What was the biggest lesson you learned while working during the pandemic? The need to be flexible and willing to adapt to many new “norms” in terms of meeting with clients and making presentations to various municipal boards.
How has your working environment changed over the last year? When the full magnitude of the ongoing pandemic upended the commercial real estate industry, some communities initially simply stopped holding meetings, throwing ongoing development projects in those communities into question. Soon, however, most municipalities began holding meetings over a variety of teleconference platforms. Platinum Partners quickly adapted to these and other workaround solutions, which allowed the firm to continue work on their clients’ behalf with only minimal interruption.
What are your predictions for your industry in 2022? Based on how busy 2021 was, I believe 2022 will continue to be a robust year for the real estate industry, as long as interest rates remain low.
What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2021? We had many noteworthy projects in 2021, but one that stands out is a 36-unit mixed-use development on the South Shore that we were able to get approved at the first hearing, which is certainly rare. It involved many off-line meetings with town officials and the project team that allowed that to happen as many issues were worked out prior to the public hearing.
What is the best advice you have received, and who was it from? My father always told me, “you have to have the right attitude,” and I have tried to live by that advice throughout my career, always remaining positive and seeing the glass as “half full.”