The CRE Project Clayton King

In this episode we sit down with a true commercial real estate Pioneer, Ed Cross. Ed is an influential developer out of the Texas market that is know for being an innovative and creative multifamily developer. Ed has accomplished some amazing things and his career and he shares his lessons learned over the years.

DISCUSSION TOPICS

How Ed Got Started - 1:38
Ed’s First Development Deal – 8:42
Ed’s First Big Brokerage Deal – 10:30
The Gift of Abstract Thinking – 18:05
The Key Ingredients for being a Successful Broker – 19:40
Ed Starts to Discuss the Vistana Project – 23:00
Law of the Indies / Spaniard Settlements – 25:30
The Benefit to Developing in a market that is 10 years behind – 28:30
The Practice of Virtual Development – 32:47
Ed’s Partner and The Start of Corona Beer in the US – 35:25
Ed’s Mistake in the Development of Vistana - 37:25
How Ed Managed the Stress of Being Behind Schedule and Over Budget - 41:35
Ed’s New Project – Vicinia – The New Urbanist Development – 48:08
Discussing New Urbanism – 48:45
How the Civil Engineer was Ed’s Biggest Adversary with Vicinia – 58:30
How Ed Got Partner Support for a Pioneering Venture – 1:00:30
Designing a New Urbanist Project to Accommodate Parking and Large Trucks – 1:02:40
Ed’s Biggest Piece of Advice – 01:08:47

TOP TAKEAWAYS

Present Numbers and Present a Proposal in a way that the recipient doesn’t have any questions. 2:45
To excel in Commercial Real Estate you have to be able to have abstract thinking. – 18:05
The Creativity of Development is like Brokerage x10 – 23:35
Embrace Issues in Development and Don’t Look at Them Adverse Effect to a Project – 24:15
CRE is a really small community and You’re known by your character – 39:20
Don’t Develop for Fees, Develop for Ownership – 42:25
Have Skin in the Game, Overcommunicate and Understand Risk 42:50
No Surprises – 43:10
Worrying Doesn’t Solve the Problem… Working On It Does – 44:15
Marry Well – 45:00
Land’s Value is Based off the Density You can Put on It – 1:01:28

 Website Link to Vicinia - https://viciniasa.com/

In this episode we sit down with the two most dominant and well known multifamily and industrial developers in the New Mexico and Texas markets. We discuss how Ben and Kurt got started in the business and how they grew to one of the most prominent real estate firms in the Southwest.

DISCUSSION TOPICS
- “Ben’s First Development Opportunity” 4:55 – 8:45

- “How Ben got his First Project Financed” 9:06 – 11:20

- “Biggest Challenge in Growing a Development Company over the last 20 years” 15:00 – 16:50

- “What Titan does Differently vs other Development Companies” 17:10 – 18:42

- “Most Influential Factor for Becoming a Successful Developer in Today’s World” 19:05 – 20:58

- “What Titan has Built Historically and What Project They are Currently Working On” 21:22 – 23:37

- “Handling Material Cost and Labor in Development Right Now” 25:09 – 26:39

- “How Contracts are Being Structured Differently Right Now with General Contractors” 28:11 – 30:45

- “What is the most important metric Titan looks at before pulling the trigger on a project” 35:30 – 37:53

- “Why Titan decided to start a Fund” 42:40 - 46:11

- “What Ben thinks about Cap Rates and what they will do with Rising Interest Rates” – 54:38 – 57:40

TOP TAKEAWAYS
- “You have to get out there and network and keep your eyes wide open for opportunity because you never know where that opportunity is going to come from. - Ben” – 13:00  

- “You’re only as good as the people on your team - Kurt” 17:28

- “Without Trust you don’t have Anything -Ben” 20:24

- “Focus on Risk Adjusted Return when deciding to move forward with a project” 35:40

- “I would not ask someone to invest in a project that I don’t have my own money in and that gives our investors comfort.” 39:29

- “At the end of the day it’s the long rate, the 10 year rate that determines the cost of debt which factors into the exit value.”

- “Fed fund rate (interest rates) is a factor but it’s not directly correlated to cap rates” – 56:15

- “You’ll never have 100% of the information.” 1:00:47



Guest Contact Info: 

Ben Spencer 

bspencer@titan-development.com 



Kurt Browning 

kbrowning@titan-development.com

Mark Ritter is the CEO of MBFS and an expert in credit unions and business lending. His primary role at MBFS is overseeing the strategy of helping credit unions assist members with business needs and consulting with credit unions on planning the delivery of services to their membership.

In 2002, Mark started Members 1st Federal Credit Union’s business lending program as “one person and a desk” with no policies, products, staff, systems, or business members. That program grew to be one of the top ten in the nation.

