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Every Friday, join us as we dive into the latest in real estate multifamily with David Moghavem, Head of East Coast Acquisitions at Trion Properties. David invites top experts who know the ins, outs, and trends shaping the real estate multifamily market across the nation!
Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just curious about where the next big opportunity might be, Deal Flow Friday brings you the weekly inside scoop on what’s hot, what’s not, and what to watch for in today’s ever-evolving real estate scene.
David Moghavem (00:17)
All right, welcome to another episode of Deal Flow Friday. I'm your host, David Mogavum. Today we have Matt Thompson, Senior Vice President of Development and Ventures at Trilogy. Matt, it's really good to see you again. It's been a minute.
Matt Thomson (00:31)
It has been David. Thanks for hosting.
David Moghavem (00:34)
Thank you, thank you, and it's good to be back in Miami. Absolutely. I know, it's...
Matt Thomson (00:38)
⁓ We miss you here.
It's nothing like LA. is a better spot to be.
David Moghavem (00:45)
Yeah, it's been nice to be back in a few days and like it's bringing back nostalgia. Sure. And seeing all the familiar faces. I had breakfast with Lavin yesterday and then I had breakfast with Omar today and they were both saying, wow, you're going to get mad on the pod. This is great.
Matt Thomson (01:02)
So the broker circuit. Yeah.
David Moghavem (01:04)
You
gotta come here you gotta make your rounds you gotta you know kiss kiss the ring sure to try to get a get some sort of deal some sort of activity some sort of deal flow going so you know how it is First of all you've been at trilogy now for almost a year. Yeah After being at AMLI for ten years prior or even more than ten years prior how first of all how's the switch been and would love to maybe hear a little bit about trilogy what they're doing what they're up to and
specifically with you, little bit of the difference with Trilogy and the Switch AMLI because you were there for a very long time.
Matt Thomson (01:40)
No, absolutely. It's amazing because AMLI felt like home. I spent over a decade both in Chicago and in Miami since 2019. I ran development for them in South Florida and ended up making it the largest market from an NOI share within sort of the
David Moghavem (02:00)
When did you move ⁓ from Chicago to Miami?
Matt Thomson (02:03)
It was February 2019. like one year. saw it. one year pre COVID pre.
David Moghavem (02:10)
You
saw the pre-COVID and then you saw the post-COVID.
Matt Thomson (02:12)
And
it was an amazing transition. It made me look really smart, which I'm absolutely not. But look, in the institutional world, AMLI was actually owned by Morgan Stanley. So we were a wholly owned subsidiary. And we chased sort of cap rate compression for 20 years. AMLI was once, it was a private company founded in 1980. Then we went public in 94. And in 2006, we were taken private.
So it was an amazing, amazing run and we had a great source of capital through Morgan Stanley, but coming out of the pandemic where the tenure stopped dropping cap rates stopped dropping. More to compress. And it was, it was just hard. And in fact, most of these large institutions are now raising an echo fund and being a development guy. I guess the writing was on the wall. ⁓
David Moghavem (02:54)
There was nowhere more to compress.
Matt Thomson (03:08)
But again, I loved my experience there. And Trilogy was kind of an interesting one because the founder of Trilogy and the founder of Amley were neighbors. that was the connection. So I stayed somewhat within the family. And Trilogy for a very long time was almost like a younger version of Amley. So vertically integrated, we had a property management company. We owned thousands of units across the country.
and predominantly value add, less so ground up development. And over the last, let's call it three to four years, it was a slow transition into development. So they started accumulating sites in South Florida. We were selling off a bit of our portfolio. We actually sold about 3,000 units to Morgan Properties at the start of 25. And it made a lot of sense for me to join Trilogy in this upswing of development.
and sort of moving away from that institutional world and more in the private investing world.
David Moghavem (04:11)
That's pretty interesting that in the past three, four years, they started getting into development. You think that's a little bit of zagging when everyone's zigging. ⁓ right now you can buy re below replacement cost, people it's tougher to solve to a yield. That makes sense. How is trilogy looking at it? I'm sure they're looking at it at completely different lens. How is trilogy looking at development today?
