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Bio
Alex Johns is a Senior Vice President, Co-Investment for Grosvenor Americas and has over 25 years of experience in the real estate industry as a capital source, consultant, and appraiser. In both her professional and volunteer roles she has a history of setting records and breaking new ground.
Prior to joining Grosvenor in 2019, Alexandra opened the Mid-Atlantic office for a Resmark, leading equity firm, where she partnered with developers of for-sale housing in the Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia regions.
Alex has been focused on residentially-led projects since 2004, when she led the homebuilder banking team at Chevy Chase Bank, subsequently bringing her expertise to Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Previously, Alexandra’s activities were national in scope, providing structured finance solutions while at Allied Capital and NCB Development, and consulting and appraisal services at Arthur Andersen. Alexandra completed her credit training at Riggs Bank, where she performed an array of valuation services for activities in the US and UK.
Alex is a member of the Urban Land Institute, where she provides leadership for the Washington District Council in support of UrbanPlan, Full Member Engagement, and Women’s Leadership Initiative programs. She is also a member of ULI’s National Residential Neighborhood Development Council.
She previously chaired the Northern Virginian BIA Real Estate Finance Committee, was President of the Real Estate Lenders Association in Washington, D.C., and has led fundraising efforts for several local non-profits.
Alex studied at the University of Maryland, majoring in English Literature, with a minor in Business. Alexandra was previously licensed as a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, and maintains her Realtors license in Inactive status.
Show Notes
- Responsible for growth of portfolio for Grosvenor’s investment in residential projects as either an LP investor or a structured lender from DC north to Boston regions (5:20)
- Structure deals in a debt structure that is similar to a joint venture perhaps up to 90-95% of the equity capital (7:00)
Origins & Education
- DC native and grew up in Northwest DC as the youngest of five children (8:15)
- Dad was an entrepreneurial structural engineer in the DC area (9:15)
- He attended Poly in Baltimore and then Johns Hopkins in Baltimore as an engineer (10:15)
- Told his children not to be an engineer (11:15)
- She was influenced to be values driven (11:45)
- Mom ran the household
- Two siblings in real estate in DC area
- A sibling in Chicago in real estate
- Attended Whitman HS after family moved to Darnestown, MD- Mom called MCPS superintendent to get her into Whitman (13:00)
- Attended University of Maryland (15:05)
- Thought she would be in advertising initially (15:15)
- Became an appraiser for her brother while there during the RTC era in the early 1990s (16:00)
Career Arc
- First job was with Arthur Anderson (16:30)
- Was in the appraisal group there working for Fred Bunch (18:15)
- Learned considerably about all aspects of the process (18:45)
- Submitted a demonstration appraisal to become an MAI however Oakleigh Thorne advised her not to become an appraiser (19:00)
- Joined Riggs Bank and accepted that she didn’t look like most of her colleagues who were white men (19:45)
- Looked at highest and best use first principles (21:50)
- Need to have experiences in retail is rationale for further investment (22:40)
- Return to the office is either authoritarian or the lead from behind models (24:00)
- Initially at Riggs to do appraisal work (25:15)
- Received credit training there and did special projects (25:30)
- Joined REO committee to help understanding the workout process (26:30)
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- Allied Capital (28:20)
- Invested in notes from the RTC and began originating structured financing (29:00)
- Hotel investments (29:15)
- Raised a fund and a bank line to invest
- Public company
- After Long Term Capital Management crisis, they became a “B” piece buyer for CMBS pools (31:00)
- Learned considerably about details of property operations to evaluate business plans (31:30)
- Discussed valuation in detail (34:30)
- National Cooperative Bank (35:00)
- All about the human part of the real estate business (35:50)
- Worked on the non-profit side of coops (affordable) (36:00)
- Reported to Hugh Jeffers who she knew at Riggs Bank (38:00)
- FHA lending on non-profit coops
- Leadership skills honed in the affordable housing sector (40:20)
- Her Greek heritage influenced her thought process regarding discrimination (41:00)
- Her last project there was a portfolio of 11 buildings in NYC where the coop members were “squatters” with no ownership structure that became public (41:50)
- Had to oversee the teaching of coop owners how to take care of their property (43:30)
- Formation of a “tribe” that was in violation of any code issues as no one (45:00)
- Reference to the Baist book- a plat map of Washington DC (48:00)
- Joined Chevy Chase Bank in 2004 (49:40)
- Knew Tony Marquez at Riggs Bank and he recruited her to lead the homebuilding Acquisition, Development and Construction lending group (51:30)
- Active time in public homebuilding lines of credit and learned that business (53:40)
- Sensed that the Capital One sale was coming (54:30)
- Was then recruited by Wachovia Bank to work with “best in class” borrowers in homebuilding (55:30)
- Portfolio of 120 borrowers
- Started in September, 2008 immediately before the Global Financial Crisis (58:00)
- Wells Fargo took over the bank (58:30)
- Needed to release smaller borrowers (58:45)
- Worked with Jeff Rice at Elm Street Partners to weather the storm of the GFC (1:02:30)
- Joined Resmark who is an advisor to CALPERS and CALSTERS for equity investment in for sale housing projects to open a DC office (1:03:30)
