Rachel Loeb of NYCEDC | Bronx Point in Bronx | Building with Integrity
Transcript
Announcer 00:06
What goes into making an iconic building in America? What are the stories and who are the people behind the next generation of architecture? If your work touches the real estate industry in any way, or you're just curious about what goes into one of a kind cities and towns all across our country, join us on the American building podcast. In season two, we learn about everything from skyscrapers to single family homes from the famous and soon to be famous designers and developers responsible for them. This season focuses particularly on the pandemic and how our buildings will change in response. Our sponsor is the iconic design firm Michael Graves architecture and design. And now your host award winning architect turned entrepreneur, Atif Qadir, AIA
Atif Qadir 01:04
This is American Building, and I'm your host, Atif Qadir. We are recording from the historic home of world renowned architect Michael Graves in Princeton, New Jersey. Check out this amazing space for yourself at the Michael Graves architecture and design YouTube channel. Now let's build something. today. Our guest is Rachel Loeb. Rachel is the president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The NYC EDC is a mission driven nonprofit organization that works on behalf of New York City to invest in neighborhoods to address long standing community needs. The EDC drives the development of sustainable infrastructure like affordable housing and open space and also oversees initiatives to create jobs and lead innovation to strengthen the city.
Atif Qadir 01:52
So Rachel served previously as the CEO of the New York City EDC, and before that worked at the worldwide group and Avalon Bay, and she's also an MIT alum like me, and we will be talking today about the Bronx point project, which broke ground earlier this year. It features 542 units of affordable housing, waterfront Esplanade, 10,000, square foot of retail, and also the universal Hip Hop museum. So we'll put this project into the context of all of Rachel's work at the New York City, etc, and talk about her particular style of leadership. So all that said, thank you so much for being with us. Rachel,
Rachel Loeb 02:31
thank you so much for having me. Absolutely.
Atif Qadir 02:33
So one of your first major work experiences actually wasn't in the United States or I believe it wasn't in real estate either. It was in Vietnam. Could you tell us about that.
Rachel Loeb 02:43
So it was kind of in real estate Very much so. But it was in Ho Chi Minh City just outside of Ho Chi Minh City and in new community called Saigon, south. And Saigon South is a master planned new town development south of her Chi Minh City, which in an area of undeveloped land, and it was a public private partnership. So I've been the HoH Chi Minh city government and the private side being a an investment arm of the Kuomintang party, actually from Taipei from Taiwan. So it's a joint venture between the Taiwanese government and the Vietnamese government through an investment arm, and it was a land for infrastructure. The city contributed the land. And the Taiwanese brought the know how the planning and the money to create the infrastructure.
Rachel Loeb 03:35
And then they either built the vertical development themselves, or brought in third parties to develop schools, housing, everything that you need in a city. The master plan was done by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill out of their San Francisco urban design office. Also in partnership with Kenza Tanguay suffers from Japan. And so it was seeing a plan, start on a piece of competition, and then on a piece of paper, and then realize in three dimension and now there's like 1000s of people living there and working. And so it's quite amazing to see that it actually can happen.
Atif Qadir 04:11
And how many years were you in Vietnam?
Rachel Loeb 04:14
I was there. I lived there twice, once as a student undergrad for just about four months, and then again, after college for about four and a half years.
Atif Qadir 04:23
And then you eventually found your way back to the United States going to MIT for graduate degree in urban design and planning and then to Avalon Bay and worldwide companies. What did you like best about those roles? And what did you learn in those roles there?
Rachel Loeb 04:40
So I first worked for Avalon bay here in the New York City office and the New York City office at the time was focused on they call the mid high development because Avalon Bay was traditionally been a wood frame more suburban developer and they had started to grow their urban is So they had hired a team of people who had experience building, not just blocking plank, and not just wood frame, but actual high rise development. And so we had the New York City metropolitan area, even a little bit of the New Jersey waterfront. And Westchester was our territory. And what was great about it was almost like graduate school again, but in how to build a building, because you had incredible when they were vertically integrated.
