great to have you with us, David.
00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:47.040
Cheers.
00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:49.920
Great to be here.
00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:53.920
Oh, yeah, that's good.
00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:57.280
And uh David and I have known each other for a long time.
00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:58.799
We met at a CrossFit gym.
00:01:58.959 --> 00:01:59.120
Really?
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:00.159
Yeah how long ago was that?
00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:00.879
When were you there?
00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.599
I was uh it was CrossFit 305, right?
00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:04.239
Is that the name of it?
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.000
305 CrossFit or it's well now it's that in Omni?
00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.520
No, it's in Lemon City.
00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:10.560
Yeah, Lemon City.
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:12.639
Right when there was a trailer park back then.
00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:13.680
Where's Lemon City?
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:14.080
What is that?
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:15.919
Is that like little Haiti, north of Little Haiti?
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.639
Yeah, uh South of Little Haiti, right?
00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:19.840
It's it's little Haiti, right?
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.840
Yeah, yeah, it's a little pocket within there at 59th and 4th, by the way.
00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.599
It's like a nicer way to say little Haiti.
00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:26.080
Yeah.
00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.639
Well, it was it was originally called Lemon City.
00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:29.759
Um, that's right.
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:30.560
No, no, that's right.
00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:34.879
Because there's that historic Lemon City street by that uh gas station, Europa.
00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:36.319
Yeah, you know what I'm talking about?
00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.400
Biscayne in like 60 something, maybe?
00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:40.240
Yeah, yeah, that's where this is.
00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:41.360
Um still there.
00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:42.960
Still there, you still work out there, right?
00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:43.280
I do.
00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:43.599
Wow.
00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:49.199
So I was uh I was uh I think I started working out there in like 2010.
00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.400
I had a short, short career there at CrossFit?
00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:54.080
I started there in 2010 also.
00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:55.520
So we started about the same time.
00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:56.639
That's when I moved to Miami.
00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:58.240
David was fucking whooping my ass back then.
00:02:58.560 --> 00:02:58.960
I believe it.
00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:00.960
Yeah, and he's a little older than I am, too.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.039
So I think I beat him once.
00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:05.680
I was like, yes, I fucking beat him once.
00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.560
And you're still working out there 16 years later?
00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:09.439
16 years later.
00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:10.400
Do they still charge you?
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:12.240
Because you you probably paid for the gym by now.
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:12.960
I yeah.
00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:14.960
I hope I'm grandfathered into a better rate.
00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:15.759
I think I hope so.
00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:17.439
I've been on auto pay for 16 years.
00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:17.759
That's it.
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:18.560
How old are you?
00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:19.199
57.
00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.439
57 and still crushing CrossFit.
00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.599
Crush is uh yeah, you can use it.
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.840
Are you are you humbling some of these 20 and 30 year olds, some of them?
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.639
You know, the the group there has gotten older.
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.400
Yeah, um, but you know, I'm hanging in there.
00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:34.240
I'm holding my own, doing what I can.
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:35.599
I've definitely toned it way down.
00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.080
Yeah, you know, I'm doing the 57-year-old version of it, but I like the you know, I enjoy it.
00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:41.520
Yeah, it's a yeah, it's a good way to go.
00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:42.560
Is there AC there?
00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:43.599
No, no, wow.
00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:46.000
It's a warehouse, no AC in the summer.
00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:46.319
Wow.
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:47.599
What time do you go?
00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:48.400
Early?
00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:49.360
It depends.
00:03:49.439 --> 00:04:00.400
On the weekends, I go in the morning, and then I'll I'll do try to do both weekends on some fishing around a town, and then um in the evening, usually at six, maybe two days a week.
00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:00.719
Okay.
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:02.080
Try to get there four days a week.
00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:02.879
That is spicy, you know.
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:04.639
You go four days a week to work out there?
00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:05.280
That's the goal.
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:05.759
Yeah, you know.
00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:06.400
You do anything.
00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:07.919
I've seen you riding your bike on the bike.
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:08.639
I ride the bike.
00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:09.759
What kind of bike?
00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:10.560
Uh I don't know.
00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:11.039
What do you got?
00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:12.080
Are we clippins?
00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:12.639
Are you a roadie?
00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:13.520
Are you just no?
00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:15.199
I just it's a chill bike ride.
00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:15.439
Good.
00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:15.599
Yeah.
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:17.839
He's not one of those mammals that are that are out there.
00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.839
The uh what the mammal is the uh middle-aged man in lycra?
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:22.399
Yeah, yeah.
00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:23.680
It's not you.
00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:26.240
No, I'm doing like a chill beach ride on a recovery.
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:26.800
I like that.
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:43.839
Yeah, so I do the funny thing is because um I go and play beach tennis out there, and you and I crossed paths a few times while you were there and biking or on while I was playing beach tennis, and that's how I think you're like you called me, or I was like, Hey, do you have anything that I should look at?
00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:48.160
Um, and that's that's how I kind of this whole deal came about.
00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:48.639
That's right.
00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:51.519
You never know where they pop up.
00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:52.480
Exactly, right?
00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:53.199
That's cool.
00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.480
Um, so yeah, we've uh I've known David for a while.
00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:00.879
He's got uh we have a mutual friend that we're both very close to, Phil Gross.
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:01.839
Shout out to Phil Gross.
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:03.920
Yeah, he's a fucking awesome individual.
00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:04.800
Yes, he is.
00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:11.279
I mean, he's like the most like selfless, like helpful person, I think, in Miami.
00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:12.240
Yeah, he's great.
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:13.680
He's a really great person.
00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:15.680
And uh called Phil up before.
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.600
We got some dirt on uh on uh there's no way Phil has dirt.
00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:21.519
Um I've known him since 10 years.
00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:27.839
He started off with I've been to 25 dead concerts with with David.
00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:28.800
So I'm like, oh shit.
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:29.360
Okay, so David.
00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.600
So we can only imagine what happened at those shows.
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:37.519
Yeah, uh, but you're a deadhead, huh?
00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:38.240
Or you were?
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:39.839
I mean, I yeah, I love the dead.
00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:41.040
Yeah, I love the dead, yeah.
00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.560
I used to see them back in the day when it was the real dead and then uh dead and company a bunch of times.
00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:48.720
Yeah, that's with Mayer, Dead and Company.
00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.040
It was until Bobby passed away, unfortunately.
00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:54.079
But yeah, I think I saw him as recently his last year at the sphere.
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:55.600
Okay, that's that was probably epic.
00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:56.240
That was great.
00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:56.639
It was great.
00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.160
I keep I hear amazing things about the sphere.
00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:58.639
I haven't been.
00:05:58.879 --> 00:05:59.439
You must go.
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.480
Yeah, it's fantastic.
00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:01.040
That's sick.
00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:02.399
I I love the dead too.
00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:09.199
My roommate was a deadhead in college, so he uh he made me listen to a lot of it, and you know, it's just contagious.
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.000
It's great music.
00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:10.560
Yeah.
00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.839
So um we're in good company with a deadhead here.
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:14.399
Love it.
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:15.120
Yeah.
00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:21.920
Um, but uh let's talk about a little bit about because you're like uh you're a Florida boy.
00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:25.279
Uh I was born in Atlanta, moved down here when I was three.
00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:26.160
Oh wow.
00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.160
Where down here where in Miami?
00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:29.839
Down in my yeah, West Kindle.
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.600
Wow, the real 305, as they say.
00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:33.120
Yeah, exactly.
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.959
And uh were your parents are from Atlanta or where are they from?
00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:37.920
They're from Atlanta.
00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:38.399
Oh, really?
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.000
I have grandparents from Atlanta.
00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:40.639
Oh shit.
00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.800
Yeah, we were multiple generations in Atlanta.
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:47.920
In Atlanta, yes, and what was uh what did your grandparents and parents do?
00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:49.519
Where'd your grandparents come from?
00:06:49.839 --> 00:07:04.639
So on my mother's side and my dad's father, all Eastern European Jews from Russia, Poland, all the the places that you know that moved over in the late 1800s, early 1900s.
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:09.759
My grandfather, my dad's father, uh so was born in Atlanta.
00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:28.959
His his family, I guess, left Russia, had children along the way, and uh ended up in Atlanta somehow, and married a woman, uh, my grandmother, who was at least third, if not fourth generation, non-Jewish farm family from Austell, Georgia.
00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:29.519
Oh, wow.
00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.199
So a very interesting uh you know pairing for that period of time back in the 30s, 20s, 30s.
00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.120
And is there a big Jewish community in Atlanta?
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:37.519
There is.
00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:38.160
There is, right?
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:38.879
Yeah, there is.
00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:39.680
I didn't realize that.
00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:40.160
Yeah.
00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:40.720
Okay.
00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:46.959
So you got a little uh US like old country people in the U.S.
00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:48.800
I have some old country people, yes.
00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:49.360
Yeah, yeah.
00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:51.279
Do they call Miami Miama?
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:52.959
Not those people.
00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.600
I have uncles that live down here that call it Miami.
00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:57.360
Yeah, for sure.
00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:58.319
Yeah.
00:07:58.959 --> 00:07:59.279
Yeah.
00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:03.279
So and uh so my grand, so you asked what they did.
00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:15.120
Um my grandfather, my dad's side was they were in the they had a a store, you know, all the family worked in the back in the day where no one went to college because everyone had to help the family make ends meet.
00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:24.079
And the brothers had a a bottling business that, you know, the family lore goes back and thinks that maybe they were selling supplies to moonshiners.
00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:40.159
Yeah, well, they were either selling supplies to moonshiners or maybe they're involved with moonshining a little bit, but they actually, um, as prohibition was repealed, um, ordered the first truck of legal liquor into the city of Atlanta when and started a distributorship.
00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.200
And so the family was in a liquor distributorship business for many years.
00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:44.960
Probably a great time to get into that.
00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:45.440
Yeah.
00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:47.600
Yeah, not a bad time.
00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:49.279
So your grandfather started that.
00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.399
My grandfather and his brothers uh started that.
00:08:52.559 --> 00:09:02.960
Um, and they had a big business, but all of those, my grandfather, his brothers all had sons and daughters, you know, they had family and kids, so it got pretty crowded around there.
00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:10.240
And in 1972, they had an opportunity to buy a failing PAPS distributorship in Miami.
00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:10.960
What's PAPS?
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:12.399
Paps PBR.
00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:12.879
Oh, okay.
00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:13.919
Yeah, PBR.
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:15.200
So I didn't think of PAPs.
00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:18.000
Yeah, Pap PBR, so the hipster beer.
00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.240
Yeah, so 1972.
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:28.000
Um my dad, who had recently graduated and was doing real estate brokerage, just getting his career off the ground.
00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:36.480
His my uncle, who was six years older and worked at the distributorship, and my grandfather bought the PAP, the PBR distributorship down here when we moved to Miami.
00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:37.200
Wow.
00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:37.679
Yeah.
00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:40.559
So uh it sounds like a long line of entrepreneurs.
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:41.679
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:42.639
I guess you could say that.
00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:43.039
Yeah.
00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:44.799
From hustling during prohibition.
00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:45.440
Yeah, PB.
00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:46.080
They were hustling.
00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:46.559
Yeah.
00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:48.320
Real estate broker just hustling.
00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:49.519
Yeah, uh, that's for sure.
00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:50.399
You guys know about that.
00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:51.039
Oh, yeah.
00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:53.039
And you you were a broker at one point too.
00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:53.519
I was.
00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:55.519
Yeah, I was talking about that a little bit.
00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:56.000
Yeah.
00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:03.120
Um so so your so your so your dad moved down here in 72?
00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:03.759
Yes.
00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.399
And he moved down here to run to run this this uh PAPS distributor.
00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:08.879
Correct.
00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:09.919
My dad, my uncle.
00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:10.720
Okay, yeah.
00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.000
And uh how long did they own that business for?
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:21.120
So I think my dad they owned it till the late 80s.
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:21.600
Okay.
00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.200
So they built a pretty big business.
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:36.399
They got Miller ultimately and it expanded, and Miami was growing up and they started getting pressure from the um the breweries to sell.
00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:43.039
They I think they wanted as Miami became more Hispanic, they wanted to have someone Hispanic running the business.
00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:47.600
And I think they ultimately kind of pushed them to the point where they ended up selling it.
00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.320
Um, and so that was late 80s.
00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:50.960
Okay.
00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:56.399
And they uh and so what'd your did you grow up in that business at all?
00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:57.919
Or do you remember I do?
00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.320
Well, I didn't grow up in the business because I was too young.
00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:00.559
Yeah.
00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:12.639
Um, but during the, you know, as a kid, I mean, and I'm talking like young, I would go there during the summers and work in the warehouse, and really that meant someone was stuck carrying around the boss's kid for the day.
00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:16.879
Drive the golf carts around and go up to the trucks and get their orders.
00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:18.159
So I spent a little time there.
00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:19.360
And you got siblings?
00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:23.759
Yeah, I have a brother that's uh two and a half years younger and a sister that's 12 years younger.
00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:24.399
Oh wow.
00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:24.879
Yeah.
00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.879
And uh so what did your dad do after uh after selling the business?
00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:41.279
So my dad, let's go back to my Georgia roots that are not the Jewish side, um, grew up going to the country and was, you know, that side of the family exposed to fishing in the outdoors and things like that.
00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:43.360
And we moved down here.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:54.159
Um my dad met a guy named Flip Pallet, who uh actually my mom met Flip's wife at the time at a swim I was three years old or four years old getting a swim lesson.
00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:00.879
Flip, uh, who unfortunately passed away last year, was a legend in the fly fishing world and the outdoors.
00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.279
But I hear your dad's also a legend in fly fishing, too.
00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:13.120
So yeah, so my dad met Flip and suddenly was just became bonkers over fly fishing fly fishing and became really a world-class fly fisherman.
