Recommended Reading: April 2022

Written by & filed in Recommended Read.

Recommended Readings: Winter 2022

Below are some of our favorite articles from the last two months which will likely resonate with our readers.

Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate Is Seen as an Inflation Hedge, but That Isn’t Always the Case (WSJ) Midtown Manhattan With Fewer Office Workers: Imagining the Unthinkable (WSJ) As Baby Boomers Retire, Developers Bet Urban Senior Living Will Take Off (WSJ) Supply-Chain Chaos Is Great for Warehouse Stocks (WSJ) Home Builders Bypassing Individual Home Buyers for Deep-Pocketed Investors (WSJ ) Wooden Skyscrapers Are on the Rise (WSJ) The American property market is once again looking bubbly from The Economist (WSJ)

Urbanism & Mobility

The Architect Who Mastered Low-Rise, High-Density Housing (Bloomberg) Self-Driving Trucks Start to Propel Land Rush Near Major Cities (WSJ) Your pictures on the theme of ‘urban landscape’ (BBC) Austin Wants Mass Transit, but Infrastructure Law Will Give It Bigger Highway (WSJ) Downtown Need to Change to Survive (The Atlantic) Pedestrians Killed by Drivers Rose 17% in First Half of 2021 (WSJ) How Drones and Robots With A.I. Will Deliver Your Online Order Fast (WSJ) The Next Austin? What Companies Will Look for in a Headquarters City (WSJ)

Entrepreneurship, Management, Leadership & Sales

How to make hybrid work a success from The Economist (The Economist) Six People You Meet in the Pandemic Workplace (WSJ) The New Post-60 Career Paths (WSJ)

Economics

The Roundup: Top Takeaways from Oaktree’s Quarterly Letter-1Q2022 (Oaktree)Oil Price Rise ‘Trickles Down to Everything,’ Even Your Potato Salad to Go (WSJ)
America’s Business Challenge Can Be Told in Two Words: Disc Golf (WSJ)

Stoicism, Health & Wellness

Camille Herron: American ultrarunner breaks own 100-mile women’s world record

(BBC) A Dutch adventurer chronicles two years traveling by bicycle (Washington Post) The Hot New Class at Your Gym? Resting (WSJ) Wall Street Bets on Gym Chains’ Getting Back in Shape (WSJ) Japan is searching for the secrets to healthy old age from (The Economist) Six Exercises to Ease Joint Pain and Improve Stability (WSJ)

The 305 & Etc.

Dave Barry: A guide to living in Miami, FL for New Yorkers (Miami Herald) 8 weird things about Miami that you just get used to (Timeout) Miami Boutique Office Tower Planned as Companies Hunt for Space (Bloomberg) Dreaming of the Perfect Mojito in South Florida (WSJ) How not to be a dick in Miami (Timeout) Miami Is Opening a 10-mile Walking Path With Native Plants, Public Art, and Thousands of Butterflies (Travel and Leisure) Prehistoric Human Remains Found at Miami Development Site (WSJ) A 16-year-old from India has beaten world chess champion Magnus Carlsen (NPR)

The CinderFit Story: Building a New Fitness Brand From Scratch

Written by & filed in Community, Entrepreneurship, Scene on the Street.

“In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” -Albert Einstein

My now business partner and I have been workout bros since 2013. Takeo and I met at a local crossfit gym in Miami, but it wasn’t until about 2 years ago that we became business partners. In March 2020, with gyms closed and fitness equipment impossible to find, we had to get creative with our workouts, so a week into the Covid-19 quarantine we picked up a few cinder blocks I had in my backyard and we started using them to workout with. Although the cinder blocks were rough on the hands, we found them to be an extremely versatile and functional strength training tool. 

We jokingly began calling our weekly cinder block workouts CinderFit. A few friends from the gym started to join us for the weekly outdoor CinderFit workouts which involved a farmers’ carry around the block a couple of times and stopping to complete 9 exercise stations along the way:

  • 30 x thrusters
  • 30 x deadlifts
  • 30 x plyo-push ups
  • 30 x overhead lunges
  • 30 x squats
  • 30 x presses
  • 30 x cinder block swings
  • 30 x step-ups 
  • 30 x dips

We also discovered  there was an entire subculture of fitness enthusiasts posting cinder block workouts online. Takeo has a background in product development and for the last ten years his company, i2GO, has been designing and manufacturing electronics accessories in China for wholesale in Latin America. With his product design background, Takeo suggested that we design cinder blocks to workout with. I told him he was crazy. 

In my 20’s I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala where I saw the ubiquitous cinder block was used not only for constructing buildings, but for furniture too. During my time in Guatemala, I saw cinder blocks used as shelving, beds, benches, etc. In many ways the cinder block has quite a beautiful, yet simple, modern design to it. 

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The Built World Podcast with Tigre Wenrich-CEO, Venture Labs

Written by & filed in Interviews, Podcast, Tech.

Today, we are joined by Tigre Wenrich, CEO of Lab Ventures. Lab Ventures is a Miami-based venture capital firm which invests in early stage PropTech companies. In this episode we talk about what is “PropTech”, angel investing, deal flow, building pipeline, real estate CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) and incubating new companies at Lab Venture’s studio. We also learn about some of the companies Lab Ventures has  invested in including:  Lumi House, Expetitle, Beycom, Node and The Build Club. 

Please find this episode of The Built World on Spotify or on iTunes.

The Built World podcast with Meg Daly – Founder, The Underline

Written by & filed in Community, Cyclists & Pedestrians, Interviews, Podcast, Urbanism.

As Meg Daly confronted two broken arms challenging her mobility, she found herself riding the Metrorail and reflecting on Miami’s lack of pedestrian infrastructure and park space.  Turning to her father and partner, Parker Thomson, they formed a coalition and executed on a plan to fund a $140 million linear park that will span 10 miles, now named The Underline.

In this episode, Daly opens up about the genesis of that project, how she got it funded, and mobilized the community to enhance connectivity in Miami.  We also discuss the powerful role disruption can play in redefining our infrastructure & public spaces.

She challenges us with a call to civic engagement, imploring us to lead movements that will change how we interact with our cities.  Or, as she put it in the interview, “don’t just applaud from the sidelines.”  

Please find this episode of The Built World on Spotify or on iTunes.

Recommended Readings: February 2022

Written by & filed in Recommended Read.

Recommended Readings: Winter 2022

Below are some of our favorite articles from the last two months which will likely resonate with our readers.

Real