Rachel Loeb 05:25
So you had the Asset Management Division, you had the operations team, you had marketing, you had leasing, you had development, you had investments, and you had construction. And so you learned from all of these people. And so I, you know, by the end of putting together, you know, learning how to develop 3000 units of housing over a very short period of time, you really learn how to put together a building, and you learn all the different stages. And while it's similar, each site, each condition, each jurisdiction, while developing in White Plains is very different than developing in New Rochelle is very different from developing in Manhattan, and is different than developing in Brooklyn. And sometimes we did fee development. And sometimes we had ground leases, and sometimes we did air rights, and sometimes they had affordable housing. So you learned all these different things.
Rachel Loeb 06:13
So it was an incredible opportunity to really learn how to be a developer, the thing that I wasn't learning there, and which is why I left was it as in the REIT structure, I didn't have to raise debt and equity, I just had to go to the Investment Committee. And you only do one product type. I mean, you do some ground floor retail, but it's really one product type. So going to worldwide, which was a private company, where instead of it AvalonBay, you're kind of an asset looking for the right site, you could get back to sort of best and highest use, like what here's the best sight, what should I do with it, there wasn't a brand. So you could figure out exactly what you wanted to do and create wholecloth a vision for a project, you could also sell it, you could change your mind, you could do different things. And you had to go and get the equity, get the debt do about the JV partners structure at all. So I was looking at hotels and retail and all sorts of different so it was kind of rounded out that development experience.
Atif Qadir 07:18
So given that second experience you described, opened up your purview of the things that you can do. And the possibilities that you had, do you feel that was a very good transition to working in the public sector, where I'm guessing they're similar, have a wide array of opportunities to base based on the situation.
Rachel Loeb 07:33
I mean, in both cases, both at Avalon Bay and both at worldwide, I would say the business model was looking for opportunities. And that you can make money and create opportunities out of things that are easy, and looking for the hard stuff, looking for those knotted balls of yarn and trying to untangle them. And often, for better for worse, that means working with the public sector, answering our fees, doing more complicated things. So I would say the both of those in both cases, I'd already been working with different aspects of the New York government in those kinds of things. So I knew it was out there. But as a planner, and even going back to Vietnam, it was always something I was interested in.
Atif Qadir 08:19
Excellent. And so the for our listeners who may not be that familiar with the New York City, etc. So it's a nonprofit, and works on behalf of the City of New York to encourage economic development. So particularly post Sandy, that focus has been on boosting the economy through life sciences and tech. Could you talk particularly why you think those are important to New York City and particularly post pandemic why those are important?
Rachel Loeb 08:44
Sure. So one of the things that and I would give credit to the Bloomberg administration for starting this is that if you go back, you think about New York City's historic economies, and economic agendas are very much tied up with finance. And so the need to diversify the economy and make it more resilient to withstand shocks to that system. Whether those shocks be economic, like a recession, a financial crash, whether they be a climate impacted, crushed, having as much resilient, diverse economy is good for the city. It's also good for creating different pathways of opportunities for New Yorkers. So the way we when we look back at those past year and a half, if COVID. And the pandemic taught us anything, we recognize that there's really no economic health without public health.
Rachel Loeb 09:49
And so, we were fortunate that the work that we had done in already in life sciences made sure that we had a network of For Life Science, relationships, but also interestingly, our our traditional industries pivoted on a dime, like the fashion industry. And they led to be able to make PPE if you can recall when we didn't have enough PPE, people making gowns, people making face masks, these were people who were making clothes for Broadway just days before. Until we had a virus until we had the vaccine. It was our testing policy that was actually helped us keep COVID under control to the extent we could, and science right. And so we, when we couldn't rely on the federal government to provide enough testing, again, we said we can do it ourselves.
Rachel Loeb 10:44
And it was those relationships with the academic world, the private sector and science that we brought together, as well as tech to create our solutions locally, all the while putting people back to work at the same time. So we made the test kits locally, they were assembled in Brooklyn, and East New York, they were the material that transports the test was came from Montefiore and then assembled in East New York using robotics that was created here as well. So it was like all the boroughs coming together all the different technologies. And so as we came out of it, we created and we're on the street right now, with an RFP, that we want to make sure that New Yorkers are safe and healthy and prepares, we launched the pandemic response Institute. We as a lesson we brought leaders from healthcare, academia, life sciences, Texan tech sectors to all together groups that normally don't talk to each other, to think about how we can address not only pandemic and preparedness, but really health, the next health emergency, and how we can do that through an equitable lens.