00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.080
And when he left that business, he moved down the key.
00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:32.879
My parents got divorced probably in the mid-80s, and he moved down the Keys and bought some real estate um that he ran for a while, just you know, a couple of strip centers, and started Florida Keys fly fishing school and Florida Keys Outfitters, and it's been down there ever since.
00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.720
So I didn't know there was fly fishing in the Keys.
00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.759
I thought it was all about it.
00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.919
Oh, yeah, no, saltwater fly fishing is like a big thing.
00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:38.799
I knew nothing about that.
00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:43.440
I think uh we had uh Charles Foshini on the podcast, and he's a big fly fishing.
00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:44.559
Charles the big fisher.
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:47.200
We were talking, I was talking to him about that just last week.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.320
Yeah, it's awesome.
00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:52.240
Yeah, um, I I went fly fishing for my first time uh several weeks ago.
00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:52.879
Oh, really?
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:53.440
In Georgia.
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:54.080
How was it?
00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:54.399
Really?
00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:55.200
Yeah, was it fun?
00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:55.840
It was cool.
00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:57.440
I mean, you know, I had never been.
00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:01.039
My son loves fishing, and like it's well, I mean, fishing's so boring normally.
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:02.320
But I play fly fishing.
00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:05.840
Uh I'm not I'm not that into fishing, but my son is still into it.
00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:09.519
So he's 13, and uh we go up to Georgia every summer.
00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:13.360
We have a friend that has a house on a lake up there, and they invite us every summer.
00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.000
And so this summer we went fly fishing for the first time.
00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:16.799
It's pretty cool.
00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:17.279
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.720
It's different than normal fishing because you like see you're like going after the fish at least.
00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:22.320
Here it's like it's more like hunting, I think.
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.879
Yeah, I mean, listen, we did it on a on a boat, you know.
00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.679
We had a little rat with like a little Oh, you weren't walking the river.
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:31.919
No, we weren't walking the river, and so you were just casting and so it was pretty cool though.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:33.279
I I was spoiled.
00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.600
My first time fly fishing was in Sun Valley, yeah.
00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.639
The river fishing like that is that's a I mean, I love that.
00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:43.279
When I go out west, I mean I love nothing more than going down the river for a couple hours.
00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.000
Do you take you take a little boat down the river too, or how do you usually do it?
00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:47.039
You walk the rivers?
00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:53.120
Um depends on where we are, but I'll like we were in in aspen for a couple weeks.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.200
I'll go out, I'll work till whatever time here and go hit the river for a couple hours.
00:13:57.279 --> 00:13:59.279
Just walk the waiters on and go to the river.
00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:00.000
So peaceful.
00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.559
Yeah, but and then there's other places where you do float trips.
00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:04.080
You book a guy and you float down the river.
00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.679
Yeah, we do that in Wyoming early.
00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:06.879
That's that's awesome.
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.720
Yeah, but salt water is like you said, there's a hunting element to it.
00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:13.759
You're going out there, you're looking for the fish, you see them, you cast them.
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.559
Yeah, yeah, different than just waiting for something to bite.
00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:18.879
Yes, which I I I get so bored.
00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:21.120
Yeah, I can't do it.
00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.120
You gotta have a certain level of patience to do that.
00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:23.840
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:24.240
Yep.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.000
That's cool, very cool.
00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.840
So you grew up not really in the business, but you were around it.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.799
Um, how old were you when you when your parents split up?
00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:33.679
15.
00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:34.080
Okay.
00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:35.679
And so you lived with your mom?
00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:36.240
Yes.
00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:37.840
Your dad moved down to the keys.
00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.000
Dad, yeah, was here for a little bit.
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.440
Um, had a place both.
00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:43.200
So we would go back and forth to the keys.
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:43.759
He would come up.
00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:44.000
Yeah.
00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:45.120
What were you into as a kid?
00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:46.000
Do you have any hobbies?
00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:47.679
And I was in the outdoors.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.279
So I grew up fishing and you know, we had airboats.
00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:52.000
I mean, weird things.
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:52.799
You had airboats.
00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:54.480
Holy shit, dude.
00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:55.120
Miami.
00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.720
Yeah, this is Miami boy.
00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:02.320
My my parents would like pull in to pick us up at Temple Beth on from Sunday school and have the airboat behind the car.
00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:04.080
That's the southern airboat.
00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:04.639
That's the southern.
00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:06.960
You ever caught an you ever caught a gator?
00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:07.279
No.
00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:10.080
What did you do with the airboat?
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:10.639
Where would you go?
00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:14.080
We'd go out in the Everglades and grew up doing some duck hunting.
00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:14.720
Yeah, cool.
00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:16.320
He's got southern blood in him.
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:17.759
I got southern blood.
00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:19.279
Yeah, I got some southern blood.
00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.600
I I love that, but it's so fucking hot here.
00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:23.440
Like, I guess you go in the winter, yeah.
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.120
Yeah, you don't go in the summer.
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:30.399
Um, yeah, played sports uh through through uh through uh you know as a kid.
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:31.279
What were you good at?
00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:32.159
What sports?
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:36.799
Well, I played, I mean, ultimately, um, I played football in high school.
00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:48.080
I went to Gulliver, played football all through there, and I went to D3 school college with the intention of playing football, but I ended up hurting my shoulder before and not carrying that on.
00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.679
Do you know Anton Maritos?
00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.799
No, he went we went to Golliver, he was about your same age.
00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:54.159
He went to Syracuse than me.
00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.799
So put what position did you play in uh football?
00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:58.000
Outside linebacker.
00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:58.799
Oh shit.
00:15:59.039 --> 00:15:59.279
Yeah.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.440
I was more I wasn't super fast.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:06.799
I was more of a spend a lot of time in the weight room, work really hard, yeah, go try to hit people.
00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:07.840
Sounds funny.
00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:13.039
Yeah, I like my son played in college tufts, actually, all the same school, and he's a wide receiver.
00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.279
He's more of the speedster hands guy.
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:15.919
That wasn't me.
00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:17.200
And how old are you kids?
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:19.679
My kids are 24, 26, and 28.
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:20.960
Wow, yeah.
00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:23.039
They're not really kids anymore.
00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:23.600
No, they're not.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:24.320
They're adults.
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.639
And you have are they all boys, girls?
00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.159
Girl, girl, boy.
00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:28.639
Wow.
00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:29.519
From the top.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:29.840
Yeah.
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:30.559
That's great.
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:31.200
Yeah.
00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.240
Um, so growing up, what were you good at in school?
00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:35.519
Any subjects?
00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:36.960
What were we good at in subject-wise?
00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.360
Um I guess more critical thinking.
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:50.320
I mean, math, you know, I I would say I was a fine, you know, I was a okay, you know, good student, I guess, through like sixth grade.
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.080
Went to Palmetto Junior High.
00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:58.559
We had moved from I mean, we lived in Kendall in 147th, which that was like cow country back then, wasn't it?
00:16:58.720 --> 00:16:59.279
Strawberry Country.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:16:59.759
Strawberry.
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.480
Like the next street with strawberry fields.
00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:05.759
That was the end of society at that point, 147.
00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:09.039
And we we lived in 146.
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.559
And then when I was nine, we moved to Gables by the Sea.
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:14.240
So then grew up on the water.
00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:17.119
So that's you know, I was exposed to boating and had a boat.
00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:20.400
And so that was a really a great place to grow up.
00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:30.480
Um and I was a decent student, but seventh grade, I don't know, hormones kicking in, whatever, went to junior high, and I just I fell off a cliff.
00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.440
I was got into girls, I did terrible in school.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:34.000
Really?
00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:35.839
Yeah, I just said I don't know what happened.
00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.920
My parents, like, you're out, and I went to Gulliver, and then it was like I did great ever since then.
00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:40.400
Uh-huh.
00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.799
But uh you did all right in high school.
00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:44.240
Yeah, no, I did well in high school.
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:44.960
You know, yeah.
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:46.559
I was a good student in high school.
00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:47.359
I guess I guess I yeah.
00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.359
What subjects did you like?
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.119
I mean, I guess I was more math oriented.
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.720
I wasn't like a literature guy.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:59.359
I mean, I I like I went to I liked business in business school.
00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:06.240
You know, I was really into finance courses, and I really liked clear critical thinking type classes in law school.
00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.359
So things that, you know, you gotta figure solve problems.
00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.400
That's kind of my thing.
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.559
What was your first job?
00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:33.359
My first job besides screwing around warehouse is um my dad and uncle at the time in the beer business um opened a chain that did not succeed of allegedly healthier fast food restaurants called Delights.
00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.039
Delights, Herschel Walker, I think, actually had the chain up in Atlanta.
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:42.799
And I think when I was 15, I uh I worked in the kitchen flipping burgers.
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.799
Nice, yeah, healthy burgers.
00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:47.279
Less unhealthy.
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:48.640
I don't know what was healthy about them.
00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:49.759
Why didn't they work out?
00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:51.519
I mean, I mean FB is brutal anyway.
00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:52.079
Yeah, it didn't.
00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:52.559
I don't know.
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:58.000
They opened a couple stores and it never really caught on as a chain, so the chain failed, and that was the end of that.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:03.680
And then I spent most of high school working at Hagendas at the food court.
00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.519
Where in the Dayland Mall.
00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:06.720
No, yeah, that was a hot spot.
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:07.279
That's great.
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.519
You could trade for other foods at the court.
00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:10.400
Yeah, that was obscene.
00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.440
How old were you?
00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:16.000
From 16 through probably did it when I came back from college for a little break.
00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:18.000
Is this in the late 80s, early 90s?
00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.319
When it was yeah, graduated high school 87.
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.119
So this is like 84, 85, 85.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.640
Prime mall mall era.
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:26.799
Prime malls were peaking, popping.
00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.279
Yeah, I mean, that's where all the teenage boys would hang out, the teenage girls.
00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.720
I mean, we're gonna work at the Haganda to get the cute girls free ice cream.
00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:36.880
Yeah, it was a pretty good gig.
00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:39.279
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:40.559
What a great era.
00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.559
Yeah, so you graduate high school.
00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.359
Um, did you have any idea what you wanted to do in high school?
00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.319
Like, did you and by the way, were you into the dead back in high school?
00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:51.279
Yeah, no, no, no, that's no, I wasn't.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.400
Didn't even know who they were.
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.000
I had heard of them, but not at all.
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:56.319
So when did you start getting into the dead?
00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:01.599
Um Passover freshman year of college.
00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:02.319
Yeah.
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:09.519
So um I'm at I'm at I went to school and to one school in at Tufts in Boston.
00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:14.240
Um, and I was looking for a place to go for Passover.
00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:25.599
Um, and a friend of mine, Dave Mendelson, who is a musician, actually, yeah, he's got a bunch of including a pretty successful dead tribute band that's gonna be playing at the band shell in January.
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:26.240
Oh, cool.
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:33.680
He's like, You can come home with me to Long Island for Passover, but we're stopping at Brendan Byrne in New Jersey to see the Grateful Dead.
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.640
I'm like, eh, all right, fine, you know, whatever.
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.880
Yeah, so I went with him and I ended up seeing four more shows in the next seven days.
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:43.599
Wow.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:49.279
Yeah, we stopped at Hartford on the way back, went to Worcester the next week.
00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:50.240
Yeah, it was like that.
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:55.680
Was it then we you know, for the next two years while I was up at Tufts, we traveled to see him all the time.
00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:56.240
That's so cool.
00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:57.440
Have you ever been to a dead show?
00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:57.759
Never.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.240
I went to one, and it was I mean, it was an incredible experience.
00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.200
I've tried to get into them a couple times, but I maybe I haven't given for the chance.
00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:04.400
Like, how do you get into the dead?
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:07.119
Like, well, what would you say to someone that's how would you break in?
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:08.640
What's the album to listen to?
00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:11.359
It's is there an album or is it a show?
00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:17.759
If you're gonna go album now, you probably do like American Beauty or something, but like I'm an album guy, exactly what I did.
00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:20.319
You go to well, okay, so that's one thing.
00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:31.440
But the you know, there's to go to the show, there's interviews with the dead where I think David Letterman says, you know, you guys don't sell that many albums or something, or how come you let people record your shows?
00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:32.960
Aren't you supposed to sell albums?
00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:38.640
And they'd make a line like, We never, you know, if we ever made a good album, we'd you know, maybe people would buy it.
00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:50.400
But the whole thing was that you know, there would you go to the shows and there'd be this section of tapers with little microphones, and they'd record the shows, and then you'd like to trade the shows like baseball cards, you know.
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:52.000
Oh, trade the the audio from the show.
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:52.799
You'd get the audio.
00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.519
Oh, I got a you know, second generation version of the show.
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.319
Everyone had a little cassettes that they would because they're they're a jam band, right?
00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.039
So it's all improvised.
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:00.480
Every show's Different.
00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:01.039
Yeah.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:04.000
So yeah, I mean, best way to get him was go to a show.
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:04.480
Go to a show.
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:05.680
Wow, that's super cool.
00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:07.599
So I unfortunately don't have that opportunity.
00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:09.519
So how many shows did you go to?
00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.359
Um, the original Grateful Dead 25.
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.039
So Phil Cole.
00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.279
It's amazing he still has brain cells left.
00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.160
You guys are making assumptions that aren't necessarily correct.
00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.119
Yeah.
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.640
And so May Mayer was playing with him for a while, wasn't he?
00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:27.119
John Mayer.
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:27.359
Yes.
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:28.799
And you said they didn't they're not anymore?
00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:31.039
No, well, Bobby Weir passed away.
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.079
So that was kind of the glue.
00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:32.799
When did that happen?
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:33.359
Like last year.
00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:35.680
He died in uh he died in January.
