Adam Torres and Jason Muller discuss Investment Summit – State of the Market 2024.
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Show Notes:
Beach City Capital’s Investment Summit – State of the Market 2024 is a gathering of industry experts and thought leaders in the commercial real estate sector. In this episode, Adam Torres and Jason Muller, Founder & CEO at Beach City Capital, explore the summit which is designed to provide attendees with a comprehensive overview of the current state of the commercial real estate market, featuring insights from distinguished professionals across various specialties.
About Jason Muller
Jason Muller is the Founder and CEO of Beach City Capital, LLC and is actively involved in all aspects of Deal Creation, Business, Bank and Partner Relations with a focus on Executive Oversight on the Design, Development and Construction of the company’s Investment projects. He is an accomplished and results-oriented development and investment professional with over ten years experience in land use, entitlements, architecture, development and real estate investments.
Prior to Beach City Capital, Mr. Muller worked with Ensemble Investments, LLC in Long Beach as a Development Associate Managing over $100MM worth of private investment projects. Mr. Muller was traditionally trained as an Architect practicing design for 5 years, then went into land use and entitlements as a Project Manager for Southern California Land Use and managed over $120MM in entitlements, building permits, pre-development evaluations, and strategic planning for commercial, industrial, and residential real estate development. His experience in Real Estate Investments was strengthened with a wide range of professional practice after his Graduate Studies at USC.
About Beach City Capital
Beach City Capital LLC is a private Real Estate development firm headquartered in the South Bay Communities within Los Angeles, CA. Beach City Capital focuses on executing the development and/or repositioning of multi-family, luxury housing, and commercial assets targeting value-add/opportunistic returns. Their investment approach capitalizes on a broad platform, utilizing in-house real estate professionals whose expertise spans all phases of the real estate life cycle.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today I have Jason Muller on the line, and he’s a founder and CEO over at Beach City Capital.
Jason, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me join. All right, Jason. So I’m getting excited. I know the investment summit’s coming up that you’re throwing and , we’re going to be helping you out with that as well. And excited to have you on the show, the state of the market 2024.
So I want to, I want to talk about that. Of course, we’re going to also get into what you’re doing overall in beach city capital and what, drove you to real estate? Like how’d you get into this business? But before we do all of that we’ll start this episode, the way that we start them all with what we like to call our mission matters minutes.
So, Jason, at Mission Matters, our goal and our aim is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs and executives to help them get their message out there because we feel it needs to be heard. That’s our mission. Jason, what mission matters to you? My mission is to improve the quality of life for people that are living in Southern California along the coast.
I believe that we’re in a pretty severe housing crisis. And you can see that in high rents as well as high housing prices. And so my goal is literally to provide more high quality supply to meet demand along the coast. And I do that through high architecture design sustainability, and affordability.
And I started in architecture, did land use, went to USP for real estate development, and now I’m applying my skills for that mission. Man, that’s a, that’s a great story. and glad to have you on. And I understand that you work in some markets that aren’t really that picturesque, right? Like no coastline, no beautiful water.
And nobody, yeah, right. I’m kidding you. Come on, man. Your area is amazing. Like talk a little bit about your market and I’m from the Midwest, so I’ll pick on it. I’m from Michigan. Originally I grew up in snow. Let’s make everybody out there jealous. Talk about your market a little bit for me, please.
Okay, well, today’s March 14th and it’s about 71 degrees outside at 1 o’clock with no wind. It’s absolutely beautiful. We’re wearing shorts and sandals. So that like the climate in Southern California here in coastal. L. A. I do want to highlight the South Bay of Los Angeles. lot of folks will come and visit Los Angeles.
As a whole, and they’ll go to downtown, maybe they’ll go to Santa Monica, they’ll go to Venice, etc. But they never really quite make it to Manhattan Beach, Mimosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, etc. And it’s such a hidden gem. It’s such a beautiful, beautiful place to, to visit and live. I live here in Manhattan Beach.
I have four children. I’m gonna raise my children here. It’s an absolutely beautiful place, but it’s also a great place to do business. You know, with Manhattan Beach being pretty topped out, Hermosa Beach having a little bit of room for growth, but also Redondo having tremendous room for growth I believe that Redondo Beach is a great place to do investments in multifamily real estate and real estate development.
Anything to do with, you know, real estate backed securities that Focus on building apartments, building, housing, renovating, housing, doing fixes, et cetera. You can’t go wrong in Redondo for most of beaches is a great location. Manhattan beaches is a little topped out. So, I like to give the analogy that if you were to buy a 4 bedroom.