Rachel Loeb 11:58
And so we are New York City, because we think of our diversity of the leadership of our that we should be a leader in this. And this is something we can in wartime, everyone scrambling and it's in peacetime, we need to be prepared for the next thing, as well as addressing the next issue. So coming out of the we launched that we also the mayor recently announced a doubling down of our investment in life sciences from 500 million to a billion dollars. And partly, there's a few things one is before our focus has really been around therapeutics and many medicines and advancing I don't know if you know this, but the research, the New York City is on par with Boston and San Francisco area on NIH grants. But after the science is invented, it leaves so we've always been trying to figure out how to grow it and keep it here and address those. But as, as we saw, just like the first responders, just like the hospitals, people were still going to work every day, the labs are always open, and the scientists are always there.
Rachel Loeb 13:01
So looking at also, economies that are rooted in New York City are is important. But in addition, we see the intersection of life science, not just in a silo by itself. But as we look to invest this next half a billion dollars, we're looking at the intersection of biomaterials, med tech, making things here, the same thing around materials that can also address the climate issues, alternatives to palm oil or things that are detrimental to the earth. So we see that nexus or to health tech, big data. So the incredible progress that we've made around tech over the last 20 years to make New York City a leader, we see that supporting not only life sciences, and health, but also our other large focus is on climate change.
Atif Qadir 13:53
So it sounds like you're keeping yourself busy that I think what's so fascinating about the New York City EDC is the mandate that it has and how it touches so many aspects of the city's life and its economy. So the project that we'll be talking about today is the Bronx point project, and it's located in the lower concourse, an area that has a neighborhood assets like the Lincoln Hospital, Hostas College, and the Bronx Terminal Market. And it's also a neighborhood that went underwent a really successful rezoning in 2009 to allow for more commercial development, more economic activity, particular along the waterfront. So could you talk about the needs that the New York City EDC saw in this next wave of projects that are happening there, and how the larger context of the Bronx point project works?
Rachel Loeb 14:40
So I think that if you were to look around cities around the United States, not just New York City, there has been over the last 20 years maybe a little more like a re turning back to our waterfront right there. And revisiting what a waterfront can and should be for the commute At and engaging in them, we sort of industrialized them turned our back away from them polluted them, and now coming back. And so in different parts of the city, how do we think about our waterfront? How do we make sure that they become an amenity and accessible to people? And how do we fix the wrongs of the past. So this project represents a sort of an epitome of all of those values, where you can make a transformative mixed use development right along the Harlem River in a site that sat vacant for years.
Rachel Loeb 15:36
So we've been working on this intensely since early 16. And after the rezoning, de Blasio administration, then committed as almost $200 million of infrastructure, because it's one thing to rezone, but if you don't put the money in there to actually upgrade the infrastructure, then you end up with people can't flush their toilets and, and things getting clogged. So you've got to kind of invest in the infrastructure along with the development. But what we tried to also do here was work with the community, and listen and talk with and not to people who've lived here in this place for so long to really understand their hopes and dreams for the site. We have, we're not always perfect. But we try really hard and especially the last 10 years, to really make community engagement, an essential core part of our process, before any project is designed not after, but before. So there was a two year community process that EDC led before the RFP was released before design was started and with interactive workshops and community workshops, and so it really created the framework.
Rachel Loeb 16:51
So that you when you go out to the community out to the development partners, they understand the expectations and the communities already bought in. And so we also set parameters around who can participate. So for example, we have MWBE, high participation rates, women led development firm, as part of the development team, local hiring requirements, Affordable Housing, and waterfront access. So we were really proud of how this one came out.
Atif Qadir 17:31
So the this particular park project, that Bronx point project is a new new building new set of buildings in the context of a larger development has started before, for our listeners, Could you walk us through the stats for the project, like the number of units and the square footage?
Rachel Loeb 17:46
Sure. So it's not small, it's very big, it's about a half just over half a million square feet. Sorry, 500. Yeah, just about a half a million square feet of development. That includes affordable housing, open space, retail and cultural components. So in general, in total, there'll be 1000 units of housing. 554 units are the first phase with a variety of studios and one bedrooms, twos and threes. So it's also about affordable housing for families, not just single so is making sure that we had a diversity of income levels, as well as a diversity of housing stock, because these are permanently for affordable homes. And there's also set aside for formerly homeless families as well, or individuals. There's, you know, outdoors, a lot of outdoor spaces and laundry and children's play rooms and all the kind of typical things you would find in an apartment building, as well as energy efficient components.