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:35.920
Okay.
00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:36.640
This year.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:37.039
Okay.
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:37.440
Yeah.
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:42.640
So they played their last shows were in August, I think, in Golden Gate Park.
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:43.119
Wow.
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:43.440
Yeah.
00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:44.720
That have been epic.
00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:45.200
Yeah.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:45.680
Yeah.
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:46.319
Wow.
00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:48.400
But we we uh we went on a dead tangent.
00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:48.880
Let's go back.
00:22:49.039 --> 00:23:03.440
So what when you graduated high school, did you have any idea what you wanted to do or like um I knew I wanted to be in business and and and this is so I was in high school, you know, very different world back then.
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:12.880
There was no such thing as the internet, you know, it was a you know, your your access to information and involvement and knowledge about options and things was very limited.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:16.799
Um, you know, got in the University of Florida, was interested in Colorado.
00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.519
So you went to Tufts first and you were only there for a year, right?
00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:19.920
Two years.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:20.400
Two years?
00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:20.799
Two years.
00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:22.160
And then why did you want to leave?
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:26.000
So, okay, so that's that kind of ties into the same question you asked.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.880
So I knew I was interested in business for sure, 100%.
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:33.599
And and part of it was just exposure at Gulliver, like through career day.
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:37.759
I I was actually the president of the first chapter of Future Business Leaders of America.
00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:39.359
Look at you, you overachiever.
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.279
Yeah, I did little things like that.
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:51.200
And um, and you know, kids' parents at Gulliver, you know, you look around, you'd see some of these families that were at a different, like they were all in real estate, and I was intrigued by real estate.
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.039
So um it's time to go to college.
00:23:55.359 --> 00:24:06.319
I applied to some schools as a football recruit back when you took a VHS tap tape, your coach did and sent it, and I went on some recruiting visits and I got an offer to go to Tufts.
00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:06.960
Dang, dude.
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.279
And what that means really is that you're getting in a school that you might not have gotten into otherwise.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:13.119
So you got a scholarship there or no?
00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:14.640
They don't give scholarships in D3.
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.559
I got a I got an admission bump.
00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:22.000
Yeah, I got in a tufts ahead of people in my class with better grades and credentials to play football.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.480
So it still happens the same way today in D3.
00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:31.839
They they recruit people, they basically pre-screen them and say, if you want to go here, you can we'll basically get you in.
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:33.200
Yeah, they give you the green light.
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:34.960
So got into Tufts.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:38.799
My shoulder was messed up before I got there.
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:42.559
And I knew it was gonna be an issue, and I went there and didn't pass the physical.
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.279
They're like, All right, well, you're not gonna play this year, you need surgery.
00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:51.839
And unfortunately, well, whatever, for whatever reason, I got to college and started having fun and doing other things.
00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.359
I'm like, all right, I'm not gonna sit around.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:55.279
Did you put on the freshman 15 like I did?
00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:56.079
I did, yeah.
00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:57.200
I did, yeah, for sure.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:58.240
Yeah, I put it on.
00:24:58.319 --> 00:24:59.440
Yeah, maybe 20.
00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:00.160
Yeah.
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:01.519
That yeah.
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.079
So so I went to Tufts.
00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.759
At the time, Tufts was such an extreme liberal arts school.
00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.920
Like now, my son just graduated from there, and so did my middle, my daughter.
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:18.079
You know, they have entrepreneurship majors, they have finance classes, like there was nothing touching business.
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:23.599
Economics at Tufts was like high-end crazy calculus and theory and whatnot.
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:30.000
And after a couple of years, also growing up in the South, used to going on the boat in the afternoons and whatnot.
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.160
I'm just like, I don't want to be in the North.
00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:40.240
And so Florida, University of Florida, was one of only a handful of schools in the country that actually offered a real estate major.
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.119
And so I applied to Florida, transferred there, and became a major, you know, got a real estate major in the business uh program.
00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.480
So you so you finished out two years in gains two years in gains.
00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:51.200
Yeah.
00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:51.839
Yep.
00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:57.599
And then um what kind of classes did you take in that real estate major?
00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:04.240
Um, valuation, feasibility analysis, construction, marketing.
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:12.319
Yeah, there was an old program that was like XL, it would say probably Puriag is XL called Homer Jr.
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.319
that you try to run a cash flow model on.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:18.880
But yeah, it was basically exposure to real estate as well as regular finance classes.
00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:23.920
So you graduate from Gainesville, and then um what's your next move?
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.400
So I graduated in 1991.
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:33.119
Um, those history buffs will know that that was like the abyss of the SNL crisis.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:37.119
So start applying to jobs, which remember we have no internet back then.
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:41.039
Back when you apply to jobs, you know, look at a couple of paper and classifying.
00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:44.400
The job market was terrible.
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:49.920
Um I started doing some work going back to our friend Phil Gross.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.799
Phil worked for a guy named Bobby Ballow, who was a big buyer of tax certificates.
00:26:55.039 --> 00:27:01.519
And Phil had this gig where he would like give all of his friends contract work where you basically drive around the state.
00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:05.359
They would buy these tax certificates on properties all over the state.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:12.559
And you'd have to go down the county courthouse and look through the documents and find the property and where it is and go see it.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:18.480
And so, and spent, I don't know, months just driving around the state evaluating properties.
00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:24.480
Yeah, this is a actually a real property, or no, this is submerged land at the bottom of the lake.
00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:32.480
And they, you know, just so they can make the decision to go ahead and buy the tax deed and pursue foreclosure or hope to get paid off, whatever else.
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:38.240
So did that for a while and decided that I would apply to law school.
00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:41.200
And maybe I'd go to law school, kind of focus on real estate law.
00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:46.079
And then when I get out, I could either become a lawyer or focus on real estate or go on the business side.
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:46.799
So that's what I did.
00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:55.119
Applied to UM, got in, um, and started uh UM law school in fall of '92.
00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:57.920
And you were there for three years.
00:27:58.240 --> 00:27:58.640
Three years.
00:27:58.799 --> 00:27:59.680
Did you work during that time?
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:00.559
I did.
00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:00.720
Yeah.
00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:01.119
I did.
00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:02.319
What did you do?
00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.279
So I actually was a pretty decent law student.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:06.079
Yeah.
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:16.160
And I had uh uh a clerk uh an internship or whatever you call it with a firm called Kubicki Draper, uh between first and second year of law school.
00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:27.599
They were more of an insurance defense firm, but they had a small corporate practice um and ended up working there both summers, um, but was able to also work there part-time through law school.
00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:28.240
So it was great.
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.640
I you know, I can go work 10 hours a week or whatever.
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:32.079
You were living at home at that time?
00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:40.720
Or you're um I lived at home for the first year and then lived on Miami Beach um the second two years.
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:42.240
What year is in the Miami Beach?
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:44.000
Like 93, 94?
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:45.680
Well, yes.
00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:56.079
So orientation with for law school, like the night we went out for orientation was um August 23rd, 1992.
00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.400
So I grew up in Miami and it's August 23rd, 1992.
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:06.240
We're at Cocoa Walk, I think I forget Wetwillies or whatever the frozen drink place is.
00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.359
And I look up at the TV, I'm like Fat Tuesdays.
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:10.640
Fat Tuesdays, thank you.
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.160
You I'm like, that's a fucking cat five hurricane.
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:15.920
It's gonna be here tomorrow, right?
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.599
That was the like no one paid attention to hurricanes because we hadn't been hit for so long.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:26.640
And so it's the Sunday, no, it was Saturday night.
00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:31.039
I look up at the TV, I'm like, holy shit, that thing is like off the coast.
00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:32.319
It's gonna be here in a day.
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:35.279
And no one's leaving, no one's really paying attention.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.480
I come home, I was living at home, I'm like, do you guys realize we're about to get smacked by a hurricane?
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:47.039
My parents are like, Yeah, I think we just so all of a sudden we go into full lock up the house, get the hell out of dodge mode.
00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:50.319
So the bottom line is Miami obviously got smoked.
00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:53.359
Law school got delayed for three years.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:56.319
I mean, three years, sorry, three weeks, three, four weeks.
00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:04.640
There was no power, there were no traffic lights, and so it was a little bit of a free-for-all that first six months kind of moving around because our house got toasted.
00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:05.920
Oh, your house got toasted.
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:06.160
Yeah.
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:07.359
Where'd you guys go?
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:08.880
You got in you, this was the house.
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:10.720
This is a house in Gables by the Sea.
00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:11.200
Yeah.
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:16.079
I mean, there was there was uh seawater up 15 feet on the side of the house.
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:22.400
Like all the boats in the canal were piled up, the closet caved in, every every bit of clothing I had was coming soaked up.
00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:23.759
Everything was totally gone.
00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:24.640
The house was totaled.
00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:28.000
It wasn't, I mean, it got soaking wet and had to be redone.
00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:28.400
But yeah.
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:30.240
How many feet of water did you have in your house?
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:31.519
You know, it was weird.
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:34.960
The water was there, but it it it didn't flood all the way.
00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:43.039
I mean, the floor was soaked, the roof parts came in, so like you had water coming through different places, it was in all the wrong places.
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:47.200
Were you guys there for the you guys got out of there?
00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:47.920
You got out, yeah.
00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:49.920
Because you guys were right on the water, too.
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:50.799
Yeah, so yeah.
00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:54.960
So then you like run up to Boca, get a hotel, and then start thinking, well, shit, where are we gonna live?
00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:00.000
Because this is yeah, you don't the mind doesn't process how how this is gonna go.
00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:09.839
So we realize that we got a problem and we're able to get a place at the grand downtown, like within a couple of days.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:18.000
So I start off at the grand now that school opens up, but the drive to get from the grand to University of Miami was like two and a half hours.
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:19.200
Because none of the traffic lights.
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:21.279
We had the traffic lights and everything.
00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:34.960
So I bounced around in some places, and then about a month later, the power goes on back at our house, and the air conditioning goes on, even though a ton of windows are blown out.
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:49.599
So I basically, for the next couple of months, lived in at my house, like put in an air mattress, would go to law school, you know, do my stuff all day, and then coming back would have to go through two National Guard checkpoints to get to the house.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:51.039
Was your mom living in the house?
00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:52.400
No, they were living in Graham.
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:53.599
I'm like, I'm not I'm out of here.
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:54.640
No, it's just me.
00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.440
It was just me.
00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:56.960
So it was it was a little bit of a disruptive.
00:31:58.079 --> 00:31:59.200
It was glamping, yeah.
00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:03.119
Anyway, it's so it's so then you eventually moved to South Beach.
00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:03.680
Yes.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.000
South Beach, what year did you move to South Beach?
00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:10.000
Because that's kind of like the 1994-ish.
00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:10.799
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:12.079
That's like prime South Beach.
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:13.359
It was, yeah, it was pretty prime.
00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:19.200
Yeah, that's when all the the fashion and photography was happening.
00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:23.359
It was just starting to like starting to trend, right?
00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:24.720
It was a pretty nutty place.
00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:25.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:27.440
Where in the beach did you live?
00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:29.039
Morton Towers.
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:30.480
Morton with the Flamingo.
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:31.920
That's on the Flamingo.
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:33.519
But the old Morton.
00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:40.400
So the back then Morton Towers was these two older buildings, like old.
00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:46.480
The population there was still probably 60% old person.
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:46.880
Yeah.
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:59.920
So you'd have young people like us, like doing our thing and going out at midnight, you know, coming back at four, and then you'd have you'd get in the elevator with like old lady on stroke on a walker.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.240
I mean, it was a definitely an eclectic mix.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:02.559
Yeah.
00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.359
I think I went to Morton Towers when I was in in like '97.
00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:08.400
Um a friend of mine from high school had moved there.
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:10.720
And it's exactly as you described.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:18.640
Like it was just like it was pretty dated, but it was like a mix of you know, young and then very elderly people.
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:19.680
Yeah, it's cool, man.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:21.279
Actually, they redid it completely.
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:24.640
They built another tower, and my daughter and a boyfriend just moved in there.
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:26.319
They just moved back from New York and they live there now.
00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:26.880
Oh, really?
00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:27.440
Full circle.
00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:28.240
Different world.
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:29.200
I mean full circle moment.
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:31.759
Yeah, it's just like super highly amenitized.
00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:33.119
It looks like a Vegas hotel.
00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:33.519
Yeah.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:35.759
Isn't it like a national apartment firm that owns it now?
00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:38.000
Like yeah, it's not Amley, but it's like one of those.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:40.319
I forget who it is, but it's like that.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:41.200
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:48.880
So uh okay, so you're you spent two years on South Beach while you're in law school.
00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:50.079
You graduate from law school.
00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:51.119
What happens?
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:54.000
Um, graduate from law school.
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:55.920
Did you intend to practice?
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:56.960
Oh, okay.
00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:57.839
So that's a good point.
00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.079
So I I was agonizing over it.
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:11.760
And I, you know, do I probably I had an offer from a firm, I don't remember what their final name was, whether it was Rudin Bark, it was Rudin Barnett that became Rudom McCloskey or vice versa.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:16.000
It was a Fort Lauderdale-based firm that did a lot of real estate.
00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:22.400
And so um I had an offer to go work for them and I had to decide, make a decision.
00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:33.360
And I had been at Kubicke, you know, I got a taste of what it was like to be at a law firm where you're keeping track of every, you know, 0.1 or every six minutes of your hour and billing time.
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:36.800
And I realized that I did not want to be on that side of it.
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:41.119
So I started looking for real estate jobs.
00:34:41.440 --> 00:35:02.400
And I um my stepfather, who was a pediatrician, actually, my pediatrician, um was um one of his patients was Carol Brooks, uh, who was the owner, one of the partners of founders of Crack Content Real Estate Company where I originally worked.
