Episode Summary

After more than 50 podcast episodes, a pattern started showing up over and over again.

No matter the city, project type, or background, local developers kept asking the same question:

“Where are our people?”

That question ultimately became the foundation for the first-ever Local Real Estate Developer Meetup.

In this episode, Kristi Kandel and Raphael Collazo pull back the curtain on why they decided to create an in-person event for developers, investors, architects, city leaders, and locals actively shaping their communities.

The conversation starts with the origins of the podcast itself.

What began as two developers sharing stories about local projects slowly evolved into something much larger. Over the course of 50+ episodes, they realized the biggest value was not just the information being shared. It was the relationships forming between people doing meaningful work in their own cities.

And despite being surrounded by growth and development in their markets, many of those people still felt isolated.

Most local developers are not operating inside massive institutional teams.

They are trying to figure things out project by project, often without peers nearby who truly understand the challenges.

Entitlements, city politics, financing, partnerships, construction issues, community pushback. The details may change, but the underlying struggles are often the same.

That realization pushed Kristi and Raphael to ask a bigger question.

What if there was a place where local developers could stop building alone?

The result is the inaugural LRED Meetup happening in Louisville, Kentucky from August 27–29.

But this is not intended to be another corporate real estate conference.

The goal is smaller, deeper, and more relationship-driven.

Instead of people sitting quietly in giant ballrooms, the meetup is designed around meaningful conversations, local project tours, breakout discussions, networking dinners, and direct access to developers and strategic partners actively doing deals in their communities.

The episode also explores why Louisville became the first host city.

After Kristi visited Raphael’s projects and toured the city firsthand, it reinforced how powerful it is to physically experience development inside someone’s local market. Walking projects, hearing stories, and understanding the people behind the work creates a completely different level of connection than online conversations ever can.

One of the most important themes throughout the episode is the reminder that development is a team sport.

No project happens alone.

The right architect, planner, contractor, city contact, lender, or strategic relationship can completely change the trajectory of a project and sometimes an entire career.

That’s the real purpose behind the meetup.

Not just education.

Connection.

Because often one relationship changes everything.

Timestamps

0:00 — Intro
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=0

0:56 — Why the podcast started
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=56

1:25 — Raphael’s development journey
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=85

2:15 — Celebrating 50+ podcast episodes
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=135

3:26 — The idea behind the LRED Meetup
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=206

4:16 — Why developers feel isolated
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=256

5:14 — How Louisville became the host city
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=314

5:44 — Why in-person relationships matter
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=344

7:19 — What the meetup experience will include
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=439

9:03 — Adaptive reuse project tours
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=543

10:43 — Why development is a team sport
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=643

12:05 — The power of one relationship
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=725

13:20 — Learning from other cities and markets
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=800

14:19 — Louisville’s local development scene
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=859

15:06 — Where to register for the meetup
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=906

16:00 — Final thoughts and invitation
https://youtu.be/g7xvBzE2UBk?t=960

🔗 Related Episodes

How to Become a Local Developer: Katie Neason on Infill and Taking the First Small Bet | EP#29
A great companion episode on local infill, city relationships, and taking practical first steps in development.

How to Start Real Estate Development: Steph Weber Bought the Land First and Built the Plan Later | EP #41
A real look at taking your first development deal from idea to execution without having everything figured out.

Small-Scale Development: How She Left Her Corporate Career and Built a Tiny Home Village | EP #39
Another path from traditional career to building a community-driven development project.

Full Transcript

Raphael Collazo (00:41)

Welcome to the local real estate developer podcast. I'm your cohost, Raphael Collazo. I am a commercial broker, investor and developer located here in Louisville, Kentucky. And I'm here with my cohost, Kristi Kandel, real estate developer extraordinaire, currently located in Florida. It's great to see you as always.

LRED (00:56)

Hey, yeah, great to see you. Yep, I'm a real estate developer, investor and teach locals how to become developers in their community. And, you know, that's that's all what ended up starting this podcast where we can come together and just share stories of people doing cool deals. mean, I remember hearing you on a on a podcast with Bo Baron and commercially speaking and just going, that guy has a really cool story and background like we need to talk. And that turned into local real estate.

developers pod, which it is today.