Rachel Loeb 18:45
But what's really exciting too, is the complete restoration of the waterfront. So landscapes features split not as well as space for the Billion Oyster Project, which is an incredible organization and runs outdoor science programming. There's a 10,000 square feet of retail, we have a daycare on site, as well as the most exciting component to some, which is the universal Hip Hop Museum. The hip hop was born in the Bronx and 19, set summer of 1973. And so they're going to have their home there which is also going to be a Mecca, and a destination for hip hop art lovers from around the world like Dado, as they said at the groundbreaking they don't need to go to Cleveland anymore to get inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yokote you'll go there to get inducted to the hip hop Hall of Fame.
Atif Qadir 19:39
That was borough president Ruben Diaz.
Rachel Loeb 19:42
That's right. Yeah. And then also it just has like, good old fashioned excellent real estate. It's got great access to subways, it's got great access to Children's Museum and community colleges and that that whole community so really, it's well Located as well, and just across the river from Manhattan to.
Atif Qadir 20:04
And you mentioned that this large and really kind of beautiful scope and large amounts of community engagement that predated it. So I'm guessing that a large component of the success of this was the developers that were chosen as part of that RFP process that started in 2016. Could you tell us who was the New York City EDC selected and how that process played out?
Rachel Loeb 20:27
So the site has been co developed by lnM development partners and type a projects. Type A is a certified women owned business enterprise. And lnM development partners is a long standing well experienced affordable mixed income and market rate housing developer who has a long track record of building throughout the city and the region. So together, it was a very strong partnership, that could meet the ability, you know, we knew they could develop, deliver, and they met other policy objectives as well as for us as well in terms of diversifying who the development team is.
Atif Qadir 21:09
And then the budget they were working with. So there's obviously a really large project and the first phase was $350 million. Could you talk about the breakdown of what those large buckets were used for and where the sources of funding were coming from?
Rachel Loeb 21:24
Sure. So there's a typical capital stack of both private capital as well as funding from allocation from the housing preservation HPD, and bonds issued through hdc. And Empire State, the state's economic arm also contributed some funding, you've got private investors, and then as well as city capital. So there's a very long full capital stack, because entities
Atif Qadir 21:53
and for listeners, HPD, and HDC are city agencies that promote affordable housing. And then about the design and construction process were where were their opportunities for innovation, or perhaps for trying new things in this process.
Rachel Loeb 22:09
Anytime you work, you work in the anytime you work along the waterfront, and you get an opportunity to engage in those spaces differently. So creating ways to connect the development back into the streetscape. You've got these instead of using kind of urban design speak for a moment where you've got these hard edges, and these barriers of actually creating these connection points so that they're also not isolated and the developments not isolated, and that the community waterfront benefits that are being built or not are also not just for this development is for the benefit of the overall, through around everywhere.
Rachel Loeb 22:49
So making sure that those connections are well thought out and can be implemented. It's important, as well, as you know, when you're using public dollars, you want to try to make the project as cost effective as possible, as well as meet the latest code. So all of those are being balanced that you know, well designed. I mean, the landscape is going to be gorgeous. I've seen the renderings for the esplanade. They're just spectacular and I will set sensitively designed buildings as well.
Atif Qadir 23:18
I mean, one thing in particular that was innovative and the scope of the work was food hall and a food incubator in order to promote job creation and vocational training in the Bronx Point area. Could you talk about how a an element like that was included and what you hope that will accomplish? So these
Rachel Loeb 23:37
are the types of things that when you talk with the community, you learn and listen and you get ideas and meet needs, and that image that may not be visible to the naked eye. And so this is kind of a perfect example of a win win for what we tried to do because it gives small, small food vendors an opportunity to get their foot in the door without having to think of the high cost of infrastructure development around kitchens. And but then when you pair them with someone like that, who has the experience of DeKalb market who where this the the operators come from, they have access to visibility and can promote them and we've seen the sad thing that we're about the Bronx that people don't appreciate, is well, they are you know, we've got the Hunts Point food market you've got some of those like the riverfront they call it sometimes the Bronx it's like the refrigerator for New York City because of all the wholesale markets, and yet the access to healthy food is limited. And so wherever we can engage with the Bronx Community to find opportunities to help bring local and fresh food is a win.
