Peter Brosens of Stolar Capital | Chatham on Main in Chatham | What's Workforce Housing
Courtesy of Stolar Capital
Building a Career in Development
On today’s episode we will be speaking with Peter (Pete) Brosens, the co-founder of Stolar Capital, a real estate investment firm with offices in Hoboken and Philadelphia. Since 2012, the firm’s focus has been on developing large mixed-use projects in transit oriented downtown locations in New Jersey. We will be speaking with Pete about his Chatham on Main project which incorporates the charm of garden-style living into his development plans. Today we will also be discussing the larger topic of the challenges that inevitably come with journeying into the world of real estate and how Pete has leveraged his past experiences at JBG Companies.
The career path to becoming a real estate developer is not a smooth one, it will undoubtedly involve many twists and turns. However, it is possible to set yourself up for success in the early stages of your career as a real estate developer. Join us on this week’s episode as we learn more about Pete’s journey, including the challenges he had to face and how they have brought him to where he is today. We will be exploring these topics in-depth, including Pete’s experience acquiring, rehabilitating, and leasing single-family homes in the Washington Metropolitan area.
“So much of real estate, I’ve come to understand is about relationships and trust. I would much rather do a deal with a really good sponsor in an awful location than visa versa. I just makes doing business so much better. ”
Courtesy of Stolar Capital
About Peter Brosens
Peter is the co-founder of Stolar Capital, a real estate investment firm that blends entrepreneurial, hands-on management with data-driven risk assessment processes. In doing so, they transform underutilized properties into development plans that can withstand short-term market disruptions. Peter’s involvement with the firm has led him to overseas business development and management of the acquisition department. He has also raised a $10M specialty-financing fund to focus on investment in repositioning multifamily residential assets across the country. Prior to starting Stolar Capital, Peter worked at the JBG Companies in Washington, DC, where he developed several large commercial buildings. Peter received his BA in Political Science from Columbia University.
Courtesy of Stolar Capital
Episode Timestamps
2:51 – What was Washington, D.C. like in 2012?
7:50 – Talk to us about the city of Chatham, and more specifically, the Chatham on Main site.
11:51 – How did you find this deal and what was the process of closing it like?
14:21 – Walk listeners through what they would see if they were going from the train station downtown to this site. What would they be seeing? What would that experience be like?
16:53 – I want to dig into that first iteration of Stolar Capital that you mentioned, which were single-family homes in Central to Northern New Jersey. What went well, and perhaps more interestingly, what did not go well?
23:46 – You said to you five years to try to get through approvals. For listeners that don't know what happens over those five years, what is happening?
30:21 – You mentioned preferred equity and mezzanine capital stack. Could you explain what those terms mean in terms of the financing of the deal?
37:34 – What do you see the next five years of your business being?
Connect with Peter Brosens:
Stolar Capital
LinkedIn (Peter Brosens)
LinkedIn (Stolar Capital)
Chatham on Main project
Courtesy of Stolar Capital
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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