00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:07.199
And so I met Carol, you know, once again, back then, no internet, you got a network, who do you know?
00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:09.360
Introduced me to this person, that person.
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:15.280
And they're like, look, and I had no real estate on my resume other than the tax certificate gig a little bit.
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:26.559
So second semester, third year of law school, I left Kubicke and started working there, really part-time while I was finishing law school.
00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:36.719
And I didn't necessarily think I was gonna continue, but did that, took the bar, and then after the bar, I ended up um going back there, and that's where I started my real estate career.
00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:41.679
But but Craig was were they they weren't just brokers, they did some other stuff as well, right?
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:46.400
So in 1995, Craig was found, they started Kreck in '93.
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:47.920
What does that stand for, Craig?
00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:49.519
Continental Real Estate Company.
00:35:50.079 --> 00:36:00.000
So Warren Weiser's dad, Woody, was an icon of South Florida real estate, Woody Weiser, you know, just a huge pillar of the community in real estate.
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:04.719
He had a company with Donnie Lefton called the Continental Companies, and they were a big hotel company.
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:06.559
Warren had worked there.
00:36:06.639 --> 00:36:09.199
And Warren and Carol, about 10 years older than me.
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:12.639
Carol's father was Mel Greenberg, who founded Greenberg Trowick.
00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:16.159
So they were both two connected real estate families, Miami families.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:21.840
They decided to start this company to be a real estate service, a commercial real estate service company.
00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:27.440
So they started in '93 and were doing management leasing and a little bit of brokerage.
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:33.760
Um, and at the time, started buying a couple of office buildings with some larger joint venture partners.
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:36.239
Colony Capital was the big group at the time.
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:41.199
And so I basically started out doing landlord office leasing.
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:44.079
I mean, that's what there was an opportunity to do, you know.
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:45.920
Kind of like an in-house agent.
00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:49.599
Yeah, we had we had uh, you know, we had a handful of properties we were handling.
00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:58.000
Um, some that we had our company had some owner, our principals had some ownership interest in, and others that were purely third party.
00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:01.599
And like, okay, you know, go go lease space.
00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:06.320
And basically, you know, you're like, you're dealing with inbound calls, you're meeting with brokers, you know.
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:10.639
Um, but it started teaching me the elements of the business.
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:13.679
You know, I learned like, all right, where's value created?
00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:15.360
How do you get lease deals done?
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:16.639
How much do you have to spend on TI?
00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:20.800
So that's that's how I started um in the business.
00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:23.440
So how how long did you do office leasing for?
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:28.639
So I started doing that in '95, full time.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:34.079
And then what happened, kind of my evolution um occurred as follows.
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:44.639
So in 1997, I think it was, yeah, maybe it was 96, 96, 97, um, we started expanding the brokerage business.
00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:55.199
And we got a listing, not we, I wasn't involved with it, they got a listing to sell a shopping center in Durral, the public steal, Durral Plaza at the time that Lenaro.
00:37:56.079 --> 00:38:04.320
And they were going through the there's a guy named Jeffrey Brown who came over, who was a great, you know, salesman broker, but wasn't necessarily as much of a detail guy.
00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:13.840
And we started getting in the transaction, and they're like, shit, we need to know who's gonna manage this transaction and figure out the due diligence process and like, hey, you're a lawyer, look at this LOI.
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:15.039
What do we need to do here?
00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:20.159
So I jumped in the LOI, okay, we need to prepare a contract, we need to send over due diligence materials.
00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:24.400
Oh, you know, so I basically jumped into the transaction team.
00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:29.119
Um, and after that deal really became part of the sale process.
00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:44.960
So anytime we got something to sell, and at the time, you know, affiliates of Lenar Investments, which was the predecessor, predecessor of LNR, um, had bought these giant pools of distress loans from the RTC.
00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:53.360
And so we would get the man, we would get the job of go fix, you know, go triage these, take them over, lease them up, manage them, stabilize them, sell them.
00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:58.400
And so we would get a, you know, we were selling a handful of shopping centers and office buildings every year.
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:06.000
And so at that point, now I'm doing spending half my time on office leasing, half my time on investment sales.
00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:18.480
And then what happened was we started talking around the water cooler and Carol Warner, like, hey, you know, we'd really like to get into Orlando and we really need to figure out a way to start buying things.
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:23.840
So, you know, being young and dumb and hungry, I'm like, no, we can start looking at property.
00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:29.519
So I started calling brokers and going to conferences and trying to find things that we could buy.
00:39:29.679 --> 00:39:40.239
And so in 1998, I found a shopping center up in Orlando that had all kinds of moving parts and mixed up things.
00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:49.920
And we ended up putting together a deal to buy it, bringing in a partner, and basically we ended up flipping it to them, and they gave us like the leasing of four other centers in Orlando.
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.800
So boom, we had an Orlando market, and that's how I got a new acquisition.
00:39:54.880 --> 00:40:04.400
So from like '98 to probably 2002, I was doing a one-third brokerage, one-third leasing, one-third acquisitions.
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:10.400
And then by like 2002 or three, I pretty much moved into the acquisition side completely.
00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:15.440
And and Craig mostly did offices and some retail.
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:17.840
Um, by the end, it was the other way around.
00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:22.719
It was it was office and retail, you know, not multifamily, not industrial.
00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:26.079
Um, at the end of the day, we were much bigger.
00:40:26.159 --> 00:40:29.760
We had a we had a strong office presence, but we were much bigger in retail.
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:30.159
Yeah.
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:30.800
Yeah.
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:32.800
And so, yeah.
00:40:33.679 --> 00:40:36.239
And so you were you were with Krek for how long?
00:40:36.880 --> 00:40:41.440
Um, I was with Krek for 20 years, right?
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:48.719
Yeah, from two 90, well, a little more, 95 until January of 2016.
00:40:49.039 --> 00:40:52.559
And how does that work as a like an you were an in-house broker, kind of?
00:40:52.719 --> 00:40:56.000
Were you were you brokering deals for Crek, or were there two parties?
00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:56.719
No, no.
00:40:57.280 --> 00:40:58.239
I mean, what do you mean?
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:08.320
What when you said what you said you started getting investment sales, were you so Craig look, Krek was to the community, and first and foremost, a third-party service provider.
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:17.760
Okay, did management leasing accounting, brokerage, construction, everything affiliate associated with that for retail and office, both as owners and also on the tenant rep side.
00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:30.159
Um, that being said, the principals, you know, we Carol Warren, myself, Alan Eskenazi, and others who were there would always be looking for deals for us to buy.
00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:33.280
Sometimes it'd be smaller deals, we just buy them ourselves.
00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:34.800
Sometimes it'd be a little bit bigger.
00:41:34.880 --> 00:41:38.800
We go out and bring in money from friends and family, and sometimes they'd be much bigger.
00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:42.480
We bring in like a big, large fund capital partner and institution.
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:42.960
Got it.
00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:45.440
So you kind of the same thing I'm doing now, right?
00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:51.679
But in the confines of a service platform, which had some pros and some cons.
00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:52.719
Interesting.
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:54.880
Well, what was the pros and cons of that?
00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:59.440
I mean, the you had to be sensitive to the conflicts, right?
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:10.480
We were out trying to pitch business and be a service provider to buyers of real estate, and yet on the other side, we were looking to potentially compete with them and buy the same real estate.
00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:10.800
Right.
00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:24.079
So we always kept the investment side hush-hushed and kind of marketed as a a secondary component, which is part of the reason why I wanted why I made the change ultimately and started Highline.
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:27.039
So you started Highline in 2016?
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:27.599
Yes.
00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:29.440
And what is Highline?
00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:35.519
Highline is a uh real estate investment platform.
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:40.880
Um, we do some advisory work, uh, but mostly a real estate investment platform.
00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:51.599
Our primary focus is that we have um a discretionary fund vehicle where we've raised capital commitments and we go out and we look to buy value add real estate.
00:42:51.840 --> 00:43:02.880
Um and sometimes it's just through our fund, sometimes it's with our fund and joint ventures with strategic operating partners, and sometimes it's with larger capital partners.
00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:03.840
And what was that like?
00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:07.440
I mean, that's a big jump to leave what you had for 20 years.
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:10.639
I mean, that's a hell of a run at a at a at the same place.
00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:12.000
It's a big leap of faith.
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:13.840
So, what was that process like?
00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:16.800
Um, it was a little tricky.
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:30.719
I mean, so we were very we were very active buying distress and dislocation around the financial crisis and servicing it, you know, acting as a receiver to at crack.
00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:31.039
Right.
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:31.440
Right.
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:32.559
So were you buying?
00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:33.599
You're buying distressed debt?
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:34.480
Like what were you buying?
00:43:34.719 --> 00:43:35.440
All the above.
00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:35.840
Yeah.
00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:47.360
So what happened is in 2008, nine, really nine, when the world was falling apart, we started calling all the servicers and the banks and saying, What can we buy from you?
00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:48.239
The best time to buy.
00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:48.960
Yeah, what can we buy?
00:43:49.039 --> 00:43:49.440
What can we buy?
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:49.920
Yeah, yeah.
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:58.880
And what we found, especially with the special servicers, is we don't want to sell, we want to like take it back, work it ourselves, and we're gonna make the money.
00:43:59.039 --> 00:43:59.760
So then we're like.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.760
Like, all right, well, we have all the infrastructure to do that.
00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:06.000
Let us do it for you.
00:44:06.239 --> 00:44:11.840
So on one side of the table, we were acting as a service provider.
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:14.719
I think, you know, Warren and I did a bunch of receivership.
00:44:14.800 --> 00:44:24.480
Some other guys in the other people in the office did too, but we would act as court-appointer receiver for special servicers and different banks and be responsible for receiving these properties.
00:44:24.639 --> 00:44:27.840
Crack would do the management leasing and ideally do the sales.
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:30.880
So we were doing that to keep the lights on.
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:38.159
But at the same time, those relationships were giving us certain advantages from time to time to buy assets.
00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:45.599
Sometimes we'd have a service like, hey, I'm not going to use a receiver here, but you know, you come buy this thing, we'll sell it to you.
00:44:46.079 --> 00:44:46.239
Yeah.
00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:52.239
So we did some pretty cool deals that were the result of us being a server service provider doing that work.
00:44:52.320 --> 00:44:58.639
And so we bought non-performing loans, we bought real estate that prop, yeah, that lenders took back.
00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:00.000
Very different environment.
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:01.039
I mean, there was no capital.
00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:02.480
You had to buy everything all cash.
00:45:02.559 --> 00:45:04.239
We had different partners we bought it with.
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:06.639
But we did a bunch of those deals.
00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:13.840
And by 2016, 15, 16, we had either sold through them all, right?
00:45:13.920 --> 00:45:23.920
We had bought them, taken it back, repositioned them, sold them, or they were stabilized enough where I wasn't, you know, I knew that they would be okay and they'd be sold in the next couple of years.
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.719
And I had several deals that would keep coming through.
00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:29.119
So it was kind of an ideal time.
00:45:29.199 --> 00:45:30.800
We were going to have to rebuild the portfolio.
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:38.639
I'm like, all right, if I'm going to go take the jump and start something new, I'm going to do it now while we're kind of starting fresh and have sold out of what we already had.
00:45:38.880 --> 00:45:40.159
And how do you raise a fund?
00:45:40.239 --> 00:45:45.440
Because I feel like that's such a I mean, obviously you had 20 years of track record to lean on, which I think is huge.
00:45:45.519 --> 00:45:49.039
But is that the biggest thing to lean on when raising like a fund with discretionary capital?
00:45:49.119 --> 00:45:53.760
Because when you're telling people, give me money, trust me, I'll do good deals, they really have to believe in you.
00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:56.320
I mean, that's a big like how do you how do you do that?
00:45:56.639 --> 00:45:57.920
It's not easy.
00:45:58.079 --> 00:46:09.519
Um, and so um, you know, one of my partners, Matt Papinen, was one of the first um MDs at Rialto Capital when they formed.
00:46:09.760 --> 00:46:21.760
And so Matt had a tremendous amount of experience buying distressed debt, working through all the things that Rialto Dill did, building that up, and being in a fun context.
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:28.320
Uh, David Milgram, other another partner, was at um the Sterling organization.
00:46:28.480 --> 00:46:31.039
So he had fund experience.
00:46:31.119 --> 00:46:34.719
So I got two partners who had worked for with bigger funds, you know.
00:46:34.880 --> 00:46:38.639
Andrew Remick's another partner with me who was with me at Krek.
00:46:38.960 --> 00:46:41.679
And so there's continuity and track record there.
00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:48.320
And so, look, a lot of the people in our fund were repeat investors, have been investing with us for many years.
00:46:48.400 --> 00:46:50.320
So they've seen what we've done.
00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:56.480
Um, and a lot of it was built on trust and reputation and things of that nature.
00:46:56.639 --> 00:47:08.719
You know, it was it was a tricky time to raise because it was 2023-24, and we were calling a cycle that hadn't happened yet, and trying to identify what it would be.
00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:19.840
And as we sit here today, you know, it turns out I think we were generally right, and we're finishing fund one and we're getting ready to start raising fund two in the next couple of months or so.
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:22.159
How much money did you raise for fund one?
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:26.880
So, I mean, we have a couple different ways that the fund's set up.
00:47:27.039 --> 00:47:34.480
We have kind of direct investments and just the base fund that are fully discretionary commitments, and that's it's not a big number, it's 50, a little over$50 million.
00:47:34.880 --> 00:47:38.079
And we have a handful of sidecar commitments that flex that.
00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:42.639
But, you know, we've deployed about 70% of the fund.
00:47:42.880 --> 00:47:46.880
And with that, we've acquired about$520 million worth of real estate.
00:47:46.960 --> 00:47:51.599
So a lot of what we've done have been in joint ventures with large fund partners.
