American Building
If you want to explore urgent topics related to housing and what they can teach us about ourselves and our country, join us here at American Building. Your host, Atif Qadir, is a licensed architect turned developer, a city planning commissioner, and the founder of Commonplace, a company focused on improving access to capital to drive housing production. Through these experiences, he has a unique perspective on the housing problems - and solutions - we’ll hear about this season. We’re taking a roadtrip across the greater New York City area to see how builders and developers are tackling some of the most pressing issues facing Americans in 2023. You can expect nuanced conversations with real estate industry leaders like MaryAnne Gilmartin and Melissa Román Burch in which we expand on housing supply and demand, urban planning, and homeownership in America. This season will take us on a journey from urban centers to rural farmland, and everything in between, to understand what “home” means to Americans today. We’ll look at the history of the Section 8 Program, trends in college town rentals, and how garden-style apartments are transforming the suburban landscape. We’ll also look at the rise and demise of McMansions and tour the resort towns that boomed in the pandemic. We’ll not only dive into the design and development of iconic buildings, but we’ll also analyze how federal and state policy, local entitlements, and access to capital and distribution are making it increasingly difficult to house Americans. Plus, we will be unpacking relevant news headlines and providing insight into the current legislation related to housing. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Episodes
What does the housing crisis actually entail? To wrap up Season 3 of American Building, I’m joined by Keith Rand, Vice President at Mill Creek Residential, to discuss the main housing production issues Americans face today and different solutions to address them. We look at limitations with local and state government policy and unpack the proposed housing supply plan from the White House.
In our conversation, Keith explains th...
Garden-style apartments offer residents the best of both worlds: green space and lower density living without the upkeep and price tag of a single-family home. In this episode, I trace back to the origins of garden-style apartments and highlight who lives in them now. I also revisit a conversation with developer Matt Giammanco of AvalonBay Communities to discuss Thanet Circle, a new multi-building garden-style apartment complex in ...
Dorm life is a quintessential part of the American university experience, but that wasn’t always the case. In this episode, I outline the history of dormitories and share an edited version of my conversation with Arthi Krishnamoorthy, Senior Principal at TenBerke, to discuss the firm’s residential college project on the Princeton campus.
After three years of attending Zoom school, college students are setting records for on-ca...
Between the global financial crisis, tanking housing production, and rapid inflation, housing affordability for middle income workers has become increasingly out-of-reach. Workforce housing, a type of unregulated affordable housing, addresses the limitations that professionals like teachers, healthcare providers, and retail clerks are facing when it comes to owning a home.
In this episode, I unpack the concept of workforce hou...
You can’t have a conversation about affordable housing without acknowledging the impact of rent regulation. Also known as rent control, rent stabilization or rent limits, these coveted units offer occupants a sense of stability by guaranteeing their monthly rent payment won’t skyrocket year after year. So, why is regulated affordable housing so hard to come by? Developer Andrew Regenstreich has an idea.
Andrew was the former D...
As the old adage goes, a man's home is his castle. That doesn't mean that every home is a castle or a mansion, but in this day and age, it could very well be a McMansion. In this episode, I explore the history of mansions and how the style has been interpreted by millions of suburban homeowners. I also revisit a conversation I had with Kirk Mitchell of AKT Designs about his single-family home renovation in Englewood, New Jersey tha...
The racially-charged NIMBY, or ‘not in my backyard’, phenomenon is at the core of zoning laws, particularly in the greater New York City area. In this episode, I take us back to the early 1900s to look at the nation’s first zoning resolution and examine how it continues to affect communities today. I also revisit a conversation with developer Johanna Anderson, the executive director of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, to learn...
Whether it’s called a shore house, weekend home or cottage, the concept remains the same: escape from the city. The cultural phenomenon of staying at a non-primary residence during the summer is especially pervasive in New York City. In this episode, I look into the history of vacation homes in the tri-state area and how the current work-from-home culture impacts these communities. I also revisit a conversation with architect Jenny...