Raphael Collazo (01:25)

Yeah,

no, and I commend you for just thinking about the idea of trying to inspire developers around the country to take on local projects in their own area, because it's definitely a need that needed to be filled and

when you reached out to me about potentially collaborating on something, I was thrilled about it because myself, as you mentioned, I've been in the commercial brokerage space since 2019 and only really recently within the last two years started taking on real estate development projects. So I was kind of the market, the target market for what ultimately became the local real estate developer podcast. So

Obviously it's been an honor so far to do the podcast with you. And I know we hit a milestone recently of, I think we eclipsed 50 episodes just recently. And I think now we would have eclipsed 52, which means we've been doing this for over a year now, which is pretty amazing.

LRED (02:15)

Yeah, that's amazing and crazy to think about and I say this all the time, but I truly mean it. Like this is my favorite hour of the week where we get to sit down and whether we're talking or we have a guest on and we're sharing their stories because it's just, it's not that we're having a podcast and interviewing someone, it's that they've transformed their life, their family's life, their community, and it's just an amazing story to hear and go, okay. And I always walk away from it inspired.

Raphael Collazo (02:41)

Yeah,

same, same, it really is.

And you gain so many insights from people just by hearing their story. And I can't tell you how many times we've been talking to someone and then something they share kind of triggers an idea in my head. I was like, oh, that's really cool. Maybe I can incorporate that into the projects that we're doing here locally. So it's been a really cool experience for me. And I know as well as you to just be able to build that network with these people over time. And obviously, we truly appreciate all the people that have reached out as far as the audience members.

think it kind of goes to the next thing which we wanted to talk about was with the meetup that we're going to be coordinating here in late August. So if you can share a little bit of insight as to kind of how that formulated because it was a very organic thing.

LRED (03:26)

Yeah, from the beginning it was how do we create something that, because as developers we feel isolated in our own communities and it's like who else is doing this? And there might be one other person, maybe two other people, but sometimes it's looked at as competition and it's like, how do we create the bigger pockets but of local real estate development to where if you are trying to do development and you want to have people around you who understand it, where do you go? So that's where it just kind of naturally came from, from the pod and meeting all of these people.

and they all said the same thing. They're all just like, where's our people? Where's our community? We want this, because we do feel like we're swimming alone in the ocean. even though our cities are all different, we're all, as we've heard on the pod, we're all going through similar challenges and obstacles. And it's really cool to be able to brainstorm and go, that's how you guys overcame that there? Great. You know what? I'm going to ask some questions over here and see if that applies.

Raphael Collazo (04:16)

Absolutely, and I couldn't agree more. I think that

idea was further cemented throughout us doing this podcast, because through us interacting with all these individuals that are taking on these cool projects around the country, we had a common vein of questioning regarding, you know, how do we continue to build this network of people? we got several of our guests inquiring about wanting to, to coordinate something where not only the guests of the podcast can get together, but those who are listening and engaging with the podcast can have an opportunity to build that network.

And the hope is that over time, this becomes a larger community of members that are taking on unique and interesting projects in their own local market. And it becomes a forum where people can engage with each other and share ideas and potentially share relationships and contacts and all the things that come along with building a robust network. obviously, since, yeah, and I think through the.

LRED (05:11)

Totally.

Raphael Collazo (05:14)

the podcast and then you came and visited here in Louisville this last year and kind of we had an opportunity to just connect for a podcast episode locally and it took you around to some of the local projects that that we're doing here locally and sharing some insights about the Louisville area as a whole. We started brainstorming an idea of potentially doing our inaugural meetup here in Louisville and if you want to share a little bit about you know kind of the thought process behind it and ultimately some of the the more

the finer details of the actual event, that'd be great.

LRED (05:44)

Yeah.

