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November 3, 20261 hr 2 min
The Swig Company at 90: CEO Connor Kidd on Long-Term Ownership and the Office Rebound
The Swig Company turns 90 this year, and few firms have owned office buildings longer. President and CEO Connor Kidd joins host Vladimir Bosanac, co-founder and publisher of The Registry, to talk about what nine decades of ownership teach you about patience, partnership and timing. Kidd traces the company from Benjamin Swig’s handshake partnerships in 1936 to today’s portfolio of urban office buildings in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. He covers why Swig bought 350 California all cash in 2023 when debt and equity had dried up. He also explains why today’s AI and tech tenants want move-in-ready, furnished space on short leases. Also in this episode: Why Kidd personally interviews every new hire and every departing employee How institutional capital’s retreat from office pushed Swig toward private families Rooftop beehives, honey tastings, lobby ambassadors and the H3E tenant platform How New York, Los Angeles and Seattle compare with San Francisco Why buying existing buildings beats ground-up development right now, and where multifamily may get interesting Swig’s carbon goals and its approach to ESG The challenge of passing a family company from one generation to the next
October 26, 202653 min
AI for Land Use: How Contor Is Shrinking the Entitlement Timeline, with Olya Krasnykh
Can AI cut the time it takes to figure out what you can build on a site? Co-hosts Vladimir Bosanac (co-founder and publisher of The Registry) and Rob Zirkle (Vice President of Planning and Development, Prince Street Partners) sit down with Olya Krasnykh, co-founder of Contor, an AI-powered land use and development platform based in Northern California. Olya’s path to proptech is anything but typical: a Russian immigrant who grew up in the Bay Area, she started as a molecular biologist at UCSF, spent nearly a decade developing transit-oriented multifamily housing with Sares Regis Group of Northern California, helped some 25,000 Ukrainian refugees reach safety through a tech-driven relief effort in Tijuana, and then saw the agentic AI revolution up close at Coder before launching Contor this year. In this episode: Why small infill sites, the ones big developers pass on, may be the key to housing supply and walkable cities How Contor works like an analyst you email: send an assignment and get back land use research, with sources Why general-purpose chatbots fall short when you’re entitling a site or committing capital AI agents that dig through Legistar, staff reports and years of planning commission minutes to find regulation in flight and the tenor of local politics A Texas case study that traced ten years of approvals in about two days and found the neighborhood committee nearly always predicted the outcome What AI can’t replace: relationships, strategy and meetings at the city counter Serving both sides of the counter, preserving cities’ institutional memory, and a future of parcel-by-parcel planning Early traction: roughly 55 pilots across about 80 geographies in six states Learn more: contor.ai Send an assignment: assignments@contor.ai Contact Olya: olya@contor.ai Connect with Olya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olya-krasnykh/ The Real Perspectives Podcast is produced by The Registry, covering commercial real estate.
October 19, 202648 min
MGAC’s Mark Anderson on Hyperscale Data Centers, Ultra-Wealthy Clients and Doubling Every Five Years
Mark Anderson, president and CEO of MGAC, rejoins The Registry co-founder and publisher Vladimir Bosanac for an update on how his firm has grown since their pandemic-era conversation. Now about 400 people across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia and the EU, the project and program management consultancy turned 30 this year and has kept up its pattern of doubling in size roughly every five years. Anderson explains the three verticals behind that growth: hyperscale data centers, ultra-high-net-worth residential work, and cultural projects like museums and galleries. He makes the case that AI infrastructure spending is an existential bet for big tech, puts this year’s AI build-out in context against the interstate highways, the Manhattan Project and the moonshot combined, and explains why today’s data centers look more like warehouses than sci-fi sets. The conversation also covers construction costs and labor shortages, the uneven office recovery from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco and London, the value of staying independent in a consolidating industry, how AI is beginning to change cost modeling, and MGAC’s next moves into Australia, the Midwest and broader employee ownership. In this episode: Why a diverse mix of market sectors has helped MGAC grow through 9/11, the financial crisis and COVID Keeping a culture intact across continents, including a company-wide retreat in Palm Springs Whether data center demand could hit a glut like life science did How community opposition fits against the scale of AI investment Why the office market is now a city-by-city story What independence means when competitors are owned by brokerages or private equity