00:47:51.760 --> 00:47:59.280
So the fund serves as kind of a mix for like our deal in Hyalea, we did with you guys, the fund was the capital.
00:47:59.519 --> 00:48:01.280
We just did another portfolio.
00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:04.159
We bought, you know, five little shopping centers in Atlanta.
00:48:04.239 --> 00:48:07.119
That was funds capital that fits within the right size.
00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:12.880
But when we buy a you know$220 million office building, then the fund is kind of the sponsor's capital.
00:48:13.039 --> 00:48:16.639
We have a larger LP behind us or alongside of us.
00:48:16.880 --> 00:48:19.679
And what are the logistics of raising a fund?
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:24.079
Is them does the cash literally come into like a fund bank account and just sit in like a money market fund?
00:48:24.400 --> 00:48:26.000
No, it's called capital commitments.
00:48:26.320 --> 00:48:32.239
So an investor in a fund says, I'm committing, I'm committing to give you this amount of money.
00:48:32.559 --> 00:48:40.639
You have a certain period of time to call it, usually two years from the final close, when you when you close out the fund.
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:43.280
You know, you often have extension options.
00:48:43.440 --> 00:48:50.719
Um, and once you've called the money, then you're not calling, you know, you can hold back some money for future needs, but that's it.
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:55.360
So you you don't fund the money until there's deals to use it or expect things to use it for.
00:48:55.679 --> 00:49:00.719
And then you start returning it as the fund um returns capital.
00:49:00.800 --> 00:49:02.159
Uh the contract.
00:49:02.239 --> 00:49:02.800
Like I will pay.
00:49:03.039 --> 00:49:03.760
It is a contract.
00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:05.039
Yeah, it's a contractual relationship.
00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:08.000
But do the deals have to hit certain return hurdles or anything?
00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:09.199
Are there like metrics like that?
00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:10.239
Or it's not.
00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:19.199
I mean, at the end of the day, there is a box, like only a certain amount outside the Southeast United States, and you're supposed to do these kinds of investments.
00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:24.159
So there are there are elements within the documents that we have to stand behind.
00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:28.159
And if we were to deviate from that, we'd go to an advisory committee and get approval.
00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:34.159
But basically, it's kind of our judgment to say that they meet the criteria we're seeking.
00:49:34.480 --> 00:49:35.119
That's cool.
00:49:35.280 --> 00:49:35.599
Yeah.
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:49.039
And it look, it it changes in a cycle, and we could talk about the cycle if you want to, but in a in a in a disrupted cycle, it's a game changer because you got to act decisively.
00:49:49.119 --> 00:50:00.960
And, you know, so the model of you know, going to a bank and saying we want to buy your debt, and you know, where's the oh we have to we have to go raise it, like that doesn't work, you know.
00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:07.440
But being able to say we have access to the capital, we can use the subscription line to close when we're ready to.
00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:10.559
Here's, you know, kind of proof that we have those funds.
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:17.679
And for the investors and for us, because we're an investor in it too, the benefit of the diversification is huge, right?
00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:30.639
Like, you know, you go out in a market like this where things are a little bit broken or shaken up, like there's a huge benefit to diversifying among product type and and risk profile and things of that nature.
00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:31.840
And what is that in highlighting?
00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:34.400
Do you have are you product type agnostic?
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:36.079
Like, what's the focus of the fund?
00:50:36.639 --> 00:50:53.039
So the focus of the fund um from a you know at the at this yeah, it's basically a value add fund, you know, seeking high mid to high teens, kind of leveraged IRRs, go to hit a you know, hopefully double the investor's equity.
00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:58.559
We focus on office, retail, multifamily, and industrial.
00:50:58.639 --> 00:51:04.239
Um, our primary operating focus is uh uh office and retail.
00:51:04.320 --> 00:51:09.760
And we have strategic partners in different areas that we execute on those businesses.
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:19.920
Um multifamily is something that we do generally in joint ventures with others who are vertically integrated professional multifamily investors.
00:51:20.400 --> 00:51:28.159
Um, but look, our whole approach to most reels is like trying to figure out the problem and solve it, right?
00:51:28.320 --> 00:51:41.760
We seek things, you know, we've got this market cycle going on that we, you know, there are different elements to it, but at the end of the day, we look for properties that are underperforming due generally to something going on with the current ownership.
00:51:42.000 --> 00:52:03.760
They either pay too much for it, they have too much debt, they inherit it, don't know what they're doing, they're from out of town, things like that, where we can then call on our relationships, you know, call tenants, call brokers, uh, you know, lean on 30 years of knowledge in these markets and figure out how to solve the puzzle really before we buy something.
00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:12.000
And and, you know, to that end, you know, a lot of the investors in the fund, a lot of our smaller investors are are brokers that are specialists in different areas.
00:52:12.159 --> 00:52:19.840
So we've got like a great industrial sale guy, great retail sale person, a great leasing person that's a head of retail leasing for a big company.
00:52:19.920 --> 00:52:22.239
So people are actually have a vested interest.
00:52:22.400 --> 00:52:24.000
When we go, hey, we're looking at this deal.
00:52:24.079 --> 00:52:24.880
What do you think?
00:52:25.119 --> 00:52:26.400
Like they go the extra step.
00:52:26.559 --> 00:52:29.679
Well, let me talk to my person in this market, let me figure this out.
00:52:29.760 --> 00:52:32.960
And you know, because they can and and it helps sourcing deals too.
00:52:33.199 --> 00:52:33.440
Totally.
00:52:33.519 --> 00:52:34.400
That makes a lot of sense.
00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:37.119
And you're focused on the southeast or yes, okay.
00:52:37.280 --> 00:52:40.400
Yeah, not to say, I mean, we have the ability to do things out of the market.
00:52:40.639 --> 00:52:44.400
So, you know, what we also source through our relationship.
00:52:44.559 --> 00:52:52.800
So we see opportunities from time to time where you know there's a unique situation, maybe a deal's out of market, and so we'll we have the ability to do it.
00:52:52.880 --> 00:52:55.519
We haven't thus far really left the southeast.
00:52:55.840 --> 00:52:59.440
Southeast includes is basically SEC football.
00:52:59.840 --> 00:53:01.679
Yeah, Texas, Southeast.
00:53:01.760 --> 00:53:01.920
Yeah.
00:53:02.159 --> 00:53:02.639
What's your favorite?
00:53:02.800 --> 00:53:04.400
What's your favorite part about this fund?
00:53:05.760 --> 00:53:11.599
Um my favorite part about it is yeah, look, I'm a deal junkie.
00:53:11.760 --> 00:53:17.360
I I I I mean, we we have a we just there's always a robust pipeline.
00:53:17.599 --> 00:53:27.679
You know, we don't generally buy things that are down the middle of the fairway, like a mark, you know, a great publix deal with perfect term and beautiful tenants is not our thing.
00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:40.079
You know, we like to look at things that have some wrinkle to them and figure out if those that issue, that wrinkle, that glitch is uh can be solved and then try to solve it.
00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:46.400
And, you know, doing this for as long as we have, you know, just especially in retail.
00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:54.960
Retail is probably the this the uh asset class I like the most because you know, the ability to pick up the phone and call a tenant, be like, hey, you're here.
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:55.599
What do you think?
00:53:55.679 --> 00:53:58.239
You know, tell me about your store spacing, why does this work?
00:53:58.320 --> 00:54:00.719
And or you're not here, would you come here?
00:54:01.039 --> 00:54:03.039
Would you come here if I can bring this tenant along?
00:54:03.199 --> 00:54:14.880
And that's a very nuanced asset class that that really there's a much bigger delta uh between what someone can do who knows what they're doing and is focused and not.
00:54:15.039 --> 00:54:22.079
I mean, we've bought deals from big REITs that you would think have squeezed every dollar out of their asset that were asleep at the wheel.
00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:38.400
We're like, why you know we bought a we bought a deal back in my, you know, my at Crack Um from a from a REIT or an affiliate of a REIT that this is like May of 2007, right?
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:45.519
There's no month that signifies the absolute peak of the market more than May of 2007.
00:54:45.920 --> 00:54:56.320
And there was a shopping center that had um a tenant paying 12 bucks gross, and we just did the last box deal in the market at 20 triple net.
00:54:56.480 --> 00:54:56.719
Wow.
00:54:56.880 --> 00:55:00.800
And we went to the tenant who didn't have any locations in the market.
00:55:00.960 --> 00:55:02.079
We're like, hey, would you go away?
00:55:02.159 --> 00:55:04.000
And like, yeah, pay me 75 grand.
00:55:04.239 --> 00:55:07.679
I mean, there's a 25,000 foot tenant, and they left.
00:55:07.760 --> 00:55:11.599
And then we went ahead and put a$19 triple net tenant in there.
00:55:11.920 --> 00:55:18.719
So a lot of times people are just asleep at the wheel, and you got to come in with fresh eyes and really shake things up and figure out how you can reposition something.
00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:25.360
And retail is interesting because there's a lot of taste involved, like knowing what's good in terms of tenants and what's cool and what's working.
00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:26.800
It's a lot of curation.
00:55:27.119 --> 00:55:38.559
It is, it is, and now look, there's like what Michael Comras does, which is you know, super taste oriented and curated Lincoln Road and High Street Urban.
00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:42.159
We're more focused on community and neighborhood center.
00:55:42.320 --> 00:55:43.920
So it's a little less sexy, you know.
00:55:44.320 --> 00:55:50.079
Like, yeah, can we get rid of you know so-and-so tenant and put in Ross?
00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:51.519
Who's you know, right?
00:55:51.679 --> 00:56:02.079
Yeah, do we yeah, a lot more of that kind of middle of the road, another grocer, you know, but not, you know, you know, not what Craig Robbins did in the design district, which is super cool.
00:56:02.239 --> 00:56:03.840
It's just not what we specialize in.
00:56:04.079 --> 00:56:04.559
Makes sense.
00:56:04.639 --> 00:56:04.800
Yeah.
00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:05.840
Makes sense.
00:56:06.079 --> 00:56:08.159
So what's uh what's fun two gonna look like?
00:56:08.239 --> 00:56:09.679
Is it the same strategy?
00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:11.360
Um, it is.
00:56:11.599 --> 00:56:17.760
I think that um, you know, this cycle has Are there cycles anymore, by the way?
00:56:17.920 --> 00:56:22.239
Like I feel like everyone talks about real estate cycles, seven years, all this bullshit, and none of it's played out.
00:56:22.400 --> 00:56:24.960
I started in real estate in 09 buying distressed debt.
00:56:25.119 --> 00:56:28.239
All right, so you were in every everyone's like, oh, it's a seven-year cycle.
00:56:28.320 --> 00:56:33.280
And I feel like the distressed debt dried up in like 2011, 2012, the good deals anyway.
00:56:33.440 --> 00:56:36.320
And then uh it's just been like up and to the right ever since.
00:56:36.400 --> 00:56:39.679
It's been um but it's but now it's it's weird.
00:56:39.760 --> 00:56:41.679
It's like asset class specific.
00:56:41.760 --> 00:56:42.719
It depends on who's doing what.
00:56:42.960 --> 00:56:44.239
Yeah, I think we're in a cycle.
00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:52.000
I mean, look, the GFC was a major, major event, right?
00:56:52.239 --> 00:57:01.599
I mean, you would like what bank failed today every Friday, even after like even in like 2008, 9, you're like, okay, what bank got taken over?
00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:06.480
They they they'd wait till Friday afternoon, yeah, so people couldn't run on the bank, and you get a notice.
00:57:06.639 --> 00:57:09.119
The FDIC just came in and rated such and such a bank.
00:57:09.280 --> 00:57:13.760
I remember I was living in LA at the time and I saw all the regulators rush into Cynovis Bank.
00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:14.800
I remember Cynovis.
00:57:14.880 --> 00:57:18.159
It was like Cynovis is around and it's a healthy bank.
00:57:18.239 --> 00:57:21.199
One of our yeah, we really think it was Cynovis, but I can't maybe it was a different one.
00:57:21.280 --> 00:57:24.800
But I remember, and then I remember seeing their their pools pop up in DedX like a week later.
00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:25.760
We were bidding on them.
00:57:25.920 --> 00:57:28.639
Yeah, and so it was crazy to see like the correlation.
00:57:28.960 --> 00:57:30.079
Yeah, it was a mess.
00:57:30.239 --> 00:57:34.320
I mean, yeah, and and it wasn't so you had a financial crisis, right?
00:57:34.480 --> 00:57:41.360
The banks all went down, so everyone hoarded cash, and then you had a huge economic crisis, right?
00:57:41.519 --> 00:57:47.360
So your retail occupancies dropped off a cliff, you know, office tenants blew out overnight.
00:57:47.519 --> 00:57:51.519
Um, people moved into their parents' house because they couldn't afford their rent anymore.
00:57:51.599 --> 00:57:52.400
No one traveled.
00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:55.360
So it was a disaster across the board.
00:57:55.760 --> 00:58:08.159
Now you look at what happened in, and the economy was like humming on crack because all this free money after COVID and interest rates were zero, and all of a sudden rates go up.
00:58:08.400 --> 00:58:14.800
Okay, so rates go, but yet the economy has still remained robust.
00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:21.599
You know, we can talk about the K-shaped economy, and that's real, and there are definitely people hurting, and it it's there's a lot of weird dynamics.
00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:32.079
But if you work in Florida or the Southeast with the in-migration, like I've never seen office rent growth like we're seeing today, right?
00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:34.320
I mean, and I started out in office leasing.
00:58:34.480 --> 00:58:35.119
This is like a joke.
00:58:35.199 --> 00:58:42.639
I mean, rents grow, you know, each year by what the whole rent was when I started, you know, brickle rents were 25 bucks.
