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SAN ANTONIO RECOGNIZED AS U.S. PIONEER TO THE CITIES WITH NATURE PLATFORM
San Antonio named one of top ten communities in the US committed to nature and biodiversity actions.
CHECK-IN WITH ULI/SA CHAIRS PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
June 3, 2020
ULI San Antonio Founding Chair, David Adelman, Current Chair Madison Smith and Incoming Chair Omar Gonzalez recently hosted a Check-In with Young Leaders.
Today 45 participants joined in to speak with David, Madison and Omar, ULI/SA’s past, present and future chairs. They shared their experiences navigating economic downturns during their careers, what they are currently facing amidst the current crisis, and their advice on how we move forward together with ULI in the future! It was agreed that we much push our limits during this unusual time….OK is not SA! The conversations focused on the state of real estate during and after the pandemic and then on to personal experiences and life lessons. A hopeful and powerful point was made that the pandemic simply accelerated existing trends…for example, the shift from business travel was already decreasing as we consider more sustainable practices and move international travel to internet meetings. New chair Omar Gonzalez, who starts July 1, led the conversation with some helpful questions. We learned of failures that these three learned from and their favorite secret spots of San Antonio, plus some great book recommendations: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – a story that shares what’s really important; Discernment by Henri Nouwen – a sort read that teaches you can make decisions in the house of fear or the house of love; and Trammel Crow Master Builder by Robert Sobel – the story of Trammel Crow and how he built his real estate business.
ULI SAN ANTONIO CHAIR CHECK-IN
ULI/SA Senior Manager Janis Ploetz kicked off the meeting with her own personal introduction of these three ULI leaders – David Adelman, Madison Smith and Omar Gonzalez – who are more like family to her! Everyone enjoyed getting to see and hear a bit about the past of these three men who are all intent on making San Antonio the best place it can be. Get to know the men who are moving ULI’s Mission forward in San Antonio – our Past, Present and Future Chairs by reading Janis’ personal introduction below:
David grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Lee High School in 1987. He escorted Janis’ sister Beth to the Symphony Ball and later married his high school sweetheart Sharon Voltz who was also BFFS with Beth.
David realized his penchant for real estate early in life. Growing up in Castle Hills, he watched his father Frank (on the left) build a portfolio of rental homes as investments aside from a full-time law practice. David painted, mowed lawns and worked on those house. At 16, while a junior at Lee, David was scouting the city to buy a rental house of his own. Used $6k of his college fund to invest in a house near McCreless.
He went on to UT worked for a RE leasing and management company near the campus and got his real estate license in 1989. Started buying foreclosed properties and by his senior year started his own real estate company. At one point had 14 licensed agents and were the dominant company near the university providing leasing to students as well as property management and investment brokerage services. He graduated with a BA in Economics in 1991 and while there he met Trey Embrey (who introduced him to Ed Cross) and David Kahn…partners to this day, along with a couple of his high school buddies. He and Sharon moved back to San Antonio in 1995.
David was a Principal with Ed Cross, Paul Fagan & Ryan Smith at Cross & Company and Janis was their Marketing Director starting in 2005. Ed and David got interested in River North as the new live/work/play neighborhood with the Museum Reach improvement of the SA River coming. They moved their office to the Wittigs Building near the Museum Reach and started doing their part to revitalize River North into a high-density pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. Ed developed The Vistana and then David’s resurrected 1221 Broadway. They also owned, leased and managed many other investments including 2,000,000 SF of Industrial space at Cornerstone Industrial Park.
While working at Cross & Company, David and some other local real estate leaders founded ULI San Antonio in 2007 as a satellite of ULI Houston and started with 86 members. He had gotten involved with ULI to educate himself about sustainable development happening all over the country. Janis helped with the first member database to kick it off and became a ULI member then. David served as Chair for the first four years. David remains an active leader of ULI San Antonio on the Governance Council.
Adelman founded AREA Real Estate in 2011 to focus on the investment, development and asset management side of real estate in SA and has been transforming our urban core ever since with projects like Hughes Plumbing (where the Overland offices are), The Maverick, Burns building, TacoLand, Midtown Station, ‘The 68 at Hemisfair and more.
When not working, David loves to travel and take his family and friends to amazing places.
He loves the outdoors and is a whole lotta fun.
David’s blood is orange and he is the proud parent of two Alamo Heights graduates – Katherine and Ally.
Central in David’s life is his family and faith.
ULI San Antonio’s Current Chair Madison Smith also grew up in San Antonio. Janis first met Madison and his parents Frosty and Betty at Concordia Lutheran Church in the early 70’s where their parents sang in the choir together. These are some Christmas cards from back in the day!
Both Janis and Madison graduated from high school in 1975…she from Lee, he from Alamo Heights. Janis shared a Symphony Ball Belle shot of when Madison’s brother Forest was her escort when her then boyfriend Jim couldn’t attend because of a football game.
Madison went on to UT after high school graduation and that’s where he met future Overland Partners — Rick Archer, Tim Blonkvist and Robert Schmidt. These four college buddies from the UT School of Architecture promised each other that one day they would open an architecture firm together. Their Capstone Project at UT was a plan for the Quarry.
After scattering across the county, they gathered several years later in SA to open the doors of Overland Partners in 1987 where their first job was renovating the restrooms at the old Earl Abel’s on Broadway to comply with the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2010, Overland Partners won the Texas Society of Architects Architecture Firm Award, given to recognize firms for consistent architectural excellence. They renovated the Hughes Plumbing Building along the Museum Reach of the San Antonio river and moved their offices there in 2015. Madison visionary leadership resulted in the creation of HPARC and the Hemisfair Master Plan in 2009. He brought in two young guns to help him…Andres Andujar and Omar Gonzalez! The result is an inspired redevelopment plan for Hemisfair that will guide its transformation into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood again.
Janis and Madison connected when they both moved to Riverhouse as some of the first urban dwellers to buy into living in a walkable environment. In fact, Madison can walk to work at Overland everyday from his river front apartment at RiverHouse across from SAMA. In 2016, ULI/SA tapped Madison to be the Chair for Mission Advancement and Chair in FY19 and 20. Madison has been a member of ULI for many years and Overland has been a sponsor, so the timing was right. When not in town, Madison spends a lot of time at his hill country ranch with wife Cathy and his growing family.
The next generations of the Smith family.
Omar Gonzales is ULI San Antonio’s Incoming Chair. Always been a leader…Omar co-founded LOOP with Lori Houston as a way to get young professionals involved in the community and create a leadership platform for young San Antonians.
He was born and raised in SA. Central Catholic HS Grad. Class of 1993. He studied undergrad at Wharton School at UPenn. Came back to SA to start career in Strategic Management Consulting. He found his passion for real estate working on several projects including Alamodome, Convention Center HQ Hotel and Kelly AFB transition to (eventually) Port SA .He left SA again to get his MBA at Stanford University and transitioned from consulting to real estate.
In 2011, Omar landed a position at Hemisfair and has been guiding their real estate decisions from planning, leasing, parking, and P3s. Hemisfair’s Yanaguana Garden was just named as a finalist in ULI’s Urban Open Space Award! And AREA RE’s The ‘68 has brought people back to living in Hemisfair since 1968! He has always been one of ULI San Antonio’s most active members – participating in the Mentorship program and Young Leaders, and then as Chair of the Programs Committee and Chair for Mission Advancement…now Incoming Chair starting July 1.
Omar has since started a family here and now have a 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. He lives in Southtown so he gets to enjoy the urban life and even walk to work most days!