October 12, 202657 min
Multifamily’s Great Divide: Texas Oversupply vs. the Bay Area AI Boom
On this episode of the Real Perspectives Podcast, co-hosts Vladimir Bosanac (co-founder and publisher of The Registry) and Tom Fischer (Principal and Director of Capital Markets at JB Matheson) look at first-half 2026 multifamily data. They start with the national picture, then rank the markets The Registry covers from weakest to strongest: Texas, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern California. Nationally, first-half absorption was the second strongest on record, and new supply has fallen back to pre-COVID levels. Banks and debt funds are lending again, and transaction volume is up about 11% year over year. Cap rates are also rising. Renewals are getting 3–4% increases, while new leases are running 3–4% negative once concessions are counted. The picture changes a lot by market. Texas is still working through record deliveries. Southern California is mostly flat, with Orange County the exception. Seattle has strong demand but still faces supply, and Bellevue led the region in rent growth. The San Francisco Bay Area is now the top multifamily market in the country, with concessions largely gone and the AI-driven demand spreading into Marin, Sonoma, and the East Bay. To close, Vlad and Tom go through U-Haul’s midyear migration data by generation. It shows who is moving to New York and the Bay Area, and who is heading for Florida and the Carolinas. In this episode: (01:41) Four takeaways from Newmark’s national Q2 multifamily report: absorption, shrinking supply, the return of bank lending, and rising transaction volume (05:12) A split rent market: renewals are up, new leases are down, and concessions are still common in the Sunbelt (08:23) The lending environment, credit spreads, and why higher rates are now showing up in cap rates (11:36) Texas: Dallas–Fort Worth turns first, Austin reaches an inflection point, and Houston lags (14:51) Why 94–95% occupancy is the point where pricing power moves back to landlords (18:43) Why deliveries as a share of existing inventory tell you more than raw unit counts (19:17) Southern California: LA, Orange County, and San Diego, plus insurance costs and LA’s Measure ULA (25:19) Institutional capital returns, and why buyers are betting on replacement cost (27:18) Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma: AI leasing, return-to-office mandates, and supply falling 53% (34:50) Inside JB Matheson’s sale of a 134-unit Issaquah property for about $411K per unit (38:30) Northern California: double-digit rent growth in San Francisco, disappearing concessions, and lease trade-outs (42:00) AI firms paying employees to live near the office, and what it means for rents (48:07) U-Haul’s 2026 migration trends by generation: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers About the hosts: Vladimir Bosanac is co-founder and publisher of The Registry, which covers commercial real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, and Texas. Tom Fischer is Principal and Director of Capital Markets at JB Matheson in San Mateo, California. The firm invests in multifamily properties across the Mountain West and Pacific markets. Connect with Tom on LinkedIn
October 5, 202652 min
Building on Values: Chrissie Davis on Launching Incorage and Leading as a Woman in Construction
In this episode of the Real Perspectives Podcast, Vladimir Bosanac, co-founder and publisher of The Registry, and Laura Kreuger, founder and executive director of Asset Locale, talk with Chrissie Davis, president of Incorage General Contractors. Davis spent 14 years at her previous firm. She started as an assistant project manager and became president, and she helped grow the company into a $100 million-a-year business on the Bay Area's top 25 general contractors list. In early 2024, several things pushed her to go out on her own: a list of 50 executives that included only two women, a succession plan she didn't fit into, and a line from Lean In . She talks about the emotional swings of being a founder, botched payrolls included, and how she hires for a startup. The company name is an acronym for its values: Integrity, Collaboration, Regularly Achieving Goals Effectively. Top candidates write her a letter about what those values mean in their own lives. The conversation also covers: Mentorship: why she makes time to support women in construction, and an unexpected challenge she ran into early in her career. Affordable housing: the difference between "capital-A" and "lowercase-a" affordable housing, including hotel conversions, co-ops and densifying existing properties. Current projects: 90 affordable units in the North Bay and five modular tiny homes for young people leaving foster care. Tariffs: how her team kept tariff costs to about $20,000 on a $26 million project. Labor: how AI data centers are pulling subcontractors toward the top of a K-shaped economy. Outlook: what she expects for multifamily, for-sale housing and affordable housing over the next 6 to 12 months.
