Denver Construction & Development Boom

Jason graduated from Michigan State University before working for several manufacturers, mortgage lenders and international government contractors, where he led business development and capital raise efforts. His experience and personality have earned him a vast network of capital providers and clients, which led to the co-founding of PlattPointe Capital. Jason splits time on business development and capital advisory for his ever-growing book of clients. Jason focuses on private debt and special situation lending but is adept in all areas of commercial real estate finance. He regularly speaks at conferences and presents on CRE capital markets to law firms and banks demystifying the world of CRE private debt and equity.

Tribe was founded out of a desire to be and do better. Not being limited to real estate development, but as thought leaders, stewards of the built environment and as fellow tribe members. My native American roots have shown me that being part of a team, a Tribe, generates stronger results, better ideas and problem solving, and it is far more fun than trying to work alone. The foundation of my career was built in the design world as a landscape architect, focused on luxury resort projects. It is here that I learned from the best, about the importance of delivering positive and memorable customer experiences to stand out from the competition and drive loyalty. For over a decade now, I have been focused on exceeding customers’ expectations in commercial development, what we now refer to as experiential development. Though these projects were rewarding, both personally and financially, I was very aware of an underserved, yet powerful, stakeholder --- the employee-- the very people who can make a brand come alive for your customers. I started asking- How do we create exceptional experiences for not only customers or visitors, but also the employees, perhaps the most critical constituency? I believe that the brand of a company or project is not separate from the culture, and that brand should drive every decision from design and development to recruiting and onboarding. Employee engagement, recruiting and retention are issues for every business regardless of industry. Creating brand loyalty starts from within. If you have passionate, engaged and loyal Tribe members the likelihood of success on any real estate development project is exponentially greater. The mission for Tribe is to create compelling spaces not just for visitors, but for everyone the space touches. The goal is that everyone becomes a brand ambassador, or better yet, a member of the Tribe!

Jon has over 17 years of experience in finance and joined the predecessor company, MVG Development in 2006, which subsequently merged with Confluent in 2015. He is responsible for all financial and accounting aspects of Confluent Development, including investor and banking relations as well as property sales. Prior to joining Confluent, he held multiple positions in corporate finance and investment banking with a focus on acquisitions and high yield debt financing. Jon worked in the Leveraged Finance group for Bank of America Securities for five years where he participated in structuring over $10 billion worth of financings for leveraged buyouts, M&A transactions, restructuring and refinancing transactions across a broad spectrum of industries. Jon graduated magna cum laude with a B.B.A in Finance from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.

Bill McConnell, PE, JD, MSCE, CDT is a co-founder and CEO of The Vertex Companies, Inc. (VERTEX). Bill sets the strategy for VERTEX’s future and drives the company’s growth focus into its 25th year. Bill has paired his lifelong experience in the construction industry with considerable academic accomplishments in construction and engineering fields, resulting in his track record as top expert witness, keynote speaker, and author of multiple published articles and reports for the A/E/C industry.

As Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Matrix Group, Brad Cohen oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, including the property management, maintenance, accounting and marketing departments. In his role, Brad emphasizes process improvement and building a strong foundation within Matrix Group so the team can be at its most effective. His philosophy for operations revolves around developing an efficient, productive, and satisfied team: create a culture of excellence, recruit top talent, and mentor future leadership. Brad joined Matrix Group in September 2019 as COO. Prior to this transition, he spent sixteen years as Managing Director of Capital Markets for Transwestern. An integral component in his time at Transwestern was Brad’s leadership in the creation and launch of Transwestern’s Mountain Region Investment Sales Group, an entirely new business unit within the company. For this team he recruited, on-boarded, and mentored seven high-performing sales professionals who came to rank in the top five percent of Transwestern producers nationwide. In the interim between Transwestern and Matrix Group, Brad established his own company, Paper Clip, CRE, which promotes a product designed to increase efficiency for commercial real estate professionals. Born and raised in Colorado, Brad grew up in Littleton and received his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Brad is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Colorado.

Lisa’s greatest strength is her ability to think things through, making sense of conceptual and schematic designs by pulling them part, understanding the core concepts, and then re-assembling to predict how a project will evolve. Her expertise in effective communication with all levels of staff and teams through the entire project life cycle fosters a collaborative, interactive approach to task completion and problem resolution. As a Senior Preconstruction Manager for Swinerton’s Colorado office, she is the day-to-day preconstruction contact, responsible for understanding conceptual and schematic designs and systems, and then applying costs to these elements, either detailed or not to develop achievable strategies for project success.

