Smart Growth Developer Spotlight: Motivation, Inspiration and Guidance for the Next Generation of Real Estate Developers

KEVIN CAVENAUGH After completing architecture school at U.C. Berkeley and a 2-year stint building schools and homes for the Peace Corps in Gabon, Africa, Kevin moved to Portland, Oregon in 1993. 

Kevin designs and develops small commercial and residential buildings.  He uses inexpensive materials and always attains high energy efficiency in his work.  His Burnside Rocket building has earned a LEED Platinum rating.

From hip restaurants to creative offices to wonderful residential renters, Kevin has been fortunate to turn his good buildings into great buildings by virtue of the tenants.  And because he builds with the intention of keeping each project, he also learns directly how his designs age as he maintains them year by year.

Kevin was a Loeb Fellow in 2007-2008 at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.  His current projects include micro restaurants in The Ocean, experimental lenticular art along 100% of the façade of The Zipper, social capital-turned-architecture in an adaptive re-use livery stable 4-plex (Dr. Jim’s Still Really Nice), and corridor-free creative office spaces in the Fair-Haired Dumbbell. Kevin's current obsession (and possible upcoming project) is to create a better version of subsidy-less affordable housing.

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Morgan Dix, the Showrunner for the Developer Spotlight. He interviews me about our first five episodes and we discuss some of the key takeaways.

I feel fortunate to have had such an extraordinary lineup of guests on the show to date. And we've got some great shows lined up for the next five episodes. I know you're going to love them.

What do you think about the Developer Spotlight? 

If you have any feedback, requests, or general impressions, I'd love to hear them. You can email me directly at cporto@smartgrowth.co.

Carlos Plazola

Carlos is the CEO of BuildZig and the buck stops with him. He is the leader of the BuildZig team, providing vision and focus to ensure we meet our mission, core values, and goals. 

Prior to helping form BuildZig, Carlos was President and founder of an entitlements company and managing member of a real estate investment company. Carlos served as Chief of Staff to the Oakland City Council President as advisor on economic development issues under Jerry Brown’s mayoral term.

He has extensive experience in lobbying, community organizing, as well as the more technical aspects of real estate investment and development. Carlos received his bachelor’s degree in Biology and Anthropology from UCLA, and his master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale. 

Before attending Yale, Carlos lived in the Amazon rainforest with the Achuar tribe, sparking his interest in protecting the environment. Carlos is passionate about sustainable development and reducing our impact on this planet. He is most excited about working on projects that can demonstrate how to do that in a profitable and beautiful way.

As Co-Founder of Citrine Advisors, Richard Weinstein brings over 25 years of experience in independent brokerage, investment, redevelopment, and property management to the firm.

In addition to his work at Citrine Advisors, Richard serves as President of Weinstein Local, a family real estate investment company launched in 1986 and focused primarily on the repositioning of distressed assets in the East Bay.

Having owned and operated several small restaurants early in his career, Richard is currently an active partner in a handful of critically acclaimed Oakland culinary establishments including Boot & Shoe Service, Penrose, and Pizzaioli.

Richard holds a B.A. in Political Science from Whittier College and a Masters in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Jerry is the Co-Founder and President of Citrine Advisors, where he oversees all aspects of property acquisition, development, financing, management, investor relations, capital formation, and brokerage. Prior to launching the company, Jerry spent a decade working for a major, national investment brokerage firm in a handful of the company’s offices along the West Coast.

Jerry is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute, where he sits on the Small Scale Development Council. Jerry holds a broker’s license (#01321958) in the state of California.

Charles Long

Charles A. Long is a developer specializing in mixed-use infill projects, including acquisition, entitlement and public private partnerships. He served for eight years as city manager in Fairfield, California.

Since 1996, he has worked as a consultant to public and private clients on development and management. He has held interim positions for several cities in finance, redevelopment and management, including Interim Town Manager of Mammoth Lakes and Interim City Manager of Pinole and Hercules, California.

His assignments have been diverse including negotiating development agreements, writing redevelopment plans, pro-forma analyses, strategic planning, economic development, organizational development, capital and financial planning, budget reform, base reuse and alternative energy development. He has overseen over $600 million of public financing in his career.  Full bio...

Matt Ticknor is a developer specializing in multifamily mixed-use infill projects, including acquisition, entitlement and joint venture partnerships. With over a decade of high-level real estate experience, Matt has been involved in over $2 billion of real estate development and investment.

Prior to founding Junction Properties, Matt served a dual role as a developer of multifamily projects in the Northwest as well as served in a capital markets role for the west coast development division of Greystar, the largest property manager in the country with 400,000 units under management and over $2 Billion worth of projects in development. Full bio...

Terrence (Terry) McGrath has over twenty-five years of experience in commercial real estate throughout the Bay Area.

During the first fifteen years (1982 – 1996) of his career, he worked as a commercial real estate broker and founded several firms including Comcore Commercial Real Estate, Aegis Realty Partners and Aegis Equity Partners. In 1996, Terry founded Aegis Equity Partners, (later renamed McGrath Properties), to focus on the acquisition and development of properties that have long-term value for the company and the community, with an emphasis on the East Bay. In the past ten years, McGrath Properties (on behalf of the principals of the company), has acquired over one million square feet of buildings plus substantial land holdings. The diversified projects includes office buildings, parking facilities, and industrial and manufacturing plants. Professional Experience

Education Terry has a B.A. in Social Science with emphasis on Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

We talk with real estate developer John Protopappas on the subject of creating value by building community. 

Mr. Protopappas developed his first live/work project in 1985 and has developed and managed over sixty commercial and residential projects during the past twenty-eight years. During that time, Mr. Protopappas transformed many neglected properties by turning them into mixed-use live/work spaces. These projects, such as the historic Tribune Tower and the Bakery Lofts at the site of the former Remar Bakery in Emeryville, are representative of his innovative approach to revitalizing urban neighborhoods through mixed-use projects.

In today's introductory episode, host Chris Porto launches the new Developer Spotlight series with a short introduction.