00:58:42.800 --> 00:58:44.800
They grow by 25 bucks a year right now.
00:58:44.960 --> 00:58:46.079
It's it's insane.
00:58:46.239 --> 00:58:52.559
And so at the same time, you have these, you know, the cost of capital is higher.
00:58:52.880 --> 00:58:58.880
You have these property type biases that are causing the debt to be shuffled.
00:58:59.119 --> 00:59:04.400
And so there's there's a repricing based on that cost of capital.
00:59:04.800 --> 00:59:09.840
Um, and what that means is, but things are still strong enough that people can hold on.
00:59:10.079 --> 00:59:10.800
That's what I was gonna say.
00:59:10.880 --> 00:59:13.599
There's there's no one, the sellers aren't motivated to sell.
00:59:13.679 --> 00:59:14.400
There's no push.
00:59:14.719 --> 00:59:24.960
But they are, you know, so what that what I see that as translating to is we have a larger section of the market that is underperforming, right?
00:59:25.199 --> 00:59:27.119
So you have have and have not.
00:59:27.280 --> 00:59:28.880
And that doesn't necessarily mean who you are.
00:59:29.039 --> 00:59:35.840
So we have institutions that have all the money in the world that bought assets 15 years ago that aren't investing in them.
00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:38.000
So those assets are underperforming.
00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:43.360
We have someone who bought it in 21 with crazy debt who's just smoked.
00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:52.800
And then we have someone who bought it last year with a fresh capital stack who's building out and let's talk office spec suites and did their lobby, and they're pushing rents to the sky.
00:59:53.119 --> 00:59:59.599
And so I think we're gonna be in this cycle where buildings are gonna they're underperforming.
00:59:59.679 --> 01:00:08.239
I mean, multifamily, everyone who bought multifamily at a three cap and now is borrowing north of 5%, and they know they're underwater.
01:00:08.480 --> 01:00:12.880
Maybe maybe they're at the debt level, but their equity's impaired.
01:00:13.039 --> 01:00:16.000
They're not investing in the asset, so they're underperforming.
01:00:16.159 --> 01:00:27.760
And so while we may not be in GFC style distress, we're really it, which by the way, coming out of GFC, it was like cheap interest rates for the next 10 years that that fueled the market.
01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:32.079
We're in a market where it's going to be operator driven, right?
01:00:32.159 --> 01:00:47.920
So there's gonna be so many opportunities of under you know to buy underperforming assets, assets that have been underinvested in for the last several years, that in a in an economy that is generally strong, where you can reposition it and add value.
01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:52.239
So it's back to like, you know, it used to be if you just bought it, you won, right?
01:00:52.320 --> 01:00:58.880
You bought something in 2011, it was, you know, now it's gonna be there's gonna be lots of things like we talked about before that are underperforming.
01:00:58.960 --> 01:01:00.880
There's a puzzle to solve, you can solve it.
01:01:01.039 --> 01:01:06.079
And if you are able to do that, you're gonna be able to, and you're good operating, you know what you're doing.
01:01:06.239 --> 01:01:08.159
I think you're gonna be able to add value.
01:01:08.400 --> 01:01:12.480
And you've got a shrinking supply of most things, right?
01:01:12.559 --> 01:01:16.559
The fact of the matter is, construction costs have gone up, debt costs are high.
01:01:16.800 --> 01:01:23.679
So, really, across asset classes, we're gonna see reduced supply pressure, I think, for the foreseeable future.
01:01:23.920 --> 01:01:27.199
Are you guys finding a lot of deals that that fit your buy box right now?
01:01:27.519 --> 01:01:28.400
Yeah, we are.
01:01:28.559 --> 01:01:35.519
I mean, that doesn't mean we're winning them all, but we are, I think we're I'm happy, we're happy with the pace of investment.
01:01:35.760 --> 01:01:40.559
I mean, you know, at any given point in time, we're seriously underwriting.
01:01:40.719 --> 01:01:46.880
Yeah, right now, I think we probably have like four to five deals I would say we're seriously pursuing.
01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:50.400
I you know, we could win zero or we could win two.
01:01:50.960 --> 01:01:55.440
But yeah, we uh we're we're we're pleased with the opportunities that are out there.
01:01:55.519 --> 01:01:57.039
They're not easy, like that.
01:01:57.119 --> 01:01:59.360
It's not an easy, it's never an easy time, right?
01:01:59.440 --> 01:02:02.000
Even when it feels easy, you're scared because something seems wrong.
01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:10.880
I I'd much rather be in this market than in 2021 when we could everyone who can fog a glass could go borrow at three and a half percent.
01:02:11.519 --> 01:02:12.159
Yeah.
01:02:12.480 --> 01:02:14.320
But oh nine was pretty fun.
01:02:14.960 --> 01:02:15.199
Yeah.
01:02:15.679 --> 01:02:17.119
If you weren't on the wrong side of it, yeah.
01:02:17.360 --> 01:02:21.039
Listen, if you were in the game, we were all listening we had a little bit on both sides of it.
01:02:21.119 --> 01:02:26.559
I I I you know, you sharpen your workout skills as a service provider, but you really sharpen them on your own asset.
01:02:26.800 --> 01:02:32.800
So we had a couple of deals that we had uh roll up our sleeves and and um that weren't fun.
01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:34.559
We lost some money, you know.
01:02:34.639 --> 01:02:43.119
That that's if you were, but you know, that the other thing is like going in 09, like the off-the-shelf debt quote was 80%.
01:02:43.760 --> 01:02:49.840
Like that's what you got, 80% leverage, like with 1-0 debt service coverage, no problem, at least CNBS.
01:02:49.920 --> 01:02:54.400
And so you're going into that cycle with a much different leverage point.
01:02:54.480 --> 01:02:58.239
You know, now like we don't go higher than 65%.
01:02:58.639 --> 01:03:01.440
You know, 65% you know, it gives you a little bit of cushion.
01:03:01.519 --> 01:03:06.880
And and I think that's part of the reason why we don't see the level of distress that we've seen.
01:03:06.960 --> 01:03:12.079
Uh, and once again, there's distress, and then there's when does it get addressed?
01:03:12.400 --> 01:03:22.079
So I think there's a lot of deals that were done at 65% financing that's sized at with 3% or whatever interest rates that are sucking wind.
01:03:22.239 --> 01:03:25.920
And eventually they're going to be dealt with.
01:03:28.079 --> 01:03:32.400
And uh you think you so you think the deal pace is gonna pick up, or where do you think we're at in the cycle now?
01:03:32.559 --> 01:03:49.840
Like you think it's gonna we're gonna keep seeing more and more deals, or what's your yeah, I do, and uh because one well, when you say deals, so first of all, liquidity, debt liquidity is like improving by the day.
01:03:50.079 --> 01:03:55.519
So even though interest rates are a lot higher and they're bouncing all over the place, spreads have come in.
01:03:55.599 --> 01:03:57.760
So there's a lot of capital for debt.
01:03:57.920 --> 01:04:02.719
A year and a half ago, um, you wanted debt for an office building.
01:04:02.800 --> 01:04:08.480
You know, you were borrowing at a year and a half ago, yeah, whatever, year and a half, two years ago.
01:04:08.559 --> 01:04:10.320
Well, let's go back, let's do it this way.
01:04:10.559 --> 01:04:16.719
You were buying office in 2023, your seller was your lender, or there was no debt, seller financing or nothing.
01:04:17.039 --> 01:04:31.039
2024, if your deal was transitional, there might be a couple of debt funds, and you were looking at all in rate that probably was flirting with 10% one way or the other, you know, unless you did recourse or whatever and it was a small deal.
01:04:31.199 --> 01:04:38.079
Um, debt markets really started coming back in 2000, into 2024, 25.
01:04:38.159 --> 01:04:40.239
You started seeing a big improvement, 25.
01:04:40.559 --> 01:04:44.000
And between there and today, it just continues to get better.
01:04:44.159 --> 01:04:45.920
So you got debt coming to market.
01:04:46.079 --> 01:04:49.519
You've got institutions and other big funds.
01:04:49.599 --> 01:04:53.679
Like we've seen, we've had conversations with funds, like talk to them in January.
01:04:53.840 --> 01:04:55.119
Uh, we won't touch office.
01:04:55.199 --> 01:04:57.199
If I bring office to committee, I'll get fired.
01:04:57.280 --> 01:04:58.960
You know, thanks for calling, but nobody.
01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:05.199
And then you talk to them three months later, like, oh, we just closed out our new fund and we got new capital and we're back looking at office.
01:05:05.360 --> 01:05:11.519
So I think everyone knows that they're the baby's been thrown out with the bathwater, right?
01:05:11.599 --> 01:05:13.760
It's it's similar to retail, although worse.
01:05:13.920 --> 01:05:16.559
Like there was a period of time where retail was a four-letter word.
01:05:16.639 --> 01:05:19.039
Everyone's going to shop online, you'll never go to a store again.
01:05:19.119 --> 01:05:21.039
And if you invest in retail, you're crazy.
01:05:21.199 --> 01:05:28.480
And now retail is probably the favorite asset class that people want to get into that often can't because they don't understand it.
01:05:28.639 --> 01:05:37.119
And so we're seeing people start to realize, even institutions, that there's good office and there's bad office.
01:05:37.360 --> 01:05:39.360
And the flight to quality.
01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:41.280
Flight to quality is real.
01:05:41.440 --> 01:05:45.599
And if you buy good office and growth markets, you know, you're gonna do well.
01:05:45.760 --> 01:05:49.840
I mean, people are fighting over San Francisco office 24 months ago.
01:05:50.639 --> 01:05:52.400
That was like crazy to really.
01:05:52.480 --> 01:05:54.559
I thought San Francisco is still a dumpster fire.
01:05:54.800 --> 01:05:58.960
No, San Francisco is like the best multifamily market in the country, yeah.
01:05:59.039 --> 01:05:59.679
Even with all the bums.
01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:00.480
Shit everywhere.
01:06:00.800 --> 01:06:01.039
Yeah.
01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:06.159
Even with like uh they have like homeless shelters that's like three or four stories, right?
01:06:07.119 --> 01:06:07.840
I haven't been there.
01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:11.199
Look, I we don't that's not our market, but I understand that's been clean up.
01:06:11.360 --> 01:06:20.480
And and when we talk to capital providers and ask what they've been doing, there's a common thing of people, some of the most conservative groups that we know.
01:06:20.639 --> 01:06:25.039
Like I call, hey, I got this great office deal, it's in Tampa, the market dynamics great.
01:06:25.119 --> 01:06:25.840
Look at the rent growth.
01:06:26.000 --> 01:06:28.400
Like, no, we're but we just bought in San Francisco.
01:06:28.719 --> 01:06:29.039
Okay.
01:06:29.440 --> 01:06:31.519
So people really love San Francisco.
01:06:31.679 --> 01:06:32.000
Really?
01:06:32.400 --> 01:06:35.599
Yeah, I think the I thought people were scared of California with all the crazy.
01:06:36.000 --> 01:06:38.960
I think there's a lot of lot of money going in there with AI.
01:06:39.280 --> 01:06:39.519
Yep.
01:06:39.840 --> 01:06:40.320
That makes sense.
01:06:40.559 --> 01:06:44.559
That's it's it's very it's a very strong market again.
01:06:44.800 --> 01:06:45.519
Yeah, it makes sense.
01:06:45.760 --> 01:06:46.559
All of a sudden.
01:06:46.800 --> 01:06:50.480
And uh what's your what what's your prognosis on uh Miami?
01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:52.480
Specifically.
01:06:52.719 --> 01:06:55.039
I know you're southeast, but what do you think about Miami currently?
01:06:55.760 --> 01:06:59.119
I think my I mean, listen, I've been here a long time.
01:06:59.280 --> 01:07:00.559
Yeah, it has changed.
01:07:00.800 --> 01:07:06.800
Miami is a first-tier city, it's probably one of the hottest cities in the world.
01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:08.880
Um, it's not without its challenges.
01:07:09.039 --> 01:07:11.119
You know, education is a challenge.
01:07:11.280 --> 01:07:15.920
I I think uh affordability is a gigantic challenge.
01:07:16.480 --> 01:07:26.719
Um you know, I don't know if you've seen these articles about, you know, uh public school attendance dropping 20,000 students this year, you know.
01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:41.920
I don't want to get into politics here too much, but I think you know, getting too harsh on immigration and all those things are are not good for us, but I I still think you know our trajectory is fantastic and this place is going in one direction.
01:07:42.000 --> 01:07:46.480
And and you know, it used to be even dial back, you know, pre-COVID.
01:07:46.960 --> 01:07:51.760
Like if someone, you know, kids graduate from top universities, where do I want to go?
01:07:51.920 --> 01:07:55.840
I want to start a career, like you had to go to New York or both like Miami wasn't an option.
01:07:55.920 --> 01:07:58.079
There were no real opportunities here.
01:07:58.320 --> 01:08:01.599
We have real businesses, real industry here.
01:08:01.760 --> 01:08:05.760
I mean, real uh it's changed dramatically.
01:08:05.840 --> 01:08:08.480
So I feel and I'm very uh bullish on Miami.
01:08:08.719 --> 01:08:09.920
You're bullish on Miami, huh?
01:08:10.079 --> 01:08:13.280
Yeah, I look by the way, it's hard as hell to invest it.
01:08:13.360 --> 01:08:20.319
I'm not saying I'm bullish that I'm gonna find deals we want to buy here at the right price, but I think that Well, we found one.
01:08:20.560 --> 01:08:21.359
We did, yeah.
01:08:21.520 --> 01:08:22.000
There you go.
01:08:22.239 --> 01:08:22.800
There you go.
01:08:22.880 --> 01:08:23.279
That's right.