Atif Qadir 24:51
And I'm just going to pause here for a moment to let our listeners know that we will be having Christmas Ola be issue properties on as our guests later This season issue properties is a longtime development company in both New York and New Jersey. And Chris is a director of development as well as a fellow Hoboken Knight, you can subscribe to the American building podcast now so you don't miss out on any of the amazing conversations that we'll be having.
Atif Qadir 25:16
So you were appointed as the CEO of the New York City EDC, I'm just this May by Mayor de Blasio talking about the process of how you got that job.
Rachel Loeb 25:26
So as you mentioned, I was the CFO. So I had already I was here. And I knew that our previous president CEO, who had been with the administration for seven years, was departing after an incredible service to the city of New York. And I saw this as an opportunity and EDC is under the purview it reports to Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development, Vicki beam. And I sort of gave myself the same advice that I often give to other people, which is, if you want something, don't think people are mind reader's. And if you think you can do the job, raise your hand and lean in because people don't know. So I called her up. And I said, to quote, like, I don't know if you know that I know that James is leaving, but I know. And I want you to know that I know. And I want you to know that I'm interested, if you're interested in talking to me, kind of like one of those, just to make sure you know, and she said, well think I didn't know. And so and that's how the conversation started. It is an appointed position, and you have to interview with the mayor.
Atif Qadir 26:42
I think that's really cool that you took the initiative to say that as opposed to wait for someone to ask you. And I would imagine that there's a lot of people out there that may be shy to let that be known or to promote themselves in that way. But I think that's something that can be compared a lot of fruit as this example shows. Yeah. So then you're the tenant, president of the New York City, EDC, and right now, this city is more than 50% female, more than 30% people of color. But you're the only second woman, the only the second woman to have led this agency. Why do you think that this this appointment is an important one, both for the New York City EDC, as well as for the city overall,
Rachel Loeb 27:24
I believe that the value of diversity and that we are, and I think the research bears it that decision. Companies organizations make better decisions, when their diversity of decisions, and, and diversity of voices and diversity of opinions. And so when you have a diversity of leadership types, you're going to evolve and change. And, and think about challenges differently. And so, at the same time, when you have representation, it's sort of cliche, but I think it's really true, right about when you see somebody in that seat, you then imagine that you can be in that seat. And so I have to say, like since I've been here, in terms of the people that have I've appointed into leadership positions are the positions, I've got to I have had people come up and say to me, Wow, it really there's never been a so and so in that position before that's like meant so much that you promoted the first person to sort of like, as a woman running construction or all these other things.
Rachel Loeb 28:37
And so when I, I've had people say like how much it means to them to see a woman in leadership. And that you can do, you can lead with conviction, and with strength and with kindness, and you know, and be a vulnerable leader and do all of the all of that. And so I think representation matters. And it matters to people and it matters to people coming up.
Atif Qadir 29:07
And I think I can kind of add to that, even from a small perspective. A couple years ago, when I was working in Excel development, I was a judge for the real estate competition at Harvard real estate weekend. And afterwards, one of the participants in that case competition came up and said, Can I give you a hug? This was before before the pandemic, obviously, can I give you a hug? And I'm like, Sure, okay. And he said, Just seeing you there and saying what you were saying versus all the other people that were there, it made me feel that someone that looks like us can actually be in a position where what we say actually matters.
Atif Qadir 29:43
So I think that was the first clue that I realized that it may not just be this idea was checking the boxes in tuition. I had an annual was much more so my first piece of evidence of that. And I like what you've said so far about the particular aspects that have made the Bronx project successful. Was it the reflective of your leadership style, which is about being collaborative about being a good listener, about understanding what people say and what they don't say? And to be vulnerable to know that it may not be that your answers are always the ones that will always be the best answers and the ones that end up going. Would you say that there are other areas of your leadership that you're particularly proud of where that perhaps you're looking to improve as well?
Rachel Loeb 30:24
Yeah, I mean, I think that, for better or worse, I tend to bring my whole self to the office, like, I tell me, I can't go that day, because I'm picking up my kids from work from school, or whatever it might be. Because I want people to understand that we're all parents, we all are juggling a lot. We've all had the same challenges for this last year and a half. My experience isn't the same as your experience, but we all have our experiences, and they're equally valid. Your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth. But we need to also at the same time, find some commonality. And so I think that I try to empower the people that work for me to make decisions. And yet, it was great. Like one of the first things I remember early on, was someone saying, like, we really appreciate that you're asking us our opinion, or what do you think, but can you just tell us what do you think, you know, sometimes we want you to make the decision.