Condo in these three cities in Manhattan Beach, it would be 4 million. We’re definitely in Hermosa. It’ll be 3 million and in Redondo Beach, it’ll be 2 million. Right. But the interesting thing is, is that Redondo Beach, South Redondo Beach specifically is right next to the 2. 5 mile stretch of Pristine Esplanade that’s above this white, you know, tan, sandy beaches next to this picture of backdrop of Paula’s Verde.
And it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s so safe, very few kind of, you know, vagrants and blight. So it’s just a great place for family, great schools, great place to invest. So that’s kind of encapsulates a South Bay. We do also include El Segundo, which is a great little pocket great place great surf along the coast, you know, when the northwest swells come in.
So it’s a coastal, you know, beach town you know, winter surf spot. and the weather is pretty you know, mild and nice all year round out here. Yeah, I think you just sold me on my weekend plans, man. I’m downtown LA like 90 some percent of my life in Los Angeles and let’s just say that everything you described is where I try to get to for my weekend and I have your you just remind me I’ve been to South Bay in a little bit.
So I think you just now you just now convinced me I’m sold on my weekend plans you need to come by the office. You know, we have quite interesting because I started Beach City Capital at WeWorks, right? In 2015 with a 0 out of USC, her name is Serena Shlomoff. She was an amazing intern and she ended up saying, Hey, I want an office at WeWorks if you want me to work for you.
And I dated myself because I was like, what’s WeWorks? And I kind of went and I looked and it was amazing. And it grew from you know, one person to 10 people in this offices. And I thought, wow, what a great kind of business plan. And so what I did is I got a 40 year lease on a historic performing arts theater in Hermosa beach on the water.
And what I did is I invested about 2 Renovated build class A offices here. I had one you know, credit tenant who is Marlon equity group leased the whole space out. Once I, Built it out for two years and now we’re running it as a fully functioning co working space and it is so amazing because we got all walks of life.
We got attorneys, real estate brokers, textiles, designers, engineers. We got everybody in here and BCD Capital is actually office at Local Collaborative in Hermosa Beach, California and I literally live 15 minutes away walking in Manhattan Beach. And so the quality of life for the folks that are members here on local club, we were pretty high, but also for my employees at Beach City Capitol.
That allow us to focus on building, designing, and raising capital you know, for affordable housing along the coast. And so, I welcome you, my friend, to come down here for lunch, happy hour, the weekend. I’d love to kind of show you, show you around, show you some of our projects when you have time. Oh, that sounds amazing.
, and this is also going to be the location. I think it’s a good transition. So the, the investment summit, right? State of the market 2024 is going to be at your location on April 18th. And for everybody that’s listening, if you’re driving in your car, you don’t have to stop and write this down.
All this information will be in the show notes. We’ll put links to the page and all the other good stuff so you can get more info. But that being said, that’s also going to be the, the place of the, of the event, correct? Yeah, absolutely. And so I had an idea. We often go to equity summits. We raise equity.
I’ve raised 26 million in equity during my career as an entrepreneur. And you do it in many different ways. One way to go to equity conferences, you sponsor the conference, you meet investors, LPs, GCOGPs, et cetera. And you spend anywhere between 10, 000 to 15, 000. Typically. And so I have the best venue.
We have the most amazing venue. It’s in Hermosa Beach. Yeah. And a beautiful historical performing arts theater. There’s a, literally a parking structure next door. And I thought, why don’t I invest that money and throw our own investment summit here. And I, I invited the first one I invited. It’s literally the top high demand speakers in the industry.
We had Jerry Fink speak for Bascom it’s a 2 billion equity firm. We had Trammell Crowe, his representative, come speak here. And we also had WAIF Capital’s founder you know, Malcolm Davis here. And I literally emailed them and they responded immediately confirming that they would speak. And this was the first time I was doing it.
Right. And it was off the hook. We had 200 people here. We had a amazing high quality gourmet Mexican food. It was absolutely delicious. We had bartender was serving beer and wine. We had, it is all real estate, real estate investments, development, construction, construction, the market. Rubbing shoulders with affluent, accredited investors, LPs, banks developers, sponsors, people that have their family offices, you know, very successful entrepreneurs in all walks of life, whether you’re a doctor, you’re an attorney, you have your own dental practice etc.
