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Business Lessons from a Founder

I have worked with and learned from amazing people on my journey – let's build together.

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SCAD Victory Village Project - Savannah, Georgia

During my recent Job Is The Boss Tour, I got to visit the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Georgia, where our Victory Village project has just been completed. This was our fourth project with SCAD, which is one of my favorite organizations to partner with because the buildings service students who are learning about architecture, architectural history, furniture design, interior design, preservation design, and urban design. The Sail at Victory Village is a student housing project that includes two residence halls and a parking garage. In addition to the dormitory rooms, the buildings contain lounges, study rooms, art studios, laundry rooms, and management offices.

Fulton East - Chicago, Illinois

The Fulton East project in Chicago’s West Loop is the first post-COVID era workplace in the city to be designed with new health and safety protocols in mind. I love this project because we have implemented really cool changes to make sure the building is up-to-date with design and technology that accounts for the pandemic. The building is next to the Fulton Market restaurant scene and will include ground-floor retail space and a green roof outdoor space. Fulton East will be a 12-story office building with three floors of parking and eight floors of white core space for lease. The floor-to-ceiling vision glass will provide unobstructed views of the city while allowing optimal amounts of daylight into the building’s interior.

Mentorship, Empowerment, and Leadership Development

Building the world that we want to live in is our responsibility, and this goes beyond just constructing buildings. If we only focus on creating opportunities for ourselves alone, the industry and the community suffer, which in turn limits the potential for everybody. Clayco is in the fortunate position to have the resources and brain power to invest back into the community and I am personally energized by our work for the business community beyond our walls.

Business Lessons From Climbing Capitol Peak

When I stepped past my comfort zone this September and summited Capitol Peak in Colorado, a dream of mine for many years, I realized that the skills I needed during the climb and the emotions I felt when topping out have often helped me in business. Capitol Peak is the most difficult/dangerous of the 14ers -- a group of 54 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet, and believe me, it’s not for the faint of heart. A number of people have had serious injuries or lost their lives attempting this climb.

1353 W. Fulton Street

Fantastic developments are coming to Fulton Street! A new residential tower is coming to 1353 W. Fulton Street, with Clayco as the builder, Shapack Partners as the developer, and architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). We are aligning as a collective with a shared purpose to bring this 29-story development to life and revolutionize this Chicago community.

Progress on The Standard at Columbia

I have high hopes for our South Carolina high-rise project! Our Clayco, CRG and Lamar Johnson Collaborative teams are using our integrated approach to build The Standard at Columbia. The 17-story student housing tower will create a fresh experience for students downtown with 441,980 square feet of fully-furnished units, a podium-level rooftop pool, hot tub, grilling stations, jumbotron television, and other world-class amenities.

BUSINESS

My Mock Death is Today

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Business

The concept of earning is an instinct of mine

My first job was stamping cans at a little grocery market in exchange for candy at about 10 years old. The concept of earning was an early instinct of mine.

During my teen years, I had a car wash on my home driveway, after which I started doing small painting and odd jobs at neighbors’ homes for extra money, but mainly to avoid mowing my own yard by paying the kid down the street to do it. I could make more money doing the other jobs, which allowed me to pay him very little to do something I didn’t want to do that was much more time-consuming. Looking back, that was an entrepreneurial experience.