Matt Thomson (04:34)
Sure. It's a great question because our DNA is really in the Midwest. We did a lot of investment across Illinois, Minnesota. now we're looking smarter. ⁓ I think what's somewhat unique is even though we entered the development market, we're still like a fund-based business and we're all private capital fund-based. So we were low leverage.
David Moghavem (04:43)
Now you're looking smarter.
Matt Thomson (05:01)
We were able to be more nimble than the institutions. So lots of assemblages versus just buying marketed deals. And I think that allowed us to get in at a great cost basis from a land perspective, coupled with our capital partners are wonderful. They're committed to trilogy. They're long-term oriented. Yeah, it's a diversification away from, from their businesses. So it allows us to be a little more flexible on strategy.
and a little more nimble compared to the larger merchant builders and institutions.
David Moghavem (05:35)
Yeah, I think the fact that your trilogy and their capital partners, you guys are looking long. If you're trying to be a merchant builder today, forget about it. You can't solve to a yield that makes sense that you can flip out in three to five years. You got to build and it's loan to core, loan to own or a built to to core, sorry. And I think that's the difference between who's developing today versus who was developing at the peak. ⁓
Matt Thomson (06:02)
For
sure. And I see it just even from a development strategy, like we're sitting in such a creative space right now, but these traditional read structures, they can't manipulate the development program too much off of that core strategy, which you alluded to, because even offering certain amenities, it's bad income. So it makes it complicated from a tax perspective.
David Moghavem (06:24)
What
do mean? What do mean bad income like like ancillary income? Yeah, exactly. Terrible.
Matt Thomson (06:29)
Not as durable and as an example, know, Adam Newman is buying a lot of real estate in South Florida. Right. He's trying to program flow flow as this really integrated community and offering a lot of services. The reason why these institutions can't do that is because from a REIT and a tax structure, they can't be offering towel service or a juice bar. It's not worth it to them. They want to focus on the rent roll and being in great locations where
private operators and private investors, we can diversify the strategy. We can buy a big land site that may be entitled or zoned for pure play multifamily, maybe add in a layer of health and wellness or medical use, which I think the larger merchant builders are wary of because to your point, they are just trying to solve for a cap rate spread. And that's very tight in today's market.
David Moghavem (07:25)
Right. And when you're buying below replacement costs today, it's, ⁓ makes it tough to justify an exit that someone's going to pay that for sure. above what their basis is today. Totally. ⁓ I also think it is interesting when we are in an industry right now where you do need to look at the intangibles outside of a rent roll and outside of a PNL, like a towel service to actually have it reflect your better in your rent roll and your PNL. What I mean by that is,
by looking at the intangibles and seeing like communities and how they're run, ⁓ you and I have lived in these rental properties and we know like your renewal, you're probably not gonna renew if things aren't working properly at your ⁓ community. And I think that's something where like from the institutional lens, it's something that you're so disconnected from, but from a private capital lens, now that you're kind of coming into that with Trilogy, you're seeing the benefit of it.
Matt Thomson (08:22)
Sure,
and you can differentiate. When I moved down to Miami in 2019, there was still a real lack of these managed apartment buildings that I was so used to in Chicago. You see it in Denver, Austin, Texas. Those were the darlings of managed apartment buildings where you could move into a Amley or a Grey Star or a Buzudo building. And it was roughly a consistent experience. There was staff on site.
everyone there, it was a little more transient because it wasn't for sale product. We're coming to Miami. There was a lot of friction to rent because most of the underlying product was condo. And as many Miami renters know to rent in a condo building, you have to put up first and last month plus pay your rent. And that's a big check for most people. ⁓ especially
Miami yesteryear where the incomes were a little lower, it was less sort of white collar employment. Now, I think there's been a recomposition of both the product and the customer where there was a wave of new supply. So thousands, tens of thousands of units has been delivered in South Florida over the last five years. But also even though population growth has slowed,
There's been a true recomposition of the demographic. So people who are getting pushed out because of affordability issues, but the people moving in, white collar, high income, a little older, a little more sticky from a customer base, and that helps long-term the development story.