They were all here. And, you know, we all suited up, you know, I, I, I remember, I, I think I got, I had like gotten a white, you know, tuxedo and, you know, all the gals dressed up. It was just a really fun event. It was so much high energy. We usually have. Like this most amazing guitar player. He does Spanish guitar and he does like Beatles covers and he does like Eagles covers.
This does not, this does not sound like your typical investment summit or conference. I’ve been to plenty and most of them are not this much fun. What you’re talking about right now. What? It has to be orchestrated, you know, like. Yeah. I think the details matter. Like when you walk in, you want to have a good vibe, right?
And so the guitar sounds like it’s a recording, but it’s actually live and you know, everybody’s dressed up. There’s free beverages and food and it’s a very welcoming atmosphere and it feels very authentic. And I encourage people to bring their business cards, bring their brochures, bring you know, stuff to help build their business.
But come with an open ear, you know, open mind and open heart. And we usually have like an intro from, you know, the mayor or the city manager. And then we, we invite the speakers up and we have real dialogue. we encourage the speakers to agree and disagree. It’s an actual, you know, you know speaker series of folks talking about their experience in the market.
And these guys that are coming to our speakers series here you know, the investment summit on April 18th are heavy. We’ve got Ryan Garland, founder and CEO of Paradigm Equities. They have done a phenomenal job managing their 100 million debt fund and their 100 million equity fund. And I feel so fortunate to have him come speak and share his experience for those that are looking to get into real estate or looking to, you know, do asset allocation portfolio defense for their equity and their portfolio for their families.
We also have Jake Sharp of the Jake Sharp Commercial Investment Banking Group. This guy is like the boss. He’s not only ex pro skater that drives around in a green, beautiful Lamborghini but he’s also one of the most smartest, brightest guys moving about 500, To a billion dollars a year. This guy is the real deal.
he also has a heart of gold, very, very approachable. And we also have Frank Buckley of Marlin equities group, and they are a 7 billion private equity firm. And they have a small allocation of real estate. And so they are the ones that headed up the Miranda’s project that was here in the South Bay, Manhattan Beach on roads, crams and Highland, and they were able to get approval for major residential project.
And we are really close mean, frankly, play music together. We play covers like CC& R, you know, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, stuff like that. And so we connect on just, you know, real estate, but music as well. And he’s really approachable, really nice guy. And I’m going to be the moderator as well as we’re co sponsoring with your team, as well as Diggs Magazine.
And they provide us with you know, advertising and they come in and they’re the market leaders here in South Bay for real estate sales. And so it’s just a great atmosphere and people will come you know here have a great experience, but come back thinking, wow, like I literally got direct access to market leaders and what’s actually happening.
And the exciting thing is, is that. 2023 was way different in 2024, but what’s important to note is the transition. How did people hold on when there was turbulence and where are they going now? That’s important to try to catch, you know, what’s typically a good fit for this type of conference?
Like it was investors or credit investors, like other people in the business, like just give me a flavor for like who attends and like the events. You know, that’s a very good question. I can tell you the folks that, frequent the events, but I would say the folks that should like pay attention and say, I have to go to that event.
I have to reschedule my schedule. I have to make sure I go no matter what our folks that are in real estate development. That love equity investment folks that want to track the market what’s actually happening because what’s happening in real estate development? It’s tangential to stocks bonds other Investments because it’s tracking with inflation.
It’s tracking with the treasury. It’s tracking with you know What the federal the reserve is doing currency and you know, the rates etc and so I think that if you’re You In real estate development, if you’re a broker, if you’re an investor and also if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re looking to your portfolio, right, you’ll get a lot of insights because these guys, they don’t just do real estate.
They also have to diversify their portfolios. And so one thing we’re offering if you’re a student and you bring your student ID, It’s very important. And any university or junior college around here, we’re going to allow you guys to have free admission. Because I really support higher education, and I think it’s very important for folks that are studying business, real estate, finance, anything that, kind of correlated to real estate and finance, it’s very important.
Do not miss this event. Number two is folks that are in the industry. That are looking to grow their, their wealth that they’ve accumulated, but doing it in a way that you’re mitigating risk. And there’s so many great tools that are going to be shared on how the pros are mitigating risk. I think that’s the profile.
And always, Feel free to bring your significant other, your friends and family. If you have to bring your children, go right ahead. It’s very family oriented. And so it’s a very safe environment, very family oriented. And so it’s a very good atmosphere. Once you come. There is a 99 percent chance you’re going to come again and want to come again.