Rachel Loeb 31:21
So also having that that honest conversation, which is like, okay, when do you want me to guide you through it? And when are you asking me to just make the decision. And I've done that too. Like, I remember I used to say to James like, so what did we do? Right, like? So being able to have that frankness with people so that they can they can also say, they can feel comfortable enough to be like, could you just make the decision on this? Or can we make it together? So that you understand that people are really clear about they feel empowered, but they also feel safe enough to be like, I don't know what we should do, what do you think we should do?
Atif Qadir 31:57
That's really interesting that you're saying that it reminds me of what Raphael Pelley said when he was on the show a little earlier this season. There's this kind of notion that as the head of an architecture firm, particularly one that is as famous as his that there's notion that maybe there's just one decision maker, and what he or she says is just what goes. And he's consciously tried to do exactly what you're describing, which is this idea of allowing other people's opinions to be a part of the process. And taking a step back and letting a decision run its course that having to put his hand on the scale all the time. And I think that ends up what He's described as resulting in incredibly beautiful, incredibly successful projects. So sometimes it sounds like leadership is also about taking a step back as well, too. So cool.
Atif Qadir 32:44
And that you mentioned James, as the former administrator of the New York City, EDC, and there's certain projects that you took over, took over from the previous administration, and that you're charged with completing one thing that you mentioned, that as a key part is about fulfilling promises, in a process that goes from one administration to the next. Could you talk about how, why that is so important to you, and why you think that's important. The long term trajectory of the New York City is,
Rachel Loeb 33:13
well, let's go back to Bronx point as an example, right? I mean, we are working, trying to work in a community that actually feels that people don't keep their promises. So it's important for us, because we don't work. We say projects, but we really work with people. And we work with communities. And I think that it's very important for us if we want to continue to be able to work in these communities that we do what we say what we're going to do now is everything going to be perfect, no, like things happen. These are long term projects. But like, if you're going to take the time to ask people what they think, and then incorporate it, you got to follow through, because that's how you build trust. And so that's why it matters because I'm just here for a little bit of time. But EDC is going to be here for a long time.
Rachel Loeb 34:03
And we want there's a we have a we want to do a lot of good work, we think but people won't listen and don't want to engage if they think you're just gonna like come and take and not give one thing that I was on a conversation with some real estate attorneys, and they were talking about sort of nimbyism, and, and anti development. And they're like, how do you think we can change the tone I was like, Do what you're saying you're gonna do and stop talking about square feet and units, talk about people, the community, the neighborhood, and then actually follow through and do because their memories are longer than yours. And that might be the first step.
Atif Qadir 34:43
That's I think it's so refreshing to hear that because that's not something that I think externally, people imagine of our industry or I think internally, even the conversations that we have, as developers or people enroll in development roles. I have the hypothesis that It ends up being the most successful projects. And the ones that have the longest track record of success are the ones where they're actually more collaborative processes where listening actually happened and where there were defined goals. And those were measured and tracked over the course of the project. And it's like a small city planning commissioner in Hoboken, and our projects so much smaller than once in New York City, there's a similar line of thought that it's the ones that are thought of and where there's promises made that ended up and people are measuring the success. And by that those ends up being the most successful projects that we have as well.
Atif Qadir 35:35
So one thing in particular, you mentioned earlier is this school of driving innovation within the entire of New York City's economy. So particularly our industry tends to be one where we often do things the same as the way the Egyptians and the Romans have been doing yet. We're also the largest employer in the country, the largest contributor to GDP. Are there ways that you want to use your office and your strength of your role in order to drive innovation within our own industry? Yeah, we're
Rachel Loeb 36:05
doing that when we're trying to also do innovation through an equity lens. So one example is the in Prop tech, for example, we have and how can government help. So prop tech, right you need you've got good ideas, but you need to test them. They need to you need a beta them and you need to, you need places to to try them out. And so what we had seen before was that a lot of that had been like the Avalon Bay's edition inspires like, oh, come and try out your fancy door latch system, or help you interface with apartment communication and very much targeted towards the luxury market. But if you look at where a lot of the real estate is held, you know, the V, not only EDC, but the city of New York has a lot of real estate.
