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This rather heavy philosophical discussion
set the Advisor off on multiple tangents and resulted in hours
of slideshows, pages from literally a thousand pounds of textbooks
and reference guides, countless magazine and trade journal articles,
and even photo albums of family vacations to commercial nodes
and residential communities throughout the world.
The bright autumn day turned to night……the Chinese food delivery guy was
a sight for very sore eyes. I've heard the old saying that "curiosity
killed the cat" but hey, I'm a dog guy myself so this concept
has never really taken root. Our discussion centered around
three major topics: 1) the philosophy and dynamics behind the
"Tragedy of the Commons" 2) a full decision-point breakdown
of the financing, design, and development process 3) the decision
rationale at each point which plays into the built environment
as we know it. This initial meeting of the minds ultimately set
the framework for a year's worth of back-and-forth dialogue
on what makes great communities, great buildings, and desirable
places. The many economic subplots spanned the full range of
macro- and micro-economic scales. Our discussions incorporated
asset strategies and portfolio strategies, executive decision
making, rational consumer behavior, corporate brand identities,
and even the rise and fall of great civilizations and cultures.
Why do I share this story with you? It was through these discussions
that a surprising number of vastly disparate topics merged into
one. Things like productivity and the competitiveness of individuals,
companies, and nations; real estate asset management and ownership
operating costs; melting polar icecaps; energy policy and national
security; strategic thinking under both speculative and long-term
investor hold scenarios; individual health and well being; marginal
cost of risk-adjusted capital and normative clustering around
potential IRR ranges; and even what truly defines Class A in
real estate jargon.
Quite honestly it's a wonder one can make
sense of all these seemingly unrelated, differing and polarized
thoughts, much less figure out how to match their socks in the
morning given all this stuff banging around the ole' noggin.
But we did. And it serves as our reason behind Evolution Partners'
pursuits. Not only that……our socks match.
Evolution Partners firmly believes in the positive long-term economic, environmental,
and social benefits of green building.
These are the projects
we and our partners finance, develop, and occupy across North
America. It is by Thinking Ahead of Our Time™ that led us to
develop a mission-based company, one grounded in integrity,
trust, long-term value creation, community responsibility, and
market leadership.
We believe the marketplace rewards those
who, quite simply, do the 'right thing', give more than they
take, explore and incorporate the very best practices, and ultimately
strive to make the world a better place.
It is very rewarding
to work with individuals and firms who share these values, those
who can effectively and successfully maximize capitalism alongside
community and culture, and those who are interested in leaving
a positive and lasting legacy for current and future generations.
Thank you for engaging Evolution Partners and, even more, thank
you for your intellectual curiosity and inspiration.
We look
forward to working with you on your next great project.
Dan Winters
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