I mean, just sometimes we forget post COVID how much in person and meeting people truly matters and means. And you could meet with someone 50 times on a Zoom and it's different than that one in-person interaction. And it was one, super cool to meet you for the first time, but two, to go on that tour of your community and to see the projects and the people and the places. And it just reminded me how powerful and impactful that can be to where it's like, no, we need to have the meetup. And it doesn't matter if five people show up or if 70

people show up because you have to start somewhere. just understanding the importance of that and that everyone we've talked to wants to be part of this and to build that network. So yeah, so we were able to solidify and say, hey, August 27th through the 29th, let's plan a couple of days where we get a mixture of things. We're not gonna be talking at you. We want to keep the room small enough to where we can have deep, meaningful conversations, to where we can talk about ideas and say, hey, here's how this person

person or this project went, but then do breakouts and really kind of dive a little bit deeper and think through how could it apply to our market? How could it apply to our projects we're doing? So think a combination of having some developers and some locals and city officials and strategic partners, but then also doing site tours and going around. I think all of that just it's the things that we want when that we need in our process and it's what other people have shared. And so it's just it's exciting to start to put

that together. And then having it in your backyard where you're the local expert. mean, the local real estate developers, let's do it in someone's local backyard because you have all those connections and stories.

Raphael Collazo (07:19)

Yeah,

and the hope is that with this being the inaugural event, mean, the hope is that we continue to have these projects in the local markets of people that are part of the network, right? So in our case, we were operating in Florida, who's to say that the next event isn't in Fort Myers or some other market that you have a hand in? And the same goes for other markets around the country where we have interviewed people.

and they have interesting stories and insights that could be shared. So the hope is that this is the start of something much bigger. And the goal is to continue to foster that network. And as you mentioned, we did finally select a date.

August 27 to the 29th. It's funny because you know, obviously talking about it is one thing, but then when you actually put pen to paper and say, Hey, this is what we're going to do. This is the type of, you know, curriculum, not curriculum, but but presentations we're going to have, here's the timeline that we're going to need to achieve. puts it into reality. And it's kind of a nerve wracking experience, because you know, you don't, I've never really been involved with coordinating event to this scale. I've obviously been involved in event planning, but not to this degree. And so it's definitely been a challenge. But it's really, it's a really exciting one. And one that

LRED (08:15)

Thanks.

Raphael Collazo (09:03)

We know we're gonna be able to deliver phenomenal value to you all. And I think to start out, I think what we were hoping for is on Thursday to have like a little inaugural event to invite people in and kind of share with them a preliminary panel.

and ultimately have an opportunity for people to mingle and build those preliminary relationships so that the following day on Friday where you start getting into the meat and potatoes of the information and insights we're going to share, you already have a formal introduction with some of these individuals that are going to be attending. And then as the day progresses and we grab lunch and start going on these different site tours, the site tours are going to be predominantly focused on adaptive reuse projects, just because that's the projects that, again, I'm involved in and there's

some other developers locally that do that as well. there's plenty of people at the meetup as well that will be involved in ground-up construction as well. So you can gain some insight from there.

the thought process is to be able to tour you guys around share really the nuts and bolts and numbers and struggles and potentially create case studies that you guys can take with you so that it can inspire you to on your own project or maybe you gain some insights on your own project and then ultimately have the dinner and the VIP event that evening on Friday because we want to have a know close knit opportunity for people who want to be involved in that that VIP event to have access to the attendee the speakers and yourself and

and myself as well. And then finally on Saturday have kind of a wrap up event and hopefully we can meet at a local development as well so you can gain some inspiration from that. yeah, that'll be kind of a brief summary of the event details and we'll get more refined in the description of all the events as the days progress.

LRED (10:43)

And it's just it's meant to be something where it's people who are actively Doing deals or are really on the fence and like I've been hearing all these if I get around these people I'm gonna be inspired to take action and and really just people who want to help transform your community in a positive way to To take and do something meaningful and to know that you've got the resources and the people around you that can help get you there Development is a team sport. It is not an individual sport at all. And so having those people around it

I've really started to understand the power of the events and things that I go to in person. Yeah, the content is great, but it's really about those connections that I make in the actual conference or the meetup that I go, wow, like there are people that I have been friends with. just went to a conference in March and I have been friends with this woman in Connecticut for years and her husband's almost like, does Christy really exist? We have never met her in person, this or that, and we finally got to meet in person.

He's like, whoa, like, okay, you do exist. You are a force. I get why she likes you. But it's just cool to go, like we would have never known we existed before had we not both shown up in person to that. And there's been so many collaborations and great conversations from it. So yes, we are going to give you amazing content and people and speakers, but really it's being able to talk to other like-minded people in the room and get inspired and make those connections, make those relationships and just see where it goes from there.

