Fifty Years of Marketplace Crafting: Unforgettable Moments
Nearing the end of writing a 500+ page manuscript (The Art of Marketplace Crafting and Restoring Community in the Marketplace), I realized something this week that stopped me for a moment: this year marks my fiftieth in the business of shaping and reshaping commercial marketplaces.
What started as a mall marketing director job in 1975 became a lifelong pursuit: an attempt to solve retail’s evolving distribution puzzle while creating places where people connect, celebrate, and find meaning. Over five decades, the projects grew more varied, the stakes higher, and the work more complex. Yet, when I look back, it’s not the headlines, “first ever” of something, and the awards and industry accolades that define the journey. It’s the deeply human moments, often humorous, and sometimes humbling fragments of experience that shaped how I see a career and the world a try to shape.
Here are twenty-five of those moments. They are not ranked or ordered by importance, but they capture the soul of a life spent crafting marketplaces.
Human Connection — Why Places Matter
Real estate has always been about more than buildings. At its core, it’s about people: how they live, interact, gather, and experience place. Some of the most enduring memories are those where the human experience rose far above the business objective of maximizing revenue, enhancing values, and replicating successes:
Sitting in the crater of an extinct volcano in the down-country of Ethiopia, watching falling stars with villagers who had never left the down country.
Seeing four-year-old triplets from Nigeria walking hand-in-hand down the main promenade at Expo 2020.
Watching the girls’ cross-country team from Hopi High School join a lion dance during San Francisco’s Moon Festival the night before competing in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Golden Gate Park created by my family and sponsored by Nike.
Watching a single person read a book, a couple share coffee, and a group of children play soccer in the Third & Broadway Park I designed in my hometown with Hart Howerton.
Discussing a vision for Mystic Valley on a foggy day, beside a hot spring-fed mountain lake outside Chengdu, China, home of the Panda.
The Creative Process — Vision Made Tangible
Design and development are collaborative acts born of sketches, conversations, and ideas that slowly evolve into something tangible. These moments reflect the joy of watching vision take form:
Creating the initial concepts and development strategy for the Sponsor and Spectator Villages at the 1996 Olympic Games with Richard Foy of Communication Arts and Harrison “Buzz” Price.
Seeing my crude diagrams and rough sketches brought to life by illustrators Scott Lockard and Dennis Allain.
Watching Robert A.M. Stern present his vision for The Shops of Primrose Brook in a scaled clay model with accurate topography and then inviting me to move the buildings anywhere I wanted.
Taking a Pentel to trace over Aldo Rossi’s revolutionary big-box center plan for Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Seeing the first phase of the Coney Island redevelopment completed: a project I had helped shape in its earliest stages.
Watching the moon rise over the arrival lobby of Four Seasons Punta Mita, where I was developed strategies to enhance and extend the stay.
Asking a cultural anthropologist about clearing footpaths along the coral shelf at Wai Kai in West Oahu, only to learn those paths were first walked more than a thousand years ago.
Realizing, while watching the first season of White Lotus, that I had planned the retail, spa, and restaurant updates to the hotel featured in the series.
Business, Serendipity, and Strange Twists
Real estate is as much about timing, relationships, and chance as it is about planning. Some of the most memorable moments came from unexpected turns: moments that taught persistence, patience, humility, or the limits of control:
Receiving a letter from Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, in response to my invitation to enter the U.S. market: a letter that led to their first three US stores.
Meeting an executive from New York Life at my ICSC booth, a conversation that led to becoming the court appointed receiver of the Jackson Brewery in New Orleans, and ultimately my first institutional client.
Announcing a lease with Planet Hollywood for the Jackson Brewery in New Orleans, only to have a small beignet shop with an expired lease delay construction for over a year.
Reading a front-page Washington Post story with Richard Branson announcing a Virgin Megastore opening at a property my company managed; but the right idea, wrong property as the lease was for the Jackson Brewery.
A surprise call from Frank Stronach, Chairman of Magna Automotive to discuss his thoroughbred and racetracks business and one year later unwrapping Al Forester’s hand-drawn illustrations for his Village at Gulfstream Park, in Hollywood, Florida.
Receiving a simple but direct notice from a US government “entity” advising against working with a potential client I had recently met in Iraq. Reading several lines regarding his former partners: “whereabouts not know” were rather persuasive.
Hearing stories from Sam Puglia about how a signature white alligator was acquired from the back swamps of Louisiana for Alligator Adventure, an anchor for Barefoot Landing, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Ideas, Influence, and Collaboration
Many of the most significant moments came from the collaborations and encounters with great minds that expanded how I thought about the work:
Meeting Peter Rummel and Joe Rohde of the Walt Disney Company and hearing their vision for transforming the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., into a hotel, Hall of Presidents, Toiurist Orientation Center, and Disney Quest.
Touring Magna Automotive’s R&D center in Aurora, Canada, and gaining insight into the future of mobility – way before anyone was discussing autonomous vehicles.
Testifying before U.S. Senate and Congressional hearings on commercialism in our National Parks.
Meeting Monroe Milstein of Burlington Coat Factory in New York City.
Learning that various projects I had directed over my career were recipients of ULI and ICSC awards.
Family, Perspective, and Personal Milestones
Of all the lessons learned over fifty years, none has been more humbling than the realization that family life unfolded alongside a career defined by travel away from home, the demands of clients, and often problematic projects. My children grew up in that environment, a life measured by detours to shopping districts, weekend site visits, and conversations about projects that often took precedence over their own lives. Ours was not a perfectly ordered household. It could be unpredictable, messy, and shaped by the rhythms of a career that pulled me in many directions. Yet they each found their own way and built lives defined by purpose and integrity: not in reaction to my work, but in spite of the ways it often consumed me.
Watching my daughter Kipling critique a dress mock-up in a Manhattan seamstress’s studio reminded me that creativity takes many forms. Reading my daughter Devon’s thoughtful, culturally attuned edits to my research showed me the importance of perspective and nuance. And seeing my son Richard share his views on the commercial real estate market on Bloomberg and many more media outlets at a level I never fully appreciated reminded me that the next generation will always push beyond where I failed or stopped. Their accomplishments are their own, and perhaps the greatest privilege of my career has been watching them shape meaningful lives grounded in curiosity, discipline, and resilience.
Looking Back
After fifty years, I see the work for what it is: a collection of moments that the most meaningful stories of a career. The square footage, innovative designs, awards, and headlines fade with time. What endures are the people, the stories, the collaborations, and the unexpected intersections of culture, commerce, and humanity that gave this journey meaning.
Each of these twenty-five moments, in its own way, shape how I understand place and how I approach The Art of Marketplace Crafting with the goal to restore community in the marketplace.
