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Rebuilding Cities: How My Early Work in Detroit Shaped My Path Into Real Estate Development

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When I look back at my early years in real estate and construction, the 1990s stand out as the decade that defined my professional foundation. Between 1992 and 2000, I was working as an electrician, earning my degree in architecture, and spending every free hour investing in and restoring old homes across Detroit and other post-industrial cities like Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. These were cities with incredible bones—neighborhoods lined with early 20th-century architecture, built by craftsmen who believed in permanence. But decades of economic decline had left many of those homes vacant and forgotten. Where others saw blight, I saw opportunity and history worth saving. My construction background gave me the technical confidence to take on projects others avoided. I understood systems, structure, and wiring—but I was equally drawn to how buildings could be reimagined. My architectural studies helped me think beyond repair and toward design—toward how a building could serve both ...
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The Trump Administration Eyes a National Housing Emergency — What It Could Mean for the Market

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It looks like housing is finally taking center stage in Washington again. The Trump administration is reportedly weighing the idea of declaring a national housing emergency this fall — a move that would mark a major shift in how the federal government approaches affordability and supply. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the administration is exploring a range of options aimed at tackling the affordability crisis and boosting housing supply. Speaking with The Washington Examiner, Bessent said the team is looking at ways to standardize local zoning and building codes, reduce closing costs, and even roll back tariffs on construction materials — all part of a broader effort to make homes more attainable. While the administration says it doesn’t want to “step into the business” of state and local governments, Bessent also made clear that everything is on the table. And that includes keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates further, which remain elevated. F...
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Rising Ambitions, Skyrocketing Costs: What Project Stargate Really Means

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When you build in gigawatts instead of megawatts, the questions aren’t just about engineering—they’re about money, politics, and timing. That’s what makes Project Stargate the most fascinating (and concerning) infrastructure initiative I’ve seen in years. Scale: From Big to Ludicrous Since its White House debut earlier this year, Stargate has ballooned in scope. What started as 1.2 GW of planned capacity at a $12 billion Texas site has quickly multiplied: 4.5 GW here, 7 GW there, announcements in the U.S., UK, UAE, and even Norway. The ambition isn’t incremental—it’s exponential. In July, Oracle and OpenAI confirmed 4.5 GW of new capacity (on top of the original site), backed by two million Nvidia GPUs. Then in September, Oracle’s stock jumped 30% after revealing a cloud backlog north of $500 billion—later tied in part to a jaw-dropping $300 billion OpenAI commitment. To put it in real estate developer terms: this is like announcing you’ll build Manhattan, then immediately promising to...
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Minimum-Wage Workers Are Clocking 80+ Hours a Week Just to Afford Rent

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As a developer, I look at numbers every day—construction costs, financing terms, rent rolls. But sometimes a single stat cuts through the noise and makes you pause: in some U.S. cities, minimum-wage workers need to clock over 80 hours a week just to pay rent on a modest apartment. Let’s break that down. That’s not 80 hours a week to build wealth, save for retirement, or send a kid to college. That’s 80 hours a week simply to put a roof over your head. It’s a stark reminder of how disconnected wage growth is from rental pricing, and why affordability is one of the defining challenges for our industry. The Numbers Don’t Lie Realtor.com’s data lays out the imbalance clearly: Even after two years of rent softening, workers earning minimum wage are barely keeping pace. Many of the hardest-hit cities aren’t just coastal “usual suspects” like Boston or New York. Places like Milwaukee and Atlanta top the list because wages there simply haven’t kept up with housing costs. Across these top 10 ha...
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Data Center Demand is Reshaping North American Real Estate

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The North American data center market has officially hit a new inflection point. Vacancy dropped to just 1.6% in the first half of 2025, a record low, as AI adoption and hyperscale growth fuel unprecedented preleasing activity. For developers, investors, and operators, this isn’t just a strong market—it’s a structural shift in how digital infrastructure is built, financed, and delivered. Demand Is Outpacing Supply—By Design CBRE’s H1 2025 Data Center Trends report highlights what we see firsthand: tenants are no longer waiting for supply to hit the market. Hyperscale and AI-driven occupiers are preleasing space years in advance to guarantee access to power and capacity, which are now the two defining constraints in site selection. Nearly three-quarters of all capacity under construction is already spoken for. As developers, this means our timelines, capital structures, and land strategies must account for a world where absorption is front-loaded. Power is no longer just a utility—it’s ...
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Cracks in the Labor Market Are Harder to Ignore — Market Is Pricing in a Fall Rate Cut

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Sunday, August 3, 2025 By Daniel Kaufman As we close out the weekend, it’s worth reflecting on how dramatically last week shifted the economic landscape—and what it means for capital, lending, and real estate fundamentals going forward. Labor Market Turns Spotlight on Weakness Last Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee elected to maintain its benchmark rate at 4.25%–4.50%. As expected. But two Fed Governors—Waller and Bowman—voted for a cut, marking the first dual dissent since 1993. Despite that, Chair Powell sounded hawkish in his post‑meeting remarks, reaffirming that labor market conditions remained “broadly in balance.” That set the stage… until Friday’s jobs report hit. On Friday, Nonfarm Payrolls revealed just 73,000 jobs added in July—well below consensus expectations. Even more concerning, revisions cut May and June payroll gains by a staggering 258,000 jobs. The three-month average cratered from approximately 150,000 down to just 35,000 per month. For real estate profe...
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Building in America Just Got Pricier — But We Cracked the Code

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Construction costs are smashing records nationwide. In New York City, the average cost to build now tops $534 per square foot — the highest in the world. San Francisco isn’t far behind at $512, with Los Angeles hitting $445. The culprits? Persistent labor shortages, inflationary material pricing, and supply chain disruption still reverberating from post-pandemic trade volatility. Developers across the country are feeling the squeeze. According to Turner & Townsend, nearly 50% of industry professionals expect supply chain conditions to worsen over the next 12 months, with construction cost inflation climbing to 5% in 2025 in some markets. But while most are struggling to keep up, we’ve taken a different route — and it’s working. At Elevation Development Services, we decided to flip the script. Instead of relying on the traditional (and increasingly fragile) web of third-party consultants and GC markups, we brought everything in-house — and it’s been a game changer. By combining end-...
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