David Moghavem (10:00)
Yeah, it's like a more of like a demographic churn of some sort where maybe if you actually look at Miami from a population lens, it's it's not that much higher, but the but the incomes are higher. The inbound migration with higher the L.A.'s, the New York's, the Chicago's coming here. And then you're having the ones who are priced out maybe going to other parts of Florida that are more affordable. Absolutely.
Matt Thomson (10:25)
Absolutely.
Absolutely. And it's funny because you saw that shift sort of in the Sun Belt and Florida as a state where some of these secondary and tertiary markets were gaining momentum. And as a result, a lot of supply got delivered. But those markets, I think of North Florida, like Daytona Beach or Jacksonville,
They're struggling now. It's probably a good time to buy rather than build because it wasn't a sustainable trajectory from a customer and demographic base because the job still remained on either like the West coast in Tampa or in Miami and Miami in general. We're so land constrained that it allows these longer term investors who want to build a big project to make sense because they're not betting.
on sort of immediate rent growth, they can look at it from a long-term perspective if they're already active in the market.
David Moghavem (11:21)
So
I guess you might be hinting of this a little bit. Is Trilogy looking in these parts of Florida or where is Trilogy bullish on right now in markets?
Matt Thomson (11:32)
I'm talking my own book, so I'm a little biased.
David Moghavem (11:34)
You
know, you're not the first person that said that on this pod. And I think it's important. Everyone comes on this pod. They can talk their book. There's no shame in talking your book. You give, let the audience decide. Thank you. If you're, if you're bullshitting.
Matt Thomson (11:48)
Thank you. I'm a shameless marketer for Trilogy. But look, we actually owned close to five acres in the Edgewater Submarket of Miami. And I've built a lot in Midtown. I've built a lot in Wynwood. And I actually think that that corridor is becoming sort of a mega submarket within South Florida. Because you've got the interesting diversity of retail and walkability in Wynwood, sort of our arts and entertainment district.
Midtown, which is a brand new neighborhood, it used to be a rail yard and now it's turned into this incredible residential neighborhood. And then Edgewater has this underlying zoning that allows a lot of density, but historically it's been high rise condos right on Biscayne Bay because they were solving for views. But the entire region is becoming more active from a livability standpoint. And I think about it from like a neighborhood amenities. So as an example,
Crescent Heights delivered Forma and that houses the largest grocery store in the city of Miami, which is a Whole Foods 50,000 square feet. There's a Trader Joe's in Midtown, which is one of the most productive Trader Joe's in the country because of all the residential activity. So again, I actually think we're from a corridor perspective, we're early innings. Amazon signed 100,000 square feet in Windwood Plaza.
Ken Griffin just bought 545 Wynn, which is another 300,000 square feet of office in Wynn Wood. So again, even though Miami's been talked about so much in this sort of national real estate investment discourse, I actually think we're still pretty early on how it's shaping up as a region.
David Moghavem (13:33)
I think it's interesting the way that you're framing it because if you talk to most other people in the industry, they're saying it's getting pummeled with concessions and there's a lot of supply and they don't know when that's gonna end. But I think with Trilogy looking long term, you see the benefit of it and demand side of Miami, despite the concessions, it's still absorbing. And I think that's the key point looking at.
how demand is absorbing that product where there is still a demand and it's only a matter of time where that gets absorbed in a place like Miami and a place like Midtown and Windward where it is supply or land constraint.
Matt Thomson (14:15)
For sure. Absolutely. Like Midtown is basically spoken for. Wynwood, I think the reason why it's being pummeled with concessions is because like 3000 units have been delivered in 18 months. That's just hard to absorb for anyone. anyone. Yeah. And you look at national darling markets, look at Austin, Texas and Denver. Those two markets.
are now seeing significant concession activity because so much new supply has delivered. Even though I think Austin and Denver will sort itself out and be great markets long term.