01:08:23.359 --> 01:08:29.600
Uh Miami, yeah, look, you know, I think Miami is, you know, in a in a great place.
01:08:29.840 --> 01:08:38.880
And I think just the economic impact of the people who've moved down here and the things that are happening and the investments that are being made are great.
01:08:39.039 --> 01:08:46.640
And with that comes um a very hungry um, you know, set of investors who want to buy and compress yields.
01:08:46.720 --> 01:08:48.159
And it's kind of like New York, right?
01:08:48.319 --> 01:08:55.119
I assume you buy something in New York and you can't believe you overpaid for it, and then you wake up five, ten years later and you feel like the smartest guy.
01:08:55.600 --> 01:08:56.000
Yeah, yeah.
01:08:56.319 --> 01:09:07.600
I mean, I I I think I we I think we feel the same way, but I have this like this nagging thought at the back of my head that we're such a cyclic, it's uh Miami's always been such a cyclical city throughout history.
01:09:07.760 --> 01:09:11.119
And we haven't seen a down cycle in a hell of a long time.
01:09:11.359 --> 01:09:12.720
So is that gonna come?
01:09:12.880 --> 01:09:22.720
Are we being you know, you say, yeah, I mean, you're you're right, but at the same time, you know, look, there are it's different this time.
01:09:22.960 --> 01:09:24.000
Yeah, no, I'm not saying that.
01:09:24.159 --> 01:09:25.199
There are all that I am.
01:09:25.279 --> 01:09:28.399
I'm yeah, I mean you want to say that, but it's asset class.
01:09:28.479 --> 01:09:31.920
Like the one thing is Miami definitely has constraints on supply.
01:09:32.079 --> 01:09:40.960
You know, I'm not look, I don't study the multifamily market east of 95, but there's a lot of tall buildings there that that are that are soft.
01:09:41.039 --> 01:09:43.359
Yeah, and but we see that everywhere.
01:09:43.680 --> 01:09:48.399
I think you know, condo market has its its pockets of good and bad.
01:09:48.560 --> 01:09:54.880
Um, there are office buildings in the market that don't meet today's standards that are suck and win.
01:09:55.199 --> 01:10:03.119
Um so, you know, I mean, retail, like there's nothing more undersupplied than retail in Dade County.
01:10:03.359 --> 01:10:06.960
So I think there are pockets of people who own properties that don't feel good.
01:10:07.119 --> 01:10:12.560
There's people who own land all over the place that they thought they were going to build apartments or condos that are suck and win.
01:10:12.640 --> 01:10:20.720
So, you know, there are plenty of people you could talk to who would say that we're in the middle of a really bad cycle, even though overall things are are strong.
01:10:20.800 --> 01:10:25.680
And I think that's kind of what the picture looks like across the real estate landscape.
01:10:25.760 --> 01:10:27.039
There's winners and losers.
01:10:27.119 --> 01:10:32.399
And if you were, you know, but we generally have an economy that's moving forward.
01:10:32.800 --> 01:10:38.159
But it's a bit different than the boom bus cycle pre man, probably even pre-before I got here, right?
01:10:38.239 --> 01:10:40.239
Like pre 2010.
01:10:40.319 --> 01:10:50.239
Like because it used to be like crazy boom and then implosion, like SNL crisis and crazy boom, then GFC, and then it's been kind of but those aren't Miami factors.
01:10:50.399 --> 01:10:50.800
No, no, no.
01:10:51.119 --> 01:10:52.239
Yeah, those aren't Miami.
01:10:52.319 --> 01:10:57.520
Look, I do think that out of the GFC became you know, came some.
01:10:58.640 --> 01:11:04.079
I'm not a huge over-regulate guy kind of guy, but like, you know, banks got smart.
01:11:04.239 --> 01:11:04.399
Right.
01:11:04.560 --> 01:11:09.359
You know, 65% was well, smart's pretty generous for bankers, but yeah, I hear what I'm saying.
01:11:09.680 --> 01:11:21.520
You know, that you know, the leverage was restrained, you know, the stuff that went on and you know, the way jump, you know, bond um securitized mortgages were sold and tranched was just nonsense.
01:11:21.760 --> 01:11:22.800
The synthetic mortgages.
01:11:23.039 --> 01:11:24.079
Yeah, they were default.
01:11:24.560 --> 01:11:27.199
Oh my god, there was just you know, chaos.
01:11:27.439 --> 01:11:28.399
It was a free-for-all.
01:11:28.560 --> 01:11:39.439
And so I don't think I think you could, if you want to say anything, you could say that going in um to this interest rate cycle, you know, those guardrails probably helped.
01:11:39.920 --> 01:11:47.199
Look, I don't think you can underestimate that the how much the uh the AI boom is helping.
01:11:47.439 --> 01:11:47.840
Totally.
01:11:47.920 --> 01:11:48.399
Yeah.
01:11:48.640 --> 01:11:49.840
That saved us, I think.
01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:50.079
Okay.
01:11:50.479 --> 01:11:50.880
It did.
01:11:51.039 --> 01:12:01.119
And you know, now in some people like if you want to talk about the you know, the elephant in the room, it's like, what is the impact of AI on jobs and everything else over the next five to ten years?
01:12:01.600 --> 01:12:02.560
I like AI.
01:12:03.520 --> 01:12:04.720
Claude's a great friend of mine.
01:12:04.880 --> 01:12:05.680
Yeah, me.
01:12:06.000 --> 01:12:06.960
I'm not I'm not an AI.
01:12:08.560 --> 01:12:09.920
Do you use use AI at last?
01:12:10.079 --> 01:12:10.319
Oh, yeah.
01:12:10.479 --> 01:12:13.760
He mentioned on the call yesterday we had he was using Claude for some legal stuff.
01:12:13.920 --> 01:12:15.439
Well, yeah, yeah.
01:12:16.079 --> 01:12:16.960
No, I love it.
01:12:17.039 --> 01:12:17.760
I I love it.
01:12:18.159 --> 01:12:19.439
What do you use, Claude?
01:12:19.920 --> 01:12:20.720
Yeah, it's funny.
01:12:20.800 --> 01:12:25.359
I I I had my chat GPT account, so I keep that for like my personal stuff.
01:12:25.600 --> 01:12:26.079
I'm the same.
01:12:26.159 --> 01:12:26.560
I have both.
01:12:26.640 --> 01:12:27.119
I've missed it.
01:12:27.199 --> 01:12:29.439
Yeah, and Claude is my business associate.
01:12:29.680 --> 01:12:33.199
Chat is like the writing question, or like how much medicine of this do I take?
01:12:33.279 --> 01:12:34.880
And Claude is like, build me a spreadsheet.
01:12:35.199 --> 01:12:36.159
I need a slideshow.
01:12:36.399 --> 01:12:38.560
Yeah, I'm gonna be in this town for such and such a day.
01:12:38.640 --> 01:12:39.920
How many, where should I go to dinner?
01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:40.880
You know, that's Claude.
01:12:40.960 --> 01:12:42.159
That's uh chat, yeah.
01:12:42.479 --> 01:12:46.000
Chat's my uh yeah, chat's my social coordinator or whatever.
01:12:46.399 --> 01:13:01.760
And uh my doctor, my you know, my my concierge doctor, and Claude is our uh our real, but it, you know, it's interesting what they can do so far, you know, it it's definitely helped productivity.
01:13:01.840 --> 01:13:08.399
And when we kind of push the envelope and look at like, all right, let's really like use it for sourcing, right?
01:13:08.479 --> 01:13:22.640
Like, I don't know, we did this thing where we link Claude with our co star and put in prompts and said, while while we're working in the background on the screen, comb through CoStar, do all the stuff, and give me a list of every shopping center that meets these criteria to go by.
01:13:22.880 --> 01:13:28.800
So do my work and whatever come back 30 minutes later, I got this list of 50 or 70 prospects.
01:13:28.960 --> 01:13:30.000
Like, okay, great.
01:13:30.159 --> 01:13:32.880
I got 50 or 70 prospects to go after.
01:13:33.039 --> 01:13:36.800
Well, we'd have to hire another person to follow up on that.
01:13:37.279 --> 01:13:50.239
So I th I think it's called uh Javon's paradox or something that talks about as something becomes um less expensive and and creates more productivity, people will end up consuming more of it.
01:13:50.399 --> 01:13:50.479
Right.
01:13:50.640 --> 01:14:08.880
And so I definitely think there's dislocation on one end, there'll be a shuffling of the deck, but I also think that it's our use of it when we talk about other uses, it the conversation often morphs into okay, we can go do this, but we probably are gonna need another person to actually do it.
01:14:09.279 --> 01:14:15.920
I think it's the classic paradox of people being scared of new technology, replacing jobs, and then people find new new ways to work.
01:14:16.079 --> 01:14:22.880
I mean, I I heard this exact exact same thing with coders, where these coders are busier than ever because they can do more than ever.
01:14:22.960 --> 01:14:31.359
They have like eight agents running like thousands of sub-agents, AI agents, and they're so like into it because they're being way more productive than they've ever been.
01:14:31.439 --> 01:14:38.560
They're working way more than they ever have because it's like this crazy feedback loop that they can do so much more than they've ever done before.
01:14:38.720 --> 01:14:42.319
So they're they're actually doing way more work because the AI is enabling them to do it.
01:14:42.720 --> 01:14:43.199
I believe it.
01:14:43.279 --> 01:14:54.239
I was at a conference earlier this summer, and then there was an AI expert on AI and real estate who was talking about if you think about a deal process as a funnel, right?
01:14:54.319 --> 01:14:58.640
At the top of the funnel are new deals, you got to evaluate, you got to look at them.
01:14:58.800 --> 01:15:04.159
But as the deal progresses from like, do we want to pursue this to let's go get it done?
01:15:04.239 --> 01:15:08.399
How are we going to capitalize it, bring in partners, get a lender, due due diligence?
01:15:08.720 --> 01:15:12.640
That task goes from AI can do it up here, but it can't do it down there.
01:15:12.800 --> 01:15:16.880
And so what AI is doing is broadening the top of the funnel.
01:15:17.119 --> 01:15:26.000
So if AI is broadening the top of the funnel, instead of, you know, without AI, we could whatever look at 10 deals and do two.
01:15:26.479 --> 01:15:33.199
If we can look at 30 deals, right, and we're now doing six, we need more people to close the extra four deals.
01:15:33.359 --> 01:15:38.159
And so it's creating more work that you know requires more capacity.
01:15:38.319 --> 01:15:41.920
So that that's the glasses half full and you know, view.
01:15:42.239 --> 01:15:42.560
I'm with it.
01:15:42.640 --> 01:15:44.319
I don't I'm the glass half full any eye.
01:15:44.479 --> 01:15:45.039
I think you are too.
01:15:45.199 --> 01:15:45.600
I am too.
01:15:45.760 --> 01:15:47.920
I mean, it's just it's been a game changer for me.
01:15:48.000 --> 01:15:50.880
Yeah, you know, like it's it's incredible what I can do.
01:15:51.119 --> 01:15:53.680
Um, you do still have to double check some things.
01:15:53.840 --> 01:15:55.680
Oh, yeah, no, it's language.
01:15:55.920 --> 01:15:57.039
It's wrong all the time.
01:15:57.279 --> 01:15:59.359
Yeah, especially with contrast.
01:15:59.600 --> 01:16:04.159
Yeah, you have to really know, especially when you're looking at numbers, you have to be like, okay, this is wrong.
01:16:04.239 --> 01:16:08.720
You like look at this and double check, triple check, and it'll go through this process.
01:16:08.960 --> 01:16:23.359
But you have to you have to kind of guide it and you have to really pay attention because there are things that it gets wrong, but when you go back and you say, look at this, double check, it'll start getting to where you and it gets better every day.
01:16:23.439 --> 01:16:28.319
Yeah, we were talking before, it takes away so much monotonous bullshit, like copy paste work, whatever.
01:16:28.640 --> 01:16:30.960
Like you you can just focus on more productive things.
01:16:31.039 --> 01:16:33.039
It's I think it's gonna make a it's gonna be a net positive.
01:16:33.119 --> 01:16:35.039
I I no question about it.
01:16:35.279 --> 01:16:36.239
No question about it.
01:16:36.479 --> 01:16:38.159
Let's talk uh personal hobbies.
01:16:38.239 --> 01:16:40.880
I mean, we talked about you work working out at CrossFit still.
01:16:40.960 --> 01:16:41.840
Are you a morning guy?
01:16:41.920 --> 01:16:43.039
What time do you wake up?
01:16:43.279 --> 01:16:44.479
I wake up early.
01:16:44.560 --> 01:16:45.920
Yeah, I get up around six.
01:16:46.079 --> 01:16:46.399
Okay.
01:16:46.479 --> 01:16:48.800
Um you without your kids out of the house, huh?
01:16:48.960 --> 01:16:49.520
Yeah, yeah.
01:16:49.760 --> 01:16:54.000
You know, that's the thing I tell people young, like your kids mess you up, right?
01:16:54.159 --> 01:16:56.319
It used to be, you know, you have kids, you could have slept.
01:16:56.399 --> 01:17:01.520
I can't believe I get up at six, and then once you get used to it for many years, you just wake up.
01:17:01.760 --> 01:17:04.319
So um, I get up at six.
01:17:04.479 --> 01:17:07.359
Um, my wife's probably already been up for an hour at that point.
01:17:08.159 --> 01:17:09.760
She's she wakes up early than me.
01:17:09.920 --> 01:17:11.760
I look over, she's like doing stuff.
01:17:12.720 --> 01:17:19.680
Um, but you know, you get a little bit older, the body doesn't move as well early in the morning.
01:17:19.840 --> 01:17:20.960
So I used to like to work it.
01:17:21.199 --> 01:17:27.760
So now, like if I'm just trying to bang it out, I I have a CrossFit style set up at the house.