Raphael Collazo (12:05)

Yeah, and I think it's it's you never want to underestimate what one relationship can do for you and your career. Again, I can't tell you how many times that I have interacted with someone at an event that maybe I went to the event just because it was kind of like a throwaway event or something that I didn't really think would be of a value, which is not the case for this event. Obviously, we're going to have significant value being shared. but the one relationship that I that I was able to develop from this one

interaction led to more opportunities that I would have never been able to dream of as a result of being in the room with individuals. And so, you know, I think it kind of goes to what Kristi says is that the goal of this, this meetup and future meetups is to create that forum to create that community that fosters that type of building of relationships, because although we may or may not take on the same type of projects, the

the ideas that are shared and potentially connections that are built through this medium can potentially help you over your career as a developer. So it's important to keep that in mind as you start planning out your fall, because I think you won't want to miss this particular event.

LRED (13:20)

And the same like we'll have people from your local city and county and different economic development and planners and architects and engineers and different people who are specific to your market. But that applies everywhere because how they're looking at it and approaching their city, their community, their partnership with you as a consultant like that all gets you in a room to where you can ask questions and go, OK, I wasn't really sure how to get this architect and how to vet them and how to understand what they do. And you can literally ask them questions.

that is why we're here so you can get a better grasp and understanding and take that back to your market. And maybe the EDC, the economic development, maybe they say something that is like, my goodness, and you can actually take that then back to your community. And because it is a smaller one, maybe you guys help the city adopt that and go, hey, there are other ways and mechanisms that you could do. there's just, there's so many ways that things can happen and unfold. it's just, I love stuff like this and I'm very

excited to get back when it is not freezing outside and when I'm not sick and I really enjoy the town.

Raphael Collazo (14:19)

Yeah, and it'll be a great time of year to come. And for

those of you guys who don't know about Louisville, obviously we're known for horse racing and bourbon, but we're much more than that as well. I mean, it's going to be a unique experience for you guys to take in the sights and sounds of a very historic city. We have a phenomenal culinary scene. I have plenty of recommendations for restaurants if you guys do decide to come, because I'm a big foodie and that's kind of the area of real estate that I focus in on is retail.

lot of clients and also a lot of people that I know that are in the space and it should be a really really cool event and we're really looking forward to hosting you guys in Louisville, Kentucky from August 27th to the 29th and I don't know if you want to share any additional details or maybe how people can learn more about registering for the event.

LRED (15:06)

Yeah, we've been posting on LinkedIn with some links. We also have, if you go to localrealestatedeveloper.com and you put LRED hyphen meetup hyphen 2026, we'll put that in the show notes. But that just gives the landing page for more details on it. We have some amazing speakers already like Katie Neeson and Evan Holliday and Cece that have totally unique stories and just so much energy and passion in what they're doing and how they're transforming their communities that it's, I just get fired up just thinking.

Raphael Collazo (15:17)

Mm-hmm.

LRED (15:34)

about those guys. love every conversation we have with them and yeah so we'll put the link in there so check it out. Yeah like you said we are not event planners we just understand what's missing and what's needed and what would be beneficial to us on projects which is then in turn beneficial to everyone else kind of going through it so yeah we're you got to start somewhere and this is I'm really excited about this and to get everyone in the room and see what happens.

Raphael Collazo (16:00)

Absolutely. I'm

in the same boat and I'm honored to be able to do it with you. And we're really excited to, again, host you guys in Louisville from August 27th to the 29th. We'll make sure to include the link to the registration in the show notes. if you guys have any interest in attending, please go ahead into that web page. Be sure to register and buy your ticket. And we'll look forward to seeing you here shortly.

Yeah, thanks, Kristy. It's always great to see you. And again, for those of you guys who are watching this and listening to this, please leave a five-star review and also a five-star, not only a five-star review, but also a like, because it is important for us to reach as many people as possible. And if you guys know of anyone who's looking to attend the event, please share this link with them. Share some information about the event, because we're looking forward to, again, delivering as much value as we possibly can. So thanks again so much for tuning in, and we'll see you all next time.