David Moghavem (14:47)
I'm long on Denver. There we go, but it's getting rock
Matt Thomson (14:51)
right now. Totally, totally. And it's funny when I was at AMLE, we managed about 25,000 units across the country. And there were anecdotes in Denver specifically where market rate units, at least at the one bedroom level, their rates were lower than the affordable housing stipulated rates. they were exactly. these affordable housing guys had to figure out a concession scheme that was like competitive with market rate.
David Moghavem (15:11)
concessions.
That's insane.
Matt Thomson (15:21)
So look, again, I think at the micro level in Wynwood, tons of new supply, that's the story. It's going to shake itself out. The office is still absorbing. Oak Row is building another couple hundred thousand square feet in Edgewater. That type of mixed use is going to make the sort of sub market more vibrant. And I think in general, Trilogy is very bullish on pro business.
low regulation markets around the country, even though we have that Midwestern DNA, we're headquartered in Chicago. The current narrative is yes, Chicago is a competitive renters market, but that's because the city's made it completely prohibitive for any new investment. no new units are delivering and that's been the case for five years at least. That's why the rent roll looks so good. It's because it's so hard to build. And as a developer,
I want markets where I at least have a chance of building something.
David Moghavem (16:20)
I
guess when you're looking long term, you're not, ⁓ you're not valuing as much it being like supply constraint maybe in a ⁓ way. mean Midwest right now is it's on fire. Like a lot of people are investing there because of the supply constraint. So are you saying like, despite it being in your DNA, you're maybe pulling back in this. Maybe it's getting too frothy. Like how are you looking at the Midwest right now? How's Trilogy looking at the
Matt Thomson (16:45)
Sure. It's a good question. We own a significant portfolio still in the Midwest. So from a cashflow perspective, it's a very, yeah, it's a very durable market. I also think it's very livable. And if there are opportunities to build, we will take advantage of that. However, I think we've shifted gears where we want to manage an existing portfolio. And then from a pipeline perspective, rather than trying to gobble up
David Moghavem (16:53)
See you on the right.
Matt Thomson (17:15)
and be sort of an AUM player. We would rather take on what I like to call institutional size boutique strategy development. And I think those opportunities are more obvious in these higher growth markets like South Florida. We also have a, and this is somewhat nuanced, but we have a complimentary business. We actually own the Concourse Club, is a private automotive racetrack.
wow. So we're investing as well from a ground up perspective in sort of niche real estate. We're building high end automotive car garages. We have facilities there. ⁓ it's within the structure of a, of an investment fund because it's an opportunity zone. So again, our core business is multifamily ground up and, and, and acquisition, but we also have this hedge.
where investing in sort of niche asset classes gives us a little bit of differentiation amongst our peers.
David Moghavem (18:20)
very
curious on that. Opportunity Zone funds going into these location opportunities on locations and building like this niche automotive car garage for sale product. Is it for sale product or is it like rental?
Matt Thomson (18:33)
Right now it's rental because it's within the context of a private club. So we own all the real estate and we manage it, rent it to our members ⁓ for their collection.
David Moghavem (18:47)
That's pretty cool. And it's a kind of a hedge from like your tradition, just being like diversified from a strategy.
Matt Thomson (18:54)
Totally.
that's what makes, again, when I compare this institutional world with the private capital world, institutional investing is quite prescriptive. You have a box. And that's what I loved at AMLI because it really, cut your teeth on how to look at an investment in your category and you had to be world-class at that. So underwriting multifamily, that is what we did. We had all the data. You know, we sort of
David Moghavem (19:04)
Yeah, you have a balk.
Matt Thomson (19:24)
brushed off the costar reports because we had it internally and it allowed us to make better investing decisions where on this private capital side it allows us to be more nimble more opportunistic more flexible and as a result we can stay active without necessarily fitting in a very constrained box
David Moghavem (19:46)
I want to
go back to that point of like brushing off the costar data because I think we're out of time right now where with AI and with ⁓ access to information being so abundant you have to kind of create and synthesize your own information and your own boots on the ground to make your own conjectures rather than just paying a monthly subscription to get off-the-shelf data you need to have your own data to make your own decisions and
almost be contrarian in a way based on your conviction of what you're seeing.
