BLDUP Spotlight is a weekly feature where readers get insights from local industry experts and learn about what is happening in the City of Boston. This week we sat down with Dana Rowan, a principal and managing partner of The Exeter Companies. Dana has over 40 years of commercial real estate investment and development experience ranging from the formation of fast-growing entrepreneurial ventures with global hedge funds and restructuring firms to managing the investment, strategic and organizational needs of large institutions.  Prior to founding The Exeter Companies, he served as Investment Manager for the Prudential Realty Group; ran real estate workouts and restructuring for TRG Partners (subsequently sold to Deloitte); and was a senior executive at New Boston fund (12MSF portfolio; $1.5 billion AUM) serving as SVP of Dispositions, Asset Management and Portfolio and Corporate Strategy.

What is the last book you read that you would recommend as a "must read"?  Why did you find this book so important?

Dana Rowan: I enjoy reading for both education and pleasure and am currently enjoying Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas.  Not only is the book packed with fascinating Boston history there is a broader insight into these women as leaders, using Sargent’s work as a springboard into society.  Take, Isabella Stewart Gardner for example, she was from modest beginnings but used this opportunity to enhance her standing and gain control of the now famous estate which later became the widely admired Gardner Museum.

Do you have a daily or weekly routine that you follow?  If so, how do you feel it has contributed to your success?

Dana Rowan:  I am an early riser and dedicate the morning hours to writing and other creative projects.  I then typically spend the middle part of the day responding to email and texts and finally in the late afternoon catch up on personal communication.  I always make sure to finish all of my outbound messages/emails before I go to bed. I have found this often puts me as the first thing people see when they wake up the next morning.  If you are up at 6 AM you have already heard from me.

What accomplishments hold a special place in your heart and why?

Dana Rowan: When I review my career to date, my proudest moment was serving as NAIOP national chairman in 1993 at age 38 and helping pass federal legislation providing desperately needed liquidity to our industry in the middle of a brutal market collapse. NAIOP helped form an unprecedented coalition of all national real estate trade organizations and successfully lobbied the White House and Capitol Hill for legislative change. The passage of the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 effectively helped create the equity REIT industry and provided much-needed tax relief. At the White House signing ceremony, there was a large non-partisan crowd assembled. After a few concluding laudatory speeches, as most participants were quickly being dispersed, my former Harvard professor, Robert Reich, who was serving as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, turned to the Secret Service and said: “He’s with me”.  I was able, in a rare moment, to then chat at length with President Clinton and other cabinet members for the next half hour.

What do you foresee for the future of Boston development and the construction industry?  Are there any construction challenges on the horizon and how would you suggest they be handled?

Dana Rowan: Boston will continue to see extensive infill development and large-scale build-out in key sub-markets such as the South Boston Waterfront, Assembly Square, Fenway and Boston Landing.  We will also see the increasingly dispersed relocation of BioPharma and high-value technology companies to ex-urban locations such as RTE 128, the Mass Pike corridor (Framingham), Route 2, Route 3 (north and south) and even now out along I-495.  

Some of the bigger issues we are facing are skilled worker shortages and the major lack of workforce housing. Though luxury rents are softening a bit from over-supply, we are not seeing much growth in the mid-priced housing market.

One of our other major challenges will continue to be the provision of efficient transportation.  We do not have a sustainable financing strategy and solution for regional transit serving the Boston metro area.  We should be expanding service and improving operations, not just settling for the status quo. We really should be extending and expanding regional commuter service including extended service down to New Bedford and more regular service to Worcester.  The Green Line Extension needs to be completed and the Blue Line should be extended past Wonderland to Lynn and points further north. There should also be more water taxis and ferries in place servicing Boston harbor and outlying areas. All of these options would work toward getting more cars off our very crowded roads and moving away from car-dependent commuter patterns.

We are currently giving huge subsidies to highway expansion but find soon thereafter that as soon as these highway improvements are completed, the roads become too crowded yet again.

What upcoming projects are you most excited about?

Dana Rowan:  Obviously there are many projects underway and upcoming here in the Boston metro area that are interesting, but I am particularly excited as a "national model" about a new highly innovative multi-modal transit center and office development in San Jose, designed by Gensler.  Basically, it is being developed as a regional economic development tool for San Jose, the last underdeveloped area of Silicon Valley. The whole Bay Area region is increasingly labor constrained and highway commute times to more affordable housing are brutal and local rental rates and property values are skyrocketing.  They took this relatively lower-cost urban center and turned it into a regional transportation hub. Now it can attract labor from outlying areas across the region. This development has made San Jose the place where large tech companies are moving to. Amazon and Google immediately expanded into new offices there. This transit hub rivals the one San Fran is building right now.

Of course, I’m also excited about BLDUP.  This highly innovative communication, marketing, and business generating platform is doing groundbreaking things with the CRE industry and I’m glad to be a part of this energetic and growing team.

Have you had a mentor or someone who has helped you during your career?  What are the most valuable lessons you learned from that person?

Dana Rowan: I am lucky enough to have had a few mentors over the years.  First, would be my Dartmouth College professor, Gordon MacDonald. He was Nixon’s first White House environmental adviser and his accomplishments were covered extensively in a recent NY Sunday Times Magazine special issue devoted entirely to the environment.  He mentored me on land use policy related issues at the federal and state levels. Through his mentorship, I gained incredible insight on how the public and private realms interacted politically.

Next, I would mention, Stan Abrams who was one of the Druker Companies top deal makers.  He then went off on his own to develop condominiums, hotels, golf courses and polo clubs.  I learned from him, how to put deals together, raise capital and make the move from a large company to an entrepreneurial environment.

Third, and by far my biggest mentor, is Marty Irving of the Irving Company.  He is one of the larger developers in Tysons Corner (outside of DC) and created and later sold a highly successful tenant rep company in the 1990’s and served as NAIOP national chairman in 2000.  He has been a capital partner and an important sounding board for 30 years.

One more person I want to mention is Lee Goldberg. He taught me everything I know in the restructuring business.

What is a favorite quote that inspires you or you strive to live by?

Dana Rowan: Emerson is one of my favorite poets and coined the phrase: “Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams.”