The Five Senses of Placemaking
👁️ Murals
👃 Fire Pits
👂 Music
✋ Interactive objects
👅 Ice cream, 🍺, and, of course, 🌮

Every real estate developer aspires to leave a permanent mark on the world - by creating or renovating or operating places for people to live, work, or play.

And almost all of us aspire to be making a net-positive impact on the lives of the people who live where we work.

#1 sign of a real, real estate developer?
Scuffed shoes.

6. Involve your team.

Share a rough draft of your reports with a few people on your team for input. You'll end up with a more complete and better written document with support from the team.
7/7

5. Separate action items from regular reporting.

Send requests that require action from investors separately from your quarterly report. My action item emails start with the subject line “[ACTION REQUESTED]”, and I give a deadline by which I hope to receive a response.

6/7

4. Include Photos

Many investors choose real estate because they want an investment they can touch and feel. High quality photos help bring them along for the ride and appreciate the progress that’s being made.

5/7

3. Be on time

I send a report out like clockwork on the first day of every quarter. Period.
4/7

2. Be transparent.

Write explicitly about the things that are going well and things you’re worried about. Being trustworthy is essential if you hope to turn a first-time investor into a long-time partner.



3/7

1. Give context.

None of your investors are paying as much attention to your project as you are, so it’s important to put each point in context. The key is giving enough context that it makes sense without giving so much context that the report is no longer interesting.


2/7

Communicating with investors is a required skill for anyone who wants a career in real estate. Five tips on writing good investor reports:

1/7

Real estate is both a product and a service business.

Your product is the buildings you create.

Your service is delivering investor returns.

Being good at both is essential for real estate entrepreneurs.

Closing out this series of #DamonsFavoriteDetails (at least for now) with some favorite moments at Ponce City Market.

The Reserve in Playa Vista has open ceilings with the cleanest infrastructure I've ever seen. #DamonsFavoriteDetails

OK. Truth be told, I have two favorite canopies. This one is on Wycoff Ave in Bushwick. #DamonsFavoriteDetails

Who else has a favorite canopy? Mine is this Meatpacking District gem (345 West 14th St) #DamonsFavoriteDetails

How do you approach curating your tenant mix?

Photo: Grow: A Plant Shop
10/10

8. We collaborate on marketing.

From jointly announcing a lease signing, through grand opening, and beyond!

Photo: Hex Coffee
9/10

7. We insist our tenants install great signage.

We push (and push and push) the tenant to go bigger, to be more creative, to illuminate the sign - because by then they are short on funding and underestimate the importance of the sign.

Photo: Hardy Boys Records
8/10

6. All of our leases include percentage rent.

This is the best way to align the landlord and tenant.

We regularly walk from deals over this issue.

Photo: Halal Street Foods
7/10

5. We sign short-duration leases

A failing small business leaves even if they have a long lease.

We always renew a short-term lease with a great tenant, & we stay in control of the space if tenants turn out not to be so great for the overall tenant mix.

Photo: Dupp & Swat
6/10

4. We build small retail spaces and fit them out for flexibility.

This minimizes credit risk for any particular tenant.

Photo: Babe and Butcher
5/10

3. We accept that the best local retailers probably have no credit.

We can do this because the overall credit profile of our project is dominated by large office tenants. (We still do background and credit checks to look for bad actors.)

Photo: Black Moth Bars
4/10

2. We prefer tenants with a narrow niche.

Niche stores attract loyal customers from all across the market, & once they visit they will cross-shop if u have the right tenant mix.

Narrow niche businesses also minimize competition among tenants in the future.

Photo: Fitteds
3/10

1. We look for the owner-operators of the best local retail and F&B startups.

We visit food truck gatherings and pop-up markets. We network like crazy. And we’re also fortunate that we are now getting a lot of inbound interest.

Photo: Seemingly Overzealous
2/10

A curated tenant mix is the key to a successful retail environment. Here’s some steps were taking to achieve this at Camp North End.

A 🧵
1/10

Who else has a favorite parking garage? Mine is in the LA Arts District in the "at Mateo" project. #DamonsFavoriteDetails

Who else loves Domino Park in Brooklyn? #DamonsFavoriteDetails

Industry City has the best planters.*. #DamonsFavoriteDetails


* Remember, all planters should have vines spilling over the sides.

More #DamonsFavoriteDetails, this time from The Camp in Costa Mesa, CA. I particularly love the parking lot labels.

When your kids tattle on each other or someone else, your response should always be, “What happened just before that?”