Matt Thomson (20:19)
Absolutely. And it's funny you say that because not only is this like owning your own data and synthesizing it and sort of making decisions based on that super helpful, but in the vertically integrated model that we both have with Trilogy and also Amly, you can glean this anecdotal data from your property management teams, which I think is harder when you're dealing with a third party because they are always trying to position themselves.
David Moghavem (20:44)
You need to be, like you can only really do that if you're vertically integrated.
Matt Thomson (20:48)
Correct. And I think long term, there will be a competitive advantage of owning that data stack, whether it's the analytical or qualitative data. ⁓ And it'll help developers, investors, operators make better decisions.
David Moghavem (21:04)
Yeah, very true. So we talked touched on South Florida. We touched on Midwest. Sure. Before we move on any other markets that you guys that you want to talk your book on or that you that you like right now. ⁓
Matt Thomson (21:18)
Look, I love West Palm. I actually I've talked about this since my Emily days
David Moghavem (21:23)
Another
market that's heavy supply today, but amazing long term. think there's a theme there.
Matt Thomson (21:28)
And when you have one of the most prolific real estate developers in American history, targeting one city with his personal capital and it's, you know, he's late stage in his career. So this is sort of the final chapter. There's something incredibly special. And if you could ride the coat tails of that, I think you're going to be a winner. Shame. So I spoke about that.
David Moghavem (21:50)
No shame in riding the coaster.
Matt Thomson (21:53)
Even when I was at Amway, I thought the South Florida model was the barbell approach where you do urban investing in city of Miami, city of West Palm beach. And then I love the suburbs of Broward versus Fort Lauderdale. And that was a function of like durable demand, the office story, and then sort of the global view of Miami and West Palm. We're always looking nationally. ⁓ I do think it's harder to make deals work.
especially development deals work in entitlement, NIMBY, blue anti-business, anti-growth areas. I think if you're an existing participant in those markets, you may have a competitive advantage because you can work your relationships better.
David Moghavem (22:39)
point
you're not even in real estate you're in politics.
Matt Thomson (22:41)
Exactly.
And I don't want to be a politician. that's, that's not my favorite. And then I think it goes back. Maybe it's not some market specific, but niche strategy. There's, there's something to that. And if you can create more, I hate to use the word or the phrase experiential, ⁓ real estate, but I do think with the wave of AI that we're seeing,
that the built environment is gonna get even more important because when people disconnect from their robots and their chatbots, they want community, they want amazing amenities, they want to do cool things in the cities that they live in.
David Moghavem (23:28)
Very, very good point. think, ⁓ to the first part of that, having a niche targeted strategy right now, just nevermind the second part you're saying of like, ⁓ experiential real estate, just like from a capital perspective where you have these 500 pound gorillas and they're looking for experts, they need kind of these like targeted sharpshooters. And so I do think that's like a important thing. And then at the same time, being able to capitalize on
the need of human interaction in the business strategy is like the trend we're seeing right now. One of the things like I, you know, to segue a bit, Matt, like one thing I love about you that I want the audience to understand, like you started this amazing community of cigars and charcuterie that I miss the most from Miami. I'm actually missing it by a day.
You have that, you've formed that, you're part of the ULI Leadership Institute, and you really make it an effort of connecting with people and the human touch. Talk a little bit about that and the drive, the fire behind that. Everyone doesn't feel like starting that. It really takes something to continue it and making it to what you've made it. So talk a little bit about the fire behind it.
Matt Thomson (24:50)
Yeah, no, no, no, it's it's an amazing segue. I actually compare it a lot to your podcast ⁓ because I seriously believe that to be successful in life, you have to increase your surface area of luck as much as you can, especially as a young professional moving around, trying to be dynamic. You don't always have that institutional credibility as a young person because you're still learning, cutting your teeth.
and you don't have those relationships. And I moved for a bit of background. I grew up in Canada and I spent my entire educational career in Canada. So I didn't have a network in the States. I ended up striking luck with AMLE and moving down to Chicago to start my career.