Kyle Zeppelin is recognized as an innovative developer of communities in the urban core of Denver. Over the past decade, Kyle’s focus has been on transforming the underused, former industrial area of River North (RiNo) into a mixed-use neighborhood. Kyle has received recognition and multiple awards for his work at TAXI and The Source, and has successfully leveraged these projects into additional fronts in RiNo. TAXI has grown from what was originally an eight-acre site, to what is now a 28-acre mixed-use site complete with 9 buildings, over 100 businesses and over 100 residential units. Kyle’s vision for The Source market hall has expanded with the addition of a hotel. The Source Hotel will feature 100 design-forward hotel rooms, an expanded 25,000-square-foot market hall featuring signature restaurants and retail shopping, New Belgium Brewing’s first Denver brewery, and an eighth-floor rooftop complete with a pool, bar, and unobstructed mountain and skyline views.On a community level, Kyle’s broader social efforts are directed toward improving pedestrian and bike infrastructure and connectivity, advocating for the reclamation of the South Platte River in RiNo and meaningful design in Denver’s built environment. Kyle currently works closely with Comal Heritage Food Incubator (Comal) and Project VOYCE, both located on TAXI. Comal, operated by non-profit Focus Points Family Resource Center and in partnership with Zeppelin Development, provides women entrepreneurs from Globeville, Elyria and Swansea with culinary arts, business and language skills in addition to serving up some of the most authentic Latin American and Syrian cuisine in Denver. Project VOYCE is a non-profit organization that provides leadership programs for students in the underprivileged sectors of Denver and teach them how to combat challenges in their communities.

Austin Kane is Vice President, Regional Director working out of Denver, Colorado. He oversees Unico’s real estate investments in Colorado and Texas. Austin co-directs and executes asset strategies on more than 3.6M rentable square feet of class A office and retail space and is Unico’s point of contact for new business opportunities in his region. Prior to joining Unico in 2013, Austin was a broker with the Frederick Ross Company for more than 10 years. In this role, he worked with institutional landlords from across the country. During his tenure with Frederick Ross, Austin completed more than 250 lease transactions. He also worked closely with management to mentor young brokers and connect with the larger Denver community. While with Unico, Austin has overseen multiple successful leasing efforts on repositioned properties, setting a bar within individual competitive sets in multiple markets and submarkets. Additionally, Austin has identified multiple off-market office investment opportunities that have closed as well as a significant off-market development play that is currently in progress. Austin was elected President of the Denver Metro Commercial Association of Realtors in 2013, and was the recipient of Allen P. Hackstaff Award for outstanding community involvement. Austin serves on the Downtown Denver Partnership Business Improvement District as Secretary and is a member of the Executive Committee for the 5280/Downtown Loop. Austin also is a member of ULI. Austin believes that real estate is a service business, and he excels at creating positive, lasting relationships.

Sean Hanlon consistently achieves positive outcomes for clients, whether through contract drafting and negotiation, settlement, dispositive motion, trial, or appeal. With a decade of litigation and trial experience, Sean is focused on counseling clients through the whole life cycle of commercial construction projects. Understanding the litigation of construction disputes, Sean and his team of project attorneys anticipate problems and protect clients’ interests in drafting and negotiating construction and design contracts. Through informed project counseling, Sean works to resolve disputes before they cause project delays. When litigation or formal dispute resolution is necessary, Sean consistently achieves positive outcomes for clients, whether through trial, dispositive motion, or settlement. Proven Experience: Sean has first-chaired 32 trials, 10 for Holland & Hart clients, and another 22 during his secondment as a special prosecutor with the Denver City Attorney's office, including 12 jury and 10 bench trials. In addition to counseling owners, prime contractors, lenders, and loan servicers, Sean handles a variety of general commercial litigation matters. He has also successfully represented clients in appellate matters in Colorado at the state and federal levels.

Jeff Holwell is the Economic Development Director with the City of Lone Tree, Colorado. Jeff has served in a variety of economic development roles throughout his 15 year career in the Metro Denver region, including Director of Business Development with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and Chief Operating Officer with the South Metro Denver Chamber. In his role at the City of Lone Tree he is focused on retail development, business retention, and primary employer attraction for a growing, transit-oriented, and vibrant community in the southeast Denver corridor.

Justin D. Pless founded Pless Law Firm, LLC in 2009, dedicating his practice to helping clients navigate their commercial real estate legal matters. He has been selected to the Best LawyersÒ in America 2020 list for his work in real estate law and has been named a Rising Star by Colorado Super Lawyers for six consecutive years (and seven years total). Justin represents a broad range of clients in commercial real estate and business law transactions, including leasing, purchase and sale transactions, financing, development, and land use matters. Prior to forming the firm, he practiced in the real estate group at the multi-national law firm Faegre & Benson LLP (now Faegre Baker Daniels LLP). Justin graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Colorado Law School. While in law school, Justin served as a teaching fellow in the area of real property law and as a note and comment editor for the Colorado Technology Law Journal. Prior to attending law school, Justin served as an infantry paratrooper in the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, including a peacekeeping deployment to the former Yugoslav Republic of Kosovo in 1999-2000. Outside of the office, Justin enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, and exploring the great Colorado outdoors.