Real Estate Chicago Style Podcast
Host Joe Smazal interviews the most prominent real estate developers and players in the ever-changing Chicago Real Estate Cityscape.
Episodes
Leon Walker, Founder & CEO of DL3 Realty, joins host Joe Smazal to break down 25 years of development work on Chicago's South Side — and the framework behind it.
Leon went from a junior partnership at LaSalle Partners/JLL, with a Singapore assignment on the table, to coming home after his father's death to build in the neighborhoods he grew up in. Since then DL3 has created 3,000+ jobs with another 10,000 in the pipeline,...
Mike Barrett co-founded Barrett Homes with his brother John in 2005 - right into the teeth of the downturn.
Twenty years later they've delivered 40+ single family homes and 115+ multifamily homes worth over $200 million across Chicago's North Side.
We recorded inside their Armitage & Sedgwick building, a former CVS Mike turned into six oversized condos that sold from $2.2M on.
Mike walks through how the off-market deal came tog...
Joe Smazal sits down with Kenny and Michael Motew of MO2 Properties — two brothers who've quietly built one of Chicago's most active middle-market multifamily operations to ~850 units across ~80 buildings, while staying relentlessly hands-on.
They get into how the business has evolved from six-flat walk-up rehabs into ground-up new construction and adaptive reuse (office-to-resi, a church conversion, a West Loop deal), why gr...
Joe Smazal sits down with Barry Misner (CEO, Misner Group) and Larry Goldwasser (Executive VP, CBRE) inside a brand-new industrial building in Chicago's Union Stockyards — the geographic center of the city and one of the most constrained, high-barrier industrial submarkets in the country.
Barry leads a third-generation, 81-year-old development firm with over 750 projects and $3B+ in completed work. Larry has 25+ years and 650...
Matt Garrison and Zach Cupkovic, co-founders of R2 Companies, sit down with host Joe Smazal for a rare and wide-ranging conversation about how they built one of Chicago's most iconic real estate portfolios: from student housing at Purdue during the financial crisis to the Salt Shed, the Chicago Board of Trade, and a growing loft office empire acquired at reset basis while everyone else was running.
They break down their two core st...
We interview Tom Liravongsa, aka "The Skyscraper Guy," for an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation inside the iconic Pittsfield Building — one of Chicago's most storied and historically troubled skyscrapers.
In this episode, Tom breaks down how he acquired a 40-story, nearly 500,000 sq ft Chicago landmark for just $7.5 million — and why no one else had the vision (or nerve) to do it.
He walks us through the full pla...
The 2026 Edgewater Uptown Builders Association (EUBA) annual forecast brought together four Chicago real estate insiders spanning across development, property management, leasing, and sales, for a candid conversation about where the market is headed — and why Chicago might finally be having its moment.
Key takeaways:
No supply = rent growth. Downtown delivered just 145 units in 2025. Class A rents are up ~9% YoY, Class B up 7...
In this episode of Real Estate Chicago Style, host Joe Smazal sits down with two powerhouses: Adam Friedberg, CEO of Mavrek, and Matt Wilke, Managing Partner of LG Group.
Together, these two firms represent over $3.5 billion in real estate value and thousands of residential units.
Instead of the "old guard" secrets and cut-throat competition, Adam and Matt discuss a new era of transparency and collaboration.
They reveal exactly wha...
In this episode of Real Estate Chicago Style, host Joe Smazal sits down with Chicago residential heavyweight Jeff Lowe of the Lowe Group at Compass, on location in a 3,000 sq ft authentic loft conversion in the West Loop. With nearly $5 billion in career sales volume, Jeff breaks down how he built one of the most productive residential practices in the city, why he still genuinely enjoys the grind, and what it really takes to stay ...
YouTube Description:
Join host Joe Smazal for an insider's look at Chicago's high-end retail real estate with Elan Rasansky, partner at Canvas Real Estate. Discover how a boutique brokerage competes with national giants like CBRE and JLL while representing the world's top luxury brands and restaurant groups.
In this episode of Real Estate Chicago Style, host Joe Smazal sits down with Nate Ernst, founder and principal of Envoi Partners, to discuss his journey from acquiring distressed properties in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis to developing over 520 residential units in Chicago's Loop.
Nate shares the story behind founding Ernst Development Company post-2008, where he acquired and repositioned over 40 properties before partner...
Join us for an insightful conversation with Regina Stilp, founding principal of Farpoint Development, one of Chicago's most innovative real estate development firms. Since co-founding Farpoint in 2016, Regina has spearheaded development projects totaling $4.9 billion across the Midwest and Southeast, including transformative Chicago landmarks.
In This...
Join host Joe Smazal for an in-depth conversation with Collette English Dixon, Executive Director of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University and the first African American woman to lead a higher education real estate program in the US.
In this episode, Colette shares her remarkable journey from accidentally stumbling into...
In this episode, we sit down with Tom Sitz and Cody Huntertmark from Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, to dive deep into their professional journeys and get an insider's look at high-stakes commercial real estate.
What We Cover:
How Tom and Cody built their careers and landed at a top-tier commercial real estate firm.
The unique challenges and opportunities in commercial real...
Join host Joe Smazal for an entertaining and insightful conversation with Ron Abrams, owner of Silver Property Group and one of Chicago's most successful multifamily investors. With over 25 years in real estate and 30+ years as an attorney, Ron has built an impressive portfolio of 1,500+ units across 120+ buildings throughout Chicago's north and northwest sides.
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Join us for a conversation with Ben Firestone, CEO and Co-Founder of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, the leading advisory firm exclusively focused on Senior Housing and Healthcare real estate as he takes us from his beginnings at Marcus & Millichap to founding his own firm with $15B sold.
Since founding Blueprint in 2013, Ben has driven the company's rapid growth and innovative approach, leveraging deep market expert...
Join us for an exclusive conversation with Jonathan Gordon, Founder and CEO of The Neighborhood Hotel, a growing boutique hospitality brand rooted in community, comfort, and character.
In this episode, Jonathan shares:
The inspiration behind launching The Neighborhood Hotel in 2020.
How he merges historic architecture with contemporary design across Chicago neighborhoods—Lincoln Park, Little Italy, and soon West Loop—an...
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Matt Laricy, Chicago’s TOP real estate broker and managing partner of Americorp Real Estate.
A third-generation realtor and lifelong Chicagoan, Matt has built a reputation for his deep knowledge of the city’s neighborhoods, relentless work ethic, and commitment to professionalism.
In this episode, we dive into the lost art of professionalism and determination, exploring how Mat...
Join us for an exclusive interview with Kevin Werner, CEO and Co-Founder of Renovo Financial, as we dive deep into the incredible growth story of one of the nation's fastest growing rehab and construction lenders.
Kevin, recently named CEO of the Year by the National Private Lenders Association, shares insights on how Renovo has expanded from a Chicago-based startup founded in 2011 to a national powerhouse with local lenders in ove...
Join us for an engaging conversation with Matt Pistorio, founder of Madison Rose, a dynamic Chicago-based real estate firm revolutionizing agency leasing.
Discover how Madison Rose has breathed new life into commercial properties, earning accolades like the 2018 NAIOP Chicago Award for Excellence for a landmark Walgreens lease at the Old Post Office.
Matt shares insights on navigating the evolving office market, his passion for phi...
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