- Her Dad insisted that she could open an office (1:06:20)
- Her partner clients realize that she is critical to the project’s success (1:07:45)
- Actively did business in 2014-15 and due to some internal restructuring decided to join Grosvenor (1:09:40)
- Learned the equity investment business there as a partner (1:10:20)
- Risk mitigation is completely different in equity investing than in lending (1:11:00)
- Used her “instincts” to make final decision on some projects (1:11:30)
- Project in Philadelphia- the location had certain characteristics (1:13:40)
- Devloper was Bill Collins of Concordia Group
- Neighborhood of row houses that were “authentic” that had character (1:16:00)
- Development that would attract the right residents from her instincts (1:17:00)
- Refers back to her childhood about her real estate instincts (1:18:45)
- Reference to an article about “The Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell referring to the developers challenge about visioning and taking risk on the project (1:19:20)
- Discusses developers’ risk taking issues (1:19:30)
- Build for a longer lasting impact…transformative (1:21:15)
Grosvenor
- Reference to Grosvenor‘s long view (1:22:20)
- Sustainable agricultural investments (1:22:30)
- Community value and livable city (1:24:10)
- Live, Work & Play (1:24:20)
- Pandemic influences (1:27:00)
- Look around for people who need support in the community (1:27:20)
- Primary question is the impact on people around us (1:28:00)
- Discusses the European belief in the long view through her family from Greece (1:28:30)
- Her grandfather was a stone mason (1:29:00)
- Grosvenor US could be larger but is selective (1:31:00)
- $4B pipeline of development in North America (1:31:45)
- Grosvenor’s history in London, UK- Mayfair (1:33:00)
- Two projects at the Grosvenor Metro Station in Montgomery County, MD (1:35:00)
- Grosvenor strategies (1:35:50)
- Development- Important to guide project (1:35:00)
- Acquisition (1:36:45)
- Story about Grosvenor Tower (Richard Dubin) (1:37:00)
- Townhouses at Grosvenor with Madison Homes (across the street) (1:39:20)
- Work with third party financial investors (1:42:00)
- Office strategies today (1:45:30)
- 15th and K St. NW building will probably not change uses from office (1:45:45)
- 17th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW should probably remain office (1:46:30)
- Office conversions happening (1:48:00)
- Cities go through cycles (1:50:30)
- Livable city environment would be great, yet doesn’t see long term shift (1:51:15)
- Waterfront Station– Affordable housing (1:54:45)
- Hoffman is partner (1:55:00)
- Low Income Housing Tax Credits (1:56:00)
- City owned land
- Tom Ikeler with Hoffman explained why Grosvenor should be involved in the project (1:58:00)
- Believe in mixed income aspects of project (1:58:15)
Social and Philosophical Perspectives
- Women in real estate (1:58:30)
- Learns from other women
- Gender neutral on advice giving- play your own game…speak your own voice (1:59:00)
- Needed to emulate men initially, yet felt it was unnatural for her (2:00:00)
- Speak one’s own individual views (2:00:45)
- Changes in orientation significant over time
- Women were limited because no woman had the “title” at a company (glass ceiling) (2:02:20)
- Hiring Issues
- Critical thinking is important (2:04:00)
- Inverted triangle- What did you do and what was your contribution? (2:04:20)
- What specifically did you do?
- How did you make decisions?
- How did you coordinate with others?
- What leads to why… (2:05:20)
- Have one’s own opinion and challenge her opinion (2:06:00)
- Ability to interact with similar values- a full voice (2:06:30)
- Try not to bring in challenging values people (2:07:45)
- Inspirations
- Parents (2:08:20)
- Her Dad was still trying to learn almost to his death (2:08:30)
- She walked into a Hopkins hospital room and he was on a treadmill (2:09:30)
- Jeff Rice of Elm Street (2:10:30)
- Her daughters inspire her (2:10:50)
- They are 19 and 22- watched them make friends and accomplish things in their life (2:11:10)
- Learned from them (2:12 20)
- Parents (2:08:20)
- Family is #1 (2:12:50)
- Would like to create an incubator for musicians if she had time and capital (2:13:15)
- Raise standards for what to expect from one another (2:13:45)
- Trusting that each of us can make decisions
- Public discourse and political discourse
- Giving value to each human life (2:14:30)
- Giving grace to each person (2:14:45)
- Sex education
- Guns
- Would like to speak about creating values in humanity (2:15:15)
- Advice to 25 yr. old self
- Diagnosed ADHD in her 40s (2:16:30)
- Accept who she is and believe that you mattered (2:16:45)
- Restless person (2:17:15)
- 26 credits in one semester (2:17:45)
- Sleep 2-3 hours per day (2:18:00)
- Now understands her physiology better (2:19:00)
- People may have challenges that may not be understood (2:19:30)
- Billboard statement- “Love Each Other” (2:20:15)
Postscript
- Rameez Munawar offers perspective
- Alex displays the entrepreneurial spirit
- Understanding that it comes down to people
- Cites Squatter’s rights issue in NYC when she was with the National Coop Bank
- Free spirit about life
- Career evolution
- Detail oriented leading to valuation and subsequently lending
- Bowling alley issues- he is a bowler and adds the perspective of quality of experience
- Experiences are key now- Emotional reaction
- Hospitality driven
- Citing tour of Marriott’s new headquarters
- Experience demonstration for different brands
- Future of cities- social value of cities is important and there will be a rebound in office use
- Career evolution to a level of sophistication
- Doing what you say you will do is the beginning of building relationships
- Correlation of instincts and trust
- Combination of experience and trust with instincts