With Zoom school largely a thing of the past, college students are back to living on or near campus again. Between dormitories, apartments, and multifamily homes, there are an estimated 8.5 million student housing beds across the US with an projected increase to 9.2 million this decade.
In this episode, I’m unpacking the factors contributing to the boom in student housing and the pros and cons this housing type poses to the su...
Due to the 1950 Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Administration loan programs, suburbs on Long Island and New Jersey were growing at 10 times the rate of downtown areas in New York City. Levittown in Nassau County is perhaps the most quintessential example of the outcome of those loan programs.
Totaling 17,400 homes built on 4,000 acres of potato fields, Levittown was marketed as a safe, peaceful escape from the city. Bu...
Public housing is the oldest and one of the largest subsidy programs in the country. However, there hasn’t been any significant expansion of public housing spending since 1974 when President Nixon placed a moratorium on that budget. In this episode, I shine a light on the complicated history of government housing and the deep influence it has on segregation and race-related issues in the United States.
I also revisit a convers...
In this episode, we’re exploring the history of townhouses in New York City and unpacking how this housing type relates to gentrification, a hot-button issue at the intersection of race, class, and housing. We’re revisiting a conversation that I had with Lea Cloud, co-founder and partner of CDR Studio Architects, where she walks us through a thoughtful, innovative Bushwick townhouse renovation.
Townhouses are single-family, mu...
Today we are speaking with the insightful MaryAnne Gilmartin, who discusses her experience getting into the real estate business, incorporating sustainability, and embracing wellness as it relates to creating new developments. MaryAnne is the CEO of MAG Partners and in this episode we dive into her project at 281 West 28th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
The neighborhood of West Chelsea has changed drast...
On today’s podcast, we sit down with Melissa Román Burch to learn more about her project with Lendlease Development, Claremont Hall. Located in the academic acropolis of New York City, Claremont Hall is a mixed-use building with modern neo-gothic architecture and sweeping views of the Hudson River. We also dive into some of Melissa’s other developments such as the Atlantic Yards (renamed Pacific Park) and 1 Java Street.
Meliss...
Today I sit down with Camila Crazut, former architect and interior designer for Spivak Architects. Camila and I discuss her Central Park West project located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the benefits and challenges of projects in a cooperative structure, and the good & bad of client and designer relationships.
Located in an upper class residential area, the Central Park West building is a pre-war, 11 storey buildin...
What does home mean to Americans today, particularly after a pandemic that transformed our society's relationship to the built environment? Over the past three years, we have had to redefine our homes, neighborhoods, towns and cities and restructure our lives as shared spaces became cut off.
Now, broad-based issues such as social justice and diversity have come to the forefront of public interest with loud support, and sometimes lou...
All good things either evolve or get left behind, that is why I have renamed REDIST to Commonplace. After speaking with over 250 real estate professionals, I found that developers working on affordable and workforce housing projects that support underserved communities often face the most difficulty in accessing funding.
Operating at the intersection of brokerage, media and technology, Commonplace is a marketplace that connect...
To kick off Season 3 of American Building, I sit down with Sean Pichon of PGN Architects and Omar Karim of Banneker Ventures. We explore the projects they are working on together in D.C., such as 2220 MLK Avenue, while also diving into topics such as the nationwide housing shortage and home ownership for Black Americans.
Sean and Omar go in depth about their project in Historic Anacostia at 2220 MLK Avenue, an update to a loca...
To round out season two, I’m pulling back the curtain and chatting with my producer about the behind-the-scenes of the show. Lauren Popish is the founder of The Wave Podcasting, an agency and recording studio based in Los Angeles that helps people tell their unique stories through podcasting by providing audio editing, educational resources, and a digital community.
Lauren is a total pro when it comes to successfully launching...
I’m joined by Ron Schinik, the CEO of New Blueprint Partners, a New York-based company focused on redeveloping manufacturing facilities into mixed-use assets. Ron has a solid foundation in auditing and grew into the role of CFO at three companies centered around operational efficiency. We discuss why he decided to take the leap from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, and how his background in finance complements his current r...
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