Real Perspectives Podcast

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 citiesHow Contor works like an analyst you email: send an assignment and get back land use research, with sourcesWhy general-purpose chatbots fall short when you’re entitling a site or committing capitalAI agents that dig through Legistar, staff reports and years of planning commission minutes to find regulation in flight and the tenor of local politicsA Texas case study that traced ten years of approvals in about two days and found the neighborhood committee nearly always predicted the outcomeWhat AI can’t replace: relationships, strategy and meetings at the city counterServing both sides of the counter, preserving cities’ institutional memory, and a future of parcel-by-parcel planningEarly traction: roughly 55 pilots across about 80 geographies in six statesLearn more: contor.aiSend an assignment: [email protected] Olya: [email protected] with Olya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olya-krasnykh/The Real Perspectives Podcast is produced by The Registry, covering commercial real estate.

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 COVIDKeeping a culture intact across continents, including a company-wide retreat in Palm SpringsWhether data center demand could hit a glut like life science didHow community opposition fits against the scale of AI investmentWhy the office market is now a city-by-city storyWhat independence means when competitors are owned by brokerages or private equity

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 BoomersAbout 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

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.

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.Chapters00:00 Introductions01:01 Defining advanced manufacturing03:28 Why manufacturing left, and why it's coming back04:59 Can the Bay Area keep manufacturers as they scale?06:41 The sectors driving demand10:42 Power specs, upgrades and pre-leasing13:26 Fuel cells as a power stopgap14:51 What tenants prioritize, and where rent ranks18:21 Automation and the jobs question24:19 Figure AI, Tesla Optimus and supplier proximity29:27 Defense tech in California31:52 New transmission and substation capacity34:13 Mini data centers, nuclear, truck charging and drone delivery38:12 The talent pipeline: Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF, SJSU and SFBU40:50 When do we get flying cars?