In 2012, he took on the challenge of being the CEO of a business lending CUSO. Mark was the fifth CEO in five years for the organization, which lost money every month of its existence. Since joining MBFS, Mark increased the number of credit unions the CUSO services by over 8x, grew the revenue by , and 10x, and ensured positive cash flow every full year he’s been at the CUSO. More importantly, MBFS has helped countless credit union members gain the financing they need for business and investment needs.

Mark is a native of Berwick, PA in northeast Pennsylvania, where he was a member of his high school’s nationally ranked and state championship football team. After high school, Mark hung up his cleats to work for the Penn State Nittany Lions full-time as a student assistant while attending Penn State as an undergrad. During this time Penn State transitioned to the Big Ten and culminated in Penn State’s first Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Mark remains an avid Penn State supporter. Today Mark lives in Bucks County, PA outside of Doylestown with his wife and two teenagers.

In this episode, we sit down with Michael Flight, the founder and CEO of Liberty Fund and host of the Nothing but Net Podcast. We dive into the world of crypto and the impact that it is starting to make in CRE. We learn about how you can invest in NNN properties using security tokens as a vehicle for investment. 

Below are some highlights on Michael's career. 


34 year commercial real estate veteran with proven track
Completed over $600M+ real estate transactions / co-founder Concordia Realty in 1990
Known industry expert on Retail Real Estate and Net Lease properties including speaker, author and podcast guest along with being Co-host of Nothing But Net podcast
Institutional partnerships have included insurance companies, family offices, hedge funds, foreign investment funds
Serves or has served on numerous non-profit boards dedicated to poverty alleviation, low income housing and education

Enjoy the show! 

Tyler Cauble is Founding Principal and President of The Cauble Group. He's a native Nashvillian that has not only been a witness to the city's tremendous growth, but is also involved in it through his developments, renovation projects, and volunteer work.

As President of The Cauble Group, Tyler helps bring together buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants in retail, office, industrial, and multi-family real estate. He’s committed to helping business owners understand the market so that they can grow their business and be part of Nashville’s future. Cauble is also the best-selling author of Open For Business: The Insider's Guide to Leasing Commercial Real Estate.

In this episode, we sit down with John Black, which is a synonymous name with Commercial Real Estate in Albuquerque, NM. We discuss John's history with taking his 1,000 plus acre ranch and developing it into one of the largest retail trade areas in the State of New Mexico. We discuss what he learned and experienced throughout the years and also how he feels about today's market.

John F. Black has been in the real estate business for over 40 years. John specializes in vacant land entitlements, sales, and project development in the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho Metropolitan area.

John originally developed a 1,150 acre planned community known as the Seven Bar Ranch and Cottonwood Mall 3.8 million square foot commercial trade area within the Seven Bar Ranch development and planned and zoned and annexed the 6,700 acres NW Bernalillo County Black Ranch property now referred to as the Quail Ranch in the City of Rio Rancho.

As the former Managing Partner in the Seven Bar Land and Cattle Company which owned 1,150 acres in NW Albuquerque John planned, re-zoned, and developed and/or sold over 400 acres of commercial land in the Seven Bar Ranch project (Cottonwood Mall retail subarea of Albuquerque). This retail development area is the largest retail trade area in New Mexico containing over 3.8 million square foot commercial development today. The feature retail project in the Seven Bar Ranch Cottonwood subarea is the 95 acre 1.2 million square foot Cottonwood Regional Mall owned by the world's largest retail mall owner, the Simon Group. Other featured retail developments that are in this 3.8 million square foot retail trade area are the 41 acre Cottonwood Plaza and 60 acre Cottonwood Corners power center located within the Seven Bar Ranch on Albuquerque's Northwest metro area.

John is also involved with many build-to-suit leases and ground leases in the Cottonwood Mall area. As the Managing Partner owner and developer, John was the principal partner responsible for developing and leasing the Corrales Shopping Center, Alameda West Shopping Center, and Las Tiendas Shopping Center in the Seven Bar Ranch project.

John has been a partner and developer in several other major developments outside of the Seven Bar ranch. He developed the Promenade Shopping Center in Northeast Albuquerque, Montano Plaza, and Coors Central Shopping Center in Northwest Albuquerque. John is currently working on several new retail projects in the City of Rio Rancho and his remaining properties in the Cottonwood Mall subarea.

John is a partner in two planning and development lease projects with the State Land Office of New Mexico. These properties are in the northern area of the City of Rio Rancho. City Centre project is a new urban downtown development in Downtown Rio Rancho.

The 530 ace mixed-use Paseo Gateway project fronts on the new Paseo del Volcan west side freeway (the only new Metro freeway in Central New Mexico since the 1960s). Paseo Gateway features the new LEEDS certified Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho and the new Cleveland Heights residential subdivision now under development and several key commercial land tracts in the City of Rio Rancho.

John Black has served over 13 years on the Board Member of the Laguna Development Corporation which is a multi-million dollar company operating a hotel and casino, a supermarket, travel centers, restaurants, and over 1,100 employees in the west Metro area.