My Development Career Has Been Worth the Risk, with Kelli Lawrence, CEO Onyx+East

Welcome back to the second season of She’s Wild, the Podcast for Women in Land & Development. Today's guest is Kelli Lawrence, the CEO of Onyx+East.  As CEO, Kelli leads the strategic vision and growth efforts for Onyx+East, including determination of new markets and business lines, development of teams to execute the business, capital relationships and structuring to achieve goals and leading corporate culture to recruit and retain top talent.

Before joining Onyx+East, Kelli was a partner for 18 years at a private, Midwest-based, multi-family development firm. While there, she led development, construction and overall market execution in the Louisville and Indianapolis markets for more than 3,000 for-sale and rental housing units valued at more than $600 million. She has more than 20 years of experience in real estate development.

As an active member of the Indianapolis community, Kelli was named a Woman of Influence by Indiana Business Journal in 2021. She is an active member of both the national and Indiana chapters of the Urban Land Institute and has served as chair in Indiana. She has served as the Vice Chair of the National MultiFamily Product Council, is a past chair of the Ball State University Alumni Council, and is a Foundation Board Director for the Ball State University Foundation. 

Memorable Moments:

"I'm really proud of my people work as much as my real estate work. The people part of what I do is what excites me the most now. I love when our team members get elevated to a new role and take on new responsibilities and are successful. It’s really gratifying to see what we physically build, but bringing together all the right people to make a real estate deal happen, because it takes a ton of people in many different specialties, to make a successful project come to fruition, that’s the best part."

"We do a deep dive into the market fundamentals. We still view ourselves as more of a boutique builder, so we're not looking for locations where we're going to be competing against the public homebuilders because that's just a very difficult place for a smaller builder to be. We look for phenomenal locations where there’s lot of renovation activity and tear-downs to new construction building. We are very focused on thoughtful design in a more urban context because we're choosing locations where walkability and connectedness to a neighborhood is important."

"It took me a while in my career, especially as I was working with some very seasoned real estate executives, to be willing to raise my hand and say hey, I don't think we should do this deal, or I really think we should, or I think we're missing something. Taking that risk of being wrong and being willing to stick your neck out is something I wish I would have done sooner in my career."

Connect with Nancy:

Instagram:https://instagram.com/nancysurak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/

Website: www.nancysurak.com

Connect with Kelli:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelli-lawrence-029bb74/

Website: https://www.onyxandeast.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@onyxandeast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onyxandeast/

She’s Wild Sound Production by: Luke Surak, Surak Productions:  [e-mail]