Rachel Loeb 36:58
So if we can put our real estate into play as a place for people to innovate on, and innovate through, we might be able to attract different parts of the market. And so with in collaboration with Deputy Mayor Bing and NYCHA and diecast, and etc, we released a prop tech RFP to say, Here, come, these are assets, and help us help innovate solutions that are going to reduce costs. But and find solutions, whether it be particularly around making buildings more energy efficient and healthier. And if you think about it, like the opportunities around NYCHA are amazing, right? They've got half a million units, I mean, 500,000 units of housing that's like better than most cities, and similar prototypes. So you've got repetition, you've got innovation there. So if you can find some solutions, think how many times you can scale that.
Atif Qadir 37:52
So So you keep 500,000 units of housing, right? Wow, that their vision of the largest affordable housing operator in the country, right?
Rachel Loeb 38:02
Yeah, yeah, it's 450, or 500. So like that, yeah. That's just that we have, and then take the office buildings, take the schools, etc. So, so we want to make sure that, that Prop tech, and as I talked about tech has, is also can be used to harness like certain asset types that are really used. And also, you know, an offshore wind is another opportunity, right for innovation. And here, again, we are using our own assets to try to bring that along. And also make sure again, that there's this, that phrase they use in the communities address, just transition. So that is your traditional way from a carbon economy to renewable one, that you make sure that everybody can participate in that. So we are also looking at creating accelerators around that. So those are just two examples of places where we've we see opportunities to push an innovation
Atif Qadir 38:54
are so many of our listeners in our audience are in the beginning of their careers in architecture school or grad school, what would advice would you have for people who plan to work in the public sector in the private sector, but want to have a positive impact on their communities, or those that hope to work in the public sector, but to be able to have, like impact? Like they would see very quickly if they were to work at say, like a development company. So what kind of advice would you have for those two types of people?
Rachel Loeb 39:25
Well, I don't see like, having an impact on your community and working in real estate to dumb companies mutually exclusive, because you can always, I mean, that's exactly what you're doing. And so, if they're interested in the public sector, there's ways to sort of think about the way you develop the way you work with the community. I mean, just because you work in DC doesn't mean you have to, that's the only place we can care about the community. And if you're not in the private sector, you can't, so you can start living those practices. I think there are different ways to get involved like you can start right away. I mean, the great thing about working in the public sector is you the volume of work. And the responsibility that you have, at a very young age is quite remarkable.
Rachel Loeb 40:14
So you're on your side, and then you're negotiating with the biggest companies on the other side, with very complicated transaction documents, financing structures, might be ground leases, complicated taxes, and bond financing, you name it, so it doesn't get much more complicated. So at any stage of your career, it's great for just learning and then also in real estate, you don't get that much management experience. So there's an opportunity for that too.
Atif Qadir 40:44
And if listeners want to learn more about the New York City, etc, what's the best way for them to do that?
Rachel Loeb 40:49
So we have, we are hiring. Excellent. We have positions open at various stages of people's careers. So you can visit our career page at EDC dot NYC backslash careers. So we have that we have paid internships, the summers halfway finished but but we are always looking for people to apply and we are looking for people in our real estate, we have an incredible asset management division. I mean, we manage 66 million square feet on behalf of the city, New York of all diverse all types, from cruise terminals to industrial assets to ground leases under 42nd, street to the airport's you name it, we got it, hotels. And so you know, really there's if there's anything construction, capital planning, planning, around land division, real estate, so we got it all.
Atif Qadir 41:40
Excellent. And I think that's particularly what's unique about a public sector role safe, perhaps in comparison to a private sector, one where you might just be focused on a particular asset type, or a particular geography and just doing that again and again and again. So thank you so much for joining us today and the American building podcast. If you want to hear the behind the scenes stories of how iconic buildings in our country were designed and built, subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Google, or wherever you'd like to listen. We all know real estate is a tough industry to make it so how can professionals stand out and make a name for themselves in today's world? I hear from me the team at Michael Graves and many of our spectacular guests just like Rachel, on what we did to make it where we are, you can grab our exclusive guide seven tips on how to stand out in your field at American building. podcast.com My name is often God there and this has been American building by Michael Graves.