⁓ but I realized moving cities as an adult is actually really hard because you know, no one, ⁓ I went to Chicago knowing no one. And the same thing happened when I decided to move to Miami. I literally knew no one here. I had never been here before. Like I came for a job and I came to Chicago for a job. My first, my first time in Chicago was for my interview. So, ⁓ for many, many years, I just,
I struggled with these, even though I love ULI and I love all these other industry institutions, there's very low signal. And it's also hard to form like intimate, close, trusting relationships when you're at a conference of 500 or 10,000 people like NMHC. I wanted to create something that I saw a need. It's something that I wanted. So with cigars and charcuterie,
and have a great cohost who I've done a lot of business with. But the idea there is all these institution group, institutional networking groups tend to send their business development people. And I love business development people, but I don't always want to talk with them and receive business cards and, you know, learn about the next signage guy or, you know, some vendor that I know that I know that.
They're not genuine in their, for the most part, they're not genuine in their interest is forming a relationship. Instead it's more forming a pipeline. I just don't like that. I think it's a big waste of time. ⁓ So I wanted to create something where it's a curated group. Everyone who shows up feels like it was a worthwhile use of their time because time is precious.
And I wanted it to be fun and something that people like remember. this cigar is in charcuterie idea. My cohost, it's funny, like I wasn't a big cigar guy, but my cohost hit a conference room in his office that was like perfectly ventilated. And he was a big cigar guy. Matt, we should, you know, launch it here. And we did. And it started with, I don't know, maybe 15 people. And we're to host one tomorrow.
that we're gonna have close to a hundred people show. That's amazing. It's been low effort. A couple of key ingredients that I think are important. First, again, it's all these warm network introductions, so it's invite only. And if you wanna bring a friend, of course you can. But the fact that you're invited, David, you're probably bringing a great person. And I think that adds to the substance of the overall event. I also wanted to make it free.
David Moghavem (28:04)
Wow, it's grown to a hundred.
Matt Thomson (28:31)
We started kind of sponsoring it ourselves and now we've raised a little bit of money to do these events because
David Moghavem (28:37)
Wow,
I didn't know that. Yeah, I always knew someone was sponsoring it. Yeah
Matt Thomson (28:40)
Yeah, yeah. So we want to keep it open bar, free cigars, free food, something that just feels like a great hang. Yeah, it's a great hang. It's a great hang.
David Moghavem (28:51)
is a great hang the people I like I remember everyone that I've met there and it's all like minded fun, especially here in Miami, everyone's, ⁓ you know, similar age, similar mindset, having a good time. ⁓ It's it's great. It's a great energy. And I think that's, that's what's not missing. But there's a lack of that in our industry. Like what you said, everyone's trying to make the next buck and think about the next deal and
As important as it is to work hard and expand the surface area, as you said, the quality of those relationships is so important and it's a great hang.
Matt Thomson (29:31)
Yeah, exactly. And look, it's funny cause deals have actually come from it. I've learned from, it's true. Like things happen and relationships are formed and I'm actually proud to hear about all the benefits that people who have attended have, have received from it.
David Moghavem (29:49)
Also in the most random places. random. Because people switch companies or people switch strategies. What might be your competitor today might be your LP.
Matt Thomson (29:59)
Exactly and look I'm very long-term oriented so I hope that the relationships I form today are with me a decade or two decades from now and I think that's again creating these intentional experiences anyway that's the cigars event and then you'll lie it's been near and dear to me
I started in the Toronto chapter back when I was in college and it was my first foray into real estate networking, even as a young punk, you know, creating fake business cards and trying to find a job. And then I was quite involved in Chicago, hosting different events, trying to help the young professional crew elevate. And then with the Leadership Institute, it's really a wonderful program. It's almost like a condensed market specific
MBA in real estate. So it's an eight month program. I now sit as the ⁓ alumni chair, so I'm still quite involved. But again, it's this extension of trying to make the community better, make the region a better place, because again, highly invested, talking my own book. ⁓ And I think that fabric and creating something that's durable is really important to our business because guess what?
especially on the development side, I live with a deal for like five or six years. in the meantime, I can be doing other things to drum up business and productivity because you only need a couple of developments to hit to be successful. And I think this networking side of the business is really important because it ends up opening up all sorts of opportunities.