That’s awesome. Well, I mean, also the guitar, the this and that, like the ambiance, the, I mean, I guess, you know, last question What does community mean to you in, in this whole business and in what you’re building? Because as I’m hearing you tell this story, as I’ve gotten to know your team and get to work with them And see what they’re doing.
I’m like, man, there’s just an amazing community building around real estate and around this whole South Bay area, which I think is just, it’s amazing. Like, what does that word mean in terms of real estate and what you’re building community? You know, community is something that I’ve always built, right?
Like when I was young, I. You know, was a pretty good skateboarder. And so I built a community of skateboarders that we would all get together, never leave someone behind. And we would get together and have skateboarding, you know, then I got into music and I had bands and I would play at the house of blues, the Roxy, et cetera.
And we would have a community of three, 400, 500 people that we would get together. And build community. When I did architecture, I studied around the world in Nicaragua, et cetera. And we would design in community, we would do diadems with all the different universities, right? Wow. And same thing with church.
You know, you go to church, you build your community, you play music, but it’s also very simple. Remember the guy’s name that’s making your coffee at your local coffee shop. Remember the guys that are at Trader Joe’s or at the grocery store, right? And it’s not just real estate. It’s not just your investors or you know, the people, you know, that work at the local, you know, grocery store, but it’s also like, who are you, right?
Who are you and what are you filled with, right? If you’re filled with a steaming cup of coffee and someone bumps into you, You’re going to spill steaming hot coffee on someone. If you are calm, collected, have grace and peace inside of you, and someone bumps into you, that’s what you want to share. That peace, you know, that is how you build community.
You lead by example, and you got to be a wartime CEO and be easy and killed and be able to handle the heat, right? Because you want to be that leader in your small circle. I have four children and this is a principle that I always try to teach them is that no matter how, you know, difficult the challenge might be, you always got to evaluate your options.
And so with that, you know, there’s another thing that we like to do every year, there’s a major concert that comes around here in, in Redondo beach is called the beach life festival, and it has to do with community. And so this year Sting’s playing. Right. with the police songs and steals plane, right?
Incubus is playing. And so what Beach City Capital and Local Collaborative do is we get a cabana, right? And what we do is we say, Hey, if you’d like to join us, contact me and you can join us and pitch in on the cabana and you can have front row seats at a private cabana to enjoy You know, the beautiful music on that’s coming to the beach here.
And so it’s like, there’s so many different ways to do it. You are a natural community builder. That’s so high level. And that’s so much fun. Like that, that’s beyond real estate. That’s like, how do you build real, you know, real community. That’s how you do it. You find other connection points. That’s amazing.
That’s right. Other connection points. And I think the investment summit is, is something that we offer the community, but as an investor in Beach City Capital, there’s also like private events and dinners that we host to build community for folks that are accredited investors that like to rub shoulders with other sophisticated accredited investors.
So there’s two different, three different ways. Amazing. Well, Jason, just have to say it has been great having you on the show today and looking forward to the investment summit that’s coming up again, April 18th. We’ll put all the information in the show notes for the, for the audience to just click on the links and, and learn more, but that being said, if somebody wants to learn more about beach city capital as well what’s the best way for them to do that?
Oh, thank you for asking. So we currently have a contact that we are promoting one of our major investments right now, which is the Catalina village project that we just got entitled after working 4 years. With congratulations. That’s a big deal. Yeah, it’s a big deal. And we also are, we’re admitting investors into that project.
We’re going to be building it and holding it. And so that’s going to be about a 3X year hold. And so with that being said, it’s my contact to learn more about the Catalina Village Project Investment, also the Investment Summit, and any questions you might have about any subjects that we’ve covered today is Jason at Beach City Capital.
Again, that’s Jason at Beach City Capital, and my number is 310 245 4419. Again, that’s 310 245 4419. Please feel free to text me or email me, and I’m happy to connect and help build our community and your community together so that we can be one bigger community together. It’s amazing. well, thank you again, Jason, for coming on the show and to the audience as always.
Thank you for tuning in. Hey, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t hit that subscribe button yet. Hey, don’t wait any longer. Hit that subscribe button. We have many more mission based individuals coming up. I don’t want you to miss any of the upcoming content. And if you’re a long term listener, leave that review if you haven’t left one yet.
We sure do appreciate it. Jason, looking forward to this summit, man. Thanks again. Thank you. Take care.