What are the top CRE firms today generating impressive entrepreneurial talent?

Which top CRE firms are generating impressive entrepreneurial talent today? Some examples of past firms that come to mind include Trammell Crow Company, JMB Realty, and Massey Knakal. I'm curious to know your thoughts.

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I’d say Related. Will Blodgett was at Related then co-founded Fairstead, left and now started Tredway. Jamar Adams, worked at Related, went off to start Essence Development. Pretty sure there are more guys who I don’t know of.

I’ve also seen some recent Blackstone and Goldman Sachs alums either branch off to start their own shop or basically leave BX/GS to head up a real estate platform within a mid-sized or large institution.

 

Not sure if this is a serious question. If an ex-GS/BX left their large firm to go start a RE platform at another PE shop (regardless of size) that traditionally only participated in corporate M&A, how is that not entrepreneurial? An example I could give is Waterfall Asset Management. An ex-GS banker is running their new RE credit team. Prior to him, they didn’t do direct lending. They mainly were buyers of B-pieces or NPLs. I consider that entrepreneurial.

 

I'd say Related. Will Blodgett was at Related then co-founded Fairstead, left and now started Tredway. Jamar Adams, worked at Related, went off to start Essence Development. Pretty sure there are more guys who I don't know of.

I've also seen some recent Blackstone and Goldman Sachs alums either branch off to start their own shop or basically leave BX/GS to head up a real estate platform within a mid-sized or large institution.

Related's affordable group in particular has done well.  Probably because affordable has a lower barrier to entry on the capital side.  One of the founding partners of Lincoln Ave Capital was a Related alum.  Ditto Alpha Verde.

 
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Not really what? Interesting to watch? I guess I would disagree. I think it's cool to watch dozens of executive level development folks spread out in one city all at once and start to create their own platforms / models.

Most of them did not get a payday because the real money was in the OpCo and they stopped giving out pieces of that a long time ago. The ones I know left because some combination of the shift from a promote driven to a public co model (like you said), the fact that their funds / platform got too big to create meaningful returns while constrained to one market, the fact that they leaned into becoming a fee developer for Amazon, and the fact that they were still super office heavy and it's going to be a long painful shift.

 

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