David Moghavem (31:42)
So the Leadership Institute, you guys are going, obviously networking with peers in the industry, but it sounds like you guys are doing a little bit more mission focus. Is that how I'm reading it?
Matt Thomson (31:52)
That's exactly it. So ULI puts on the program. It's for the, I think they have other chapters around the country, but specifically South Florida, they put on an eight full day program that culminates into a once a month. It's about 40 graduates. So 40, a class of 40 people. And at the beginning of the
David Moghavem (32:06)
Once a month.
Matt Thomson (32:20)
I guess the class you're assigned a, a, a task or a case study. So in my case, I was doing pocket parks for the DDA of Fort Lauderdale. And the whole goal was you're in teams of eight to 10 people. And through your learnings each day of the eight month program is thematic. like, private or public private partnerships, transit, place making.
resiliency, like it sort of spreads the gamut and you, you learn a ton of, ⁓ relevant local, ⁓ knowledge and you're supposed to apply all of that knowledge into sort of your year end case study that you present and you're
David Moghavem (33:10)
So you actually form your own thesis. Exactly.
Matt Thomson (33:12)
Yeah, exactly. And you're, you're judged. So there's a winning team at the end of this, at the end of this program. But again, what I, what I find it so useful is the leadership Institute solves for people who are not fresh out of college. So it's, it's people with experience, They're rising leaders in the, in the region. It creates more of an intimate connection where the 40 people were hand selected by ULI.
and alumni to make sure that the class stays high quality. And once you graduate, you have this network of alumni that you can use to your benefit and vice versa, continue forming relationships that again, in 10, 15 years from now, when we've had, you know, many, many, ⁓ dozens of classes, it will ultimately be a really strong
professional fabric for the region and I think that makes overall the real estate industry better here.
David Moghavem (34:13)
Yeah, you're connecting with people in South Florida. You're continuing to invest. They're continuing to invest. You're going to continue to weave and cross paths with each other and build, build South Florida up together.
Matt Thomson (34:27)
Totally, totally. And I'm a big believer in that because again, real estate is not that difficult of a business. You know, we're not sending rockets to space. We're not going to the moon. We're just building and buying hard assets. So I ultimately think that the competitive advantage for professionals in this industry is your relationship. Like even how I know you, I actually met you through Nick Lavin, who's a amazing broker. Shout out to Nick.
David Moghavem (34:55)
I
think was the first time we met when we went fishing. Yes, the first time we met. Yeah
Matt Thomson (34:59)
Yes, which was incredible. But the way I met Nick was his dad bought a portfolio from AMLI in the Midwest. So I was introduced through the CEO of AMLI. So again, the industry, even though I met him down here, the deal was done in Indiana. know, AMLI was Chicago. This was many, many years ago, but this industry is so small.
That's why I think investing in relationships is so important.
David Moghavem (35:32)
Pays dividends. That's
true. And that was a fun fishing trip. We caught a tuna. You did 90 % of the work. You reeled it in and then you're like, oh, I'm tired. And then I'm like, okay, I'll take the last 10. I reeled in. I got all the glory for bringing it in, but you did all the
Matt Thomson (35:49)
work.
David got the trophy shot. Yes, exactly. It was amazing. It was a great time. And it's also like another benefit of being in Florida. You know, I hate to be so boisterous about this region, but there's so many amenities, including the natural amenities that make it a great place to live.
David Moghavem (36:04)
It is. Well, I hope we get to run it back one of those times and do another fishing trip. Maybe we could convince Nick to get us on his boat again. Yeah, Matt, it was really, really great having you here. Appreciate it and looking forward to continuing to build South Florida up together.
Matt Thomson (36:12)
I'm always gay
Sure, David, this was awesome. Thanks for hosting.
David Moghavem (36:24)
Awesome, thanks.