September 25, 202641 min
From Warehouses to Robots: The Advanced Manufacturing Boom, with Newmark's Steve Kapp
The Bay Area was written off as a place to make things. Now advanced manufacturers are taking most of the newest industrial space in the East Bay. On this episode of Real Perspectives, host Vladimir Bosanac (The Registry) and co-host Byron Renfro (Orchard Commercial) talk with Steve Kapp, Executive Managing Director in Newmark's San Francisco and East Bay Industrial group. They cover what's driving the demand, what these tenants need from a building, and why power has become the biggest constraint. In this episode: What "advanced manufacturing" means: Cities push back on warehouses, so developers redesigned their projects to win approvals. Kapp estimates about 80% of new builds from 2024 to 2026 are going to advanced manufacturers, not warehouse users. Manufacturing comes back: From NUMMI to Tesla, and how reshoring policy, the talent pool and the local supply chain are bringing production back to the region. The sectors behind the demand: EVs and autonomous vehicles, robotics, materials science, cleantech, biomanufacturing, data center servers, eVTOLs and energy storage. Power is the constraint: The standard 4,000-amp spec service, the first pre-leasing the market has seen (Quanta's deal with Prologis in Fremont's Bayside district), and on-site fuel cells as a stopgap. What tenants want: Speed to occupancy, power, parking and curb appeal. Kapp says rent isn't in their top five. Automation and jobs: Bay Area manufacturing employment is falling even as leasing rises. Also Figure AI at The Assembly in North San Jose, Tesla's Optimus line in Fremont, and why suppliers need to be close by. Defense tech: The Bay Area and Southern California's role in the military's move toward technology. New power coming online: LS Power's roughly $1B transmission line linking North San Jose and Fremont, PG&E substation upgrades, and grid-scale battery storage. What's next: Electric truck charging stops, Zipline's drone delivery network, the university talent pipeline, and why the FAA stands between us and flying cars. Chapters 00:00 Introductions 01:01 Defining advanced manufacturing 03:28 Why manufacturing left, and why it's coming back 04:59 Can the Bay Area keep manufacturers as they scale? 06:41 The sectors driving demand 10:42 Power specs, upgrades and pre-leasing 13:26 Fuel cells as a power stopgap 14:51 What tenants prioritize, and where rent ranks 18:21 Automation and the jobs question 24:19 Figure AI, Tesla Optimus and supplier proximity 29:27 Defense tech in California 31:52 New transmission and substation capacity 34:13 Mini data centers, nuclear, truck charging and drone delivery 38:12 The talent pipeline: Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF, SJSU and SFBU 40:50 When do we get flying cars?
September 18, 202633 min
The Great Ownership Shift: Puget Sound's New Money Moves In
Publisher Vladimir Bosanac talks with Evan McLeod, Principal at Palmero Partners, about the state of Puget Sound investment heading into Q3 2026. A generation of long-time private owners is exiting — retirement, rent control, pet-fee bans, aging brick buildings — while new hands-on capital moves in chasing well-located assets at bases the region hasn't seen in years. Evan opens up the operator's side too: insurance premiums doubling, summer electricity bills tripling, and the creative financing getting deals over the line. They close on TikTok's five-day return-to-office push and the electric run Seattle had hosting the World Cup. Guest: Evan McLeod, Palmero Partners Host: Vladimir Bosanac, co-founder & publisher of The Registry Chapters: 0:00 Welcome & Seattle check-in 1:50 State of Puget Sound investment 3:08 The generational ownership shift 4:52 Institutional capital returns 6:53 Construction, jobs & Green Street outlook 8:19 Insurance premiums doubling 12:10 Electricity, data centers & PG&E 17:49 Seller financing & private debt 21:19 Vacancy & return-to-office 23:19 TikTok's 5-day RTO mandate 28:47 The World Cup & Seattle sports
September 10, 20261 hr 20 min
The Bottom of the Pyramid: Small Tenants, Big Demand
Host Vladimir Bosanac is joined by co-host David Arscott (CEO & Co-Founder, Baycrest Capital ) for a read on the multifamily and industrial markets — then sits down with David Klein (EVP & Managing Principal, Lee & Associates SF) on the most underserved corner of life science real estate. In this episode: Multifamily is bouncing off the bottom — national vacancy near 4.3%, Bay Area rents up ~9% YoY, and Green Street projecting ~8% CAGR rent growth in Northern California over three years. Industrial is a step behind in the cycle — construction costs outpacing rent growth, small-bay and last-mile flex space holding demand while big-box supply gets absorbed. Rent control's double edge — lessons from New York's five boroughs, plus Redwood City's November ballot measure and California's Builders Remedy push. The energy question — Texas chasing a staggering 474 GW of grid demand (vs. 12.7 GW for all of PG&E territory), why the real number may be 10–20x smaller, and Google's not-quite-sci-fi pitch for data centers in space. Life science's forgotten 40% — David Klein on the "demand pyramid," why sub-10,000 SF lab space runs 0.1–2.2% vacancy while the broader market sits near 29%, and how Lab Space Directory advocates for the small tenants nobody represents. Guests: David Arscott — CEO & Co-Founder, Baycrest Capital ( LinkedIn ) David Klein — EVP & Managing Principal, Lee & Associates San Francisco ( LinkedIn )
August 31, 202643 min
The AI Rent Boom — Why Bay Area Multifamily Is the Hottest Market in the Country
The Bay Area multifamily market keeps getting "wilder and wilder." In this episode, host Vladimir Bosanac (co-founder and publisher of The Registry) sits down with Dave Saxe, Managing Principal at Calvera Partners, to unpack why San Francisco has become arguably the strongest multifamily market in the country — with 25–30% lease trade-outs, vacancy at a 20-year low, and the AI boom pulling equity back to a region investors were fleeing just a few years ago. From there the conversation widens out: which markets are next in line (Seattle, Austin, and a sleeper pick in Orange County), what's really happening with interest rates and inflation heading into 2027, and where distress and deal flow might finally open up. The pair close with two "Microscope / Telescope" segments — the newly passed 21st Century Road to Housing Act and California's decision to sue five cities over housing — plus the eye-opening economic numbers rolling in from World Cup host cities. Chapters / timestamps * (00:00) Welcome and episode roadmap * (02:10) SF multifamily: 25–30% lease trade-outs, 8–10%+ market rent growth, 20-year-low vacancy * (04:21) Rent-to-income ratio and how much runway is left (Green Street's ~8% 3-year CAGR) * (06:45) The ripple effect — Oakland, the Peninsula, Silicon Valley, and market cyclicality * (08:50) Investor appetite: capital flips back to the Bay Area, but deals are slim pickings * (10:44) Supply crunch — inclusionary housing cuts, impact fees, union costs, ~5.25% return on cost * (13:08) Lending: open for existing product, tighter for new construction * (15:09) Other markets — Austin: supply glut, has it found a bottom? * (16:24) Seattle / Puget Sound: AI hiring, life science, cheaper housing, politics * (20:45) Orange County: the defense-AI sleeper pick * (23:03) Interest rates & inflation — core CPI ~3.2%, 6.5%+ mortgages, the "new normal" * (26:08) The refinance wall and where distress could open up deal flow * (27:48) REITs, cost of capital, and the Essex/EQR "we love the Bay Area" story * (31:52) Microscope/Telescope: the 21st Century Road to Housing Act (passed 85–5) * (33:56) California sues five cities over housing — Half Moon Bay, Huntington Beach * (37:03) World Cup economics — San Jose watch parties, NY/NJ's $2.1B impact, Seattle merchants
August 20, 202646 min
The Great Handoff: AI, Aging Owners, and Where Work Goes Next
Vlad and Laura sit down to trace a single thread running through three of the biggest shifts in how — and where — we work. They open with China's startling leap into an AI-and-gig-powered labor force (44% of workers now in the gig economy) and what a number like that would mean for a U.S. system built around employer-provided healthcare, pensions, and the 9-to-5. From there, they turn to "the great handoff": the trillions of dollars in small-business ownership changing hands as baby boomers retire, why so many viable companies may simply close for lack of a succession plan, and the overlooked opportunity for young people to buy a business rather than build one from scratch. Finally, they map Gen Z's move toward tier-two and tier-three towns in search of a slower, more affordable life — and what that migration means for Waymos and driver's licenses, for population trends, and for the fight over where data centers get built. It's a wide-ranging, optimistic conversation about disruption, adaptation, and the chance to do things better. Key Takeaways China already has ~44% of its labor force in the gig economy, offering a preview of an AI-shaped workforce the U.S. safety net isn't structured for. Automation is reshaping jobs more than simply eliminating them — but the U.S. reliance on employers for healthcare and retirement makes the transition higher-stakes here. ~45% of privately held Bay Area businesses are owned by baby boomers; without succession plans, many profitable, viable companies risk closing rather than transferring. Buying an established small business can be lower-risk than founding one — over 70–80% of startups fail within a few years, while acquisition comes with an existing customer base and financing tools like SBA loans. Gen Z is increasingly prioritizing rest, health, and affordability, fueling migration to tier-two and tier-three "Zoom towns" and revitalizing smaller communities. Fewer teens are getting driver's licenses, and developers are already designing for a lower-car future (e.g., convertible parking garages). The data-center backlash is bipartisan; the path forward may be requiring facilities to generate their own clean power and recycle water so they become a community asset, not a burden. Hosts Vladimir Bosanac — Co-host; publisher and co-founder of The Registry. Laura Kreuger — Co-host; third-generation real estate investor and founder of Asset Locale, focused on property-management operations and technology.
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