01:17:28.079 --> 01:17:29.680
So I can do a short little thing there.
01:17:29.760 --> 01:17:37.439
But generally I do weekend mornings and then I try to do a couple afternoon, like a Friday afternoon, yeah, at the six o'clock.
01:17:37.760 --> 01:17:38.960
You're gonna work out after this?
01:17:39.199 --> 01:17:40.800
No, little tequila to crossfit.
01:17:41.039 --> 01:17:46.640
No, I don't I generally yeah, I generally do not mix tequila and barbells and burpees.
01:17:46.960 --> 01:17:47.920
You still ripped like that.
01:17:48.079 --> 01:17:50.479
You're still ripping double dubs, double unders?
01:17:50.640 --> 01:17:53.439
Yeah, we had double unders on Tuesday workout.
01:17:53.680 --> 01:17:57.920
It's when you jump rope and you every time you jump into it goes to.
01:17:58.159 --> 01:17:58.800
I'm good on that.
01:17:58.960 --> 01:18:00.239
You still ripping those?
01:18:00.479 --> 01:18:01.359
I I will do double.
01:18:01.600 --> 01:18:04.960
I I don't I I tone back a bunch of I don't really do a lot of running.
01:18:05.039 --> 01:18:08.239
Yeah, I use the echo bike thing because my yeah, whatever.
01:18:08.319 --> 01:18:09.359
Running those things fuck you up.
01:18:09.600 --> 01:18:09.840
Which one?
01:18:09.920 --> 01:18:10.880
The the the assault bike.
01:18:11.119 --> 01:18:11.920
The assault bikes, dude.
01:18:12.000 --> 01:18:13.199
That's a fucking man maker dude.
01:18:13.600 --> 01:18:14.079
That's my thing.
01:18:14.239 --> 01:18:14.960
That's my jam.
01:18:15.199 --> 01:18:20.079
I used to love that thing too, because that thing, like you do like four minutes on that thing, and then you're on the floor passing.
01:18:20.560 --> 01:18:20.960
Yeah, yeah.
01:18:21.439 --> 01:18:23.520
That's my that's my cardio piece.
01:18:23.760 --> 01:18:24.640
But yeah, yeah.
01:18:24.720 --> 01:18:36.800
I look, I there's a little, first of all, I never I just don't get excited about going in and just doing three sets or like I like the programming and that every day is a little bit different.
01:18:37.119 --> 01:18:39.359
And then you have to like, how am I gonna handle it?
01:18:39.520 --> 01:18:41.760
Am I gonna go straight, you know, push through?
01:18:41.840 --> 01:18:42.960
Am I gonna pace myself?
01:18:43.119 --> 01:18:57.439
So there's something about it that has a little bit of gamanship to it that you know makes it feel like I'm not competing with the guy next to me, but you're like, I don't know, there's something that makes it it, you turn a boring thing of like a workout into a game.
01:18:57.600 --> 01:18:59.199
Yeah, did you ever do the FMA thing?
01:18:59.680 --> 01:19:00.720
We used to do that a lot a lot.
01:19:01.119 --> 01:19:01.520
What's that?
01:19:01.680 --> 01:19:02.880
The obstacle course racing?
01:19:03.039 --> 01:19:09.680
No, no, it wasn't we didn't we never did like the actual racing, but we like the training, yeah, climbing wall, like Ninja Warrior type shit.
01:19:09.840 --> 01:19:22.319
Yeah, I used to do the CrossFit open, you know, like 200,000 people sign up for the open every year, do these workouts five weeks in a row, and then it you know, if you pass, you go to this, and then you end up on TV.
01:19:22.479 --> 01:19:28.319
Like I never had any aspirations of getting out of anywhere or just trying to figure out like, you know, whatever in the world.
01:19:28.399 --> 01:19:31.760
And every year I would be hurt for like a month after.
01:19:31.840 --> 01:19:34.079
Yeah, about five, seven years ago.
01:19:34.159 --> 01:19:35.039
I stopped doing that.
01:19:35.279 --> 01:19:36.640
Um, what other hobbies do you have?
01:19:36.720 --> 01:19:38.319
I mean, we're we talk about fly fishing.
01:19:38.399 --> 01:19:39.680
I I like yeah, I like to fish.
01:19:39.840 --> 01:19:41.279
I don't have a boat.
01:19:41.439 --> 01:19:42.319
I do, I do.
01:19:42.399 --> 01:19:44.000
Um, but not a fly not a fly fish.
01:19:44.800 --> 01:19:47.199
I have uh 30-foot center console.
01:19:47.279 --> 01:19:50.640
So I like to um I do a fair amount of bottom fish.
01:19:50.720 --> 01:19:53.119
I go to the Bahamas a couple of times a year.
01:19:53.439 --> 01:19:57.840
We um, you know, my wife and I like to just run out with the dogs and cruise around.
01:19:58.079 --> 01:19:59.520
Do you live on the water or do you have it in a arena?
01:19:59.600 --> 01:20:00.000
Okay, I'll just go.
01:20:00.159 --> 01:20:01.600
I live on a canal on the beach.
01:20:01.840 --> 01:20:03.520
Um I don't know.
01:20:03.680 --> 01:20:04.239
What else?
01:20:04.399 --> 01:20:12.479
Oh, that's you know, I bike, hang out, you know, like hiking and stuff when we go out west, skiing, snowboarding.
01:20:12.720 --> 01:20:14.960
The name of your company is because of a run, right?
01:20:15.119 --> 01:20:16.079
That you have.
01:20:16.399 --> 01:20:17.760
So Highline?
01:20:17.840 --> 01:20:18.000
Yeah.
01:20:18.079 --> 01:20:18.720
What kind of run?
01:20:18.960 --> 01:20:19.840
The ski run, right?
01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:21.359
Yeah, how'd you yeah?
01:20:21.520 --> 01:20:22.399
So that's good.
01:20:22.479 --> 01:20:23.119
That's good resource.
01:20:25.039 --> 01:20:32.800
When I would when I was making the move to start the company, um, my wife and I were sitting around and like what are we gonna call it?
01:20:33.039 --> 01:20:41.279
And Highline um is uh a double, uh, a pretty gnarly double mogul run on Lyft 10 and Vale.
01:20:41.600 --> 01:20:42.560
You still run that?
01:20:42.800 --> 01:20:44.079
I haven't been to Vale in a while.
01:20:44.239 --> 01:20:45.279
By the way, fuck moguls.
01:20:45.359 --> 01:20:46.319
I want that on the record.
01:20:46.399 --> 01:20:47.279
Yeah, I love moguls.
01:20:47.439 --> 01:20:49.199
I'm a snowboarder, so fuck moguls.
01:20:49.359 --> 01:20:50.079
I do I do both.
01:20:51.439 --> 01:20:56.880
Um and my kids' names are Hannah, Robert, and Ellie.
01:20:57.199 --> 01:20:58.239
So H R E.
01:20:58.479 --> 01:21:01.199
Yeah, so that's what we threw together in our living room.
01:21:01.439 --> 01:21:02.079
It was a mogul run.
01:21:02.239 --> 01:21:02.800
Where did you say it was?
01:21:02.960 --> 01:21:03.199
Vale.
01:21:03.359 --> 01:21:04.079
Vale, okay.
01:21:04.239 --> 01:21:05.600
Which I don't really go to anymore.
01:21:05.680 --> 01:21:06.000
I love it.
01:21:06.079 --> 01:21:07.119
I just haven't been there in a long time.
01:21:07.359 --> 01:21:09.520
Where's your spot out west if you go skiing?
01:21:09.760 --> 01:21:12.000
Uh, we go to snowmass more than anything else.
01:21:12.159 --> 01:21:12.319
Yeah.
01:21:12.399 --> 01:21:13.760
Aspen's Aspen's great.
01:21:13.840 --> 01:21:14.560
I love Aspen.
01:21:14.800 --> 01:21:15.039
Yeah.
01:21:15.279 --> 01:21:16.880
You still ski pretty often?
01:21:17.119 --> 01:21:18.079
Uh once a year.
01:21:18.159 --> 01:21:18.319
Yeah.
01:21:18.560 --> 01:21:18.960
Once a year.
01:21:19.119 --> 01:21:20.159
You ever hit Crested Butte?
01:21:20.239 --> 01:21:20.720
That's my spot.
01:21:20.880 --> 01:21:21.279
I haven't.
01:21:21.359 --> 01:21:21.520
No.
01:21:21.600 --> 01:21:22.399
I hear great things about it.
01:21:22.640 --> 01:21:24.800
If you like spicy runs, crested butte's the spot.
01:21:24.960 --> 01:21:25.359
Yeah.
01:21:25.600 --> 01:21:27.920
It's like the Colorado version of Jackson.
01:21:28.079 --> 01:21:30.399
I'm trying to become more responsible.
01:21:30.640 --> 01:21:32.960
That's like totally I don't recommend that.
01:21:33.039 --> 01:21:33.279
Yeah.
01:21:33.439 --> 01:21:34.560
No, but I love yeah.
01:21:34.640 --> 01:21:35.760
So yeah, I love skiing.
01:21:35.920 --> 01:21:36.159
It's great.
01:21:36.560 --> 01:21:36.960
It's awesome.
01:21:37.039 --> 01:21:37.279
I love it.
01:21:37.439 --> 01:21:39.920
It's so cool how many people in Florida are into snow skiing.
01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:41.520
It blows my mind always.
01:21:41.680 --> 01:21:49.520
But growing up, I I think it was kind of known that Miami had, if not the biggest, one of the biggest ski clubs in the country.
01:21:49.680 --> 01:21:50.000
Really?
01:21:50.159 --> 01:21:50.800
Yeah.
01:21:51.279 --> 01:21:53.680
So people joined the Miami Ski Club to that's hilarious.
01:21:53.840 --> 01:21:54.880
Yeah, go on trips out there.
01:21:55.520 --> 01:21:58.319
I mean, there's so many Argentinians in Vale, it's wild.
01:21:58.640 --> 01:22:00.239
Like it's full of Hispanics.
01:22:00.319 --> 01:22:01.439
Yeah, everyone goes to our Vail.
01:22:01.600 --> 01:22:03.039
Well, there's a lot of Mexicans that go up there.
01:22:03.199 --> 01:22:03.359
Yeah.
01:22:03.520 --> 01:22:04.640
Well, yeah, that makes sense.
01:22:04.720 --> 01:22:05.279
Yeah.
01:22:06.560 --> 01:22:07.680
Well, David, this is amazing.
01:22:07.920 --> 01:22:08.640
Yeah, great.
01:22:08.720 --> 01:22:09.119
I appreciate it.
01:22:09.279 --> 01:22:10.399
We're glad we finally made it happen.
01:22:10.640 --> 01:22:11.920
Yeah, David, thank you so much.
01:22:12.079 --> 01:22:15.119
It was really a pleasure working with you on our first deal.
01:22:15.199 --> 01:22:18.640
So thank you for making that happen as built built world advisors.
01:22:18.960 --> 01:22:19.920
Still working on another one?
01:22:20.159 --> 01:22:28.560
Still working on the other half, which we we can't really talk about, but hopefully we'll get that over the uh finish line sometime in uh the next two years.
01:22:30.159 --> 01:22:31.439
Is that the overunder?
01:22:31.840 --> 01:22:38.640
I mean, listen, our the last year has been tougher to get this one over, so we'll see what happens in the second half, right?
01:22:38.880 --> 01:22:39.439
Yeah, yeah.
01:22:39.520 --> 01:22:41.439
No, listen, it was great work with you guys.
01:22:41.600 --> 01:22:42.399
You were pros.
01:22:42.640 --> 01:22:45.039
Um, you know, awesome opportunity.
01:22:45.279 --> 01:22:51.600
And uh, you know, it wasn't an easy seller, and you know, yeah, finding off-market deals is a knife fight.
01:22:51.840 --> 01:22:52.800
So it's great, you know.
01:22:52.960 --> 01:22:55.199
We'd love to do another one or many more, actually.
01:22:55.439 --> 01:22:55.920
Definitely.
01:22:56.079 --> 01:22:56.720
Yeah.
01:22:56.960 --> 01:22:58.319
Well, best of luck to you guys.
01:22:58.399 --> 01:23:00.079
And uh, well, it's not a new venture anymore.
01:23:00.159 --> 01:23:05.439
At the time, you know, yeah, the world was a new, a new group, but uh you guys are hitting your stride and doing great.
01:23:05.920 --> 01:23:06.960
Finally doing awesome.
01:23:07.199 --> 01:23:08.000
Well, thank you, David.
01:23:08.079 --> 01:23:08.640
Appreciate it.
01:23:08.720 --> 01:23:11.840
And uh good luck at ICS in Orlando next year, next week.
01:23:12.159 --> 01:23:15.279
Yeah, and uh then you're off to uh Nice.
01:23:15.520 --> 01:23:15.840
Yeah.
01:23:16.079 --> 01:23:18.000
Uh lots of beautiful topless women there.
01:23:18.239 --> 01:23:18.880
Is that what they say?
01:23:19.039 --> 01:23:24.000
I mean, listen, I went there when I was 13 and I was like, this is the greatest fucking thing in the world.
01:23:24.319 --> 01:23:28.560
Um and then you're off to uh to where at Mallorca to Mallorca.
01:23:28.640 --> 01:23:29.119
Yeah, yeah.
01:23:29.439 --> 01:23:30.159
So enjoy that.
01:23:30.399 --> 01:23:31.119
Yeah, thanks, guys.
01:23:31.920 --> 01:23:32.319
Catching up.
01:23:32.640 --> 01:23:33.600
Thank you for joining us, Dave.
01:23:33.840 --> 01:23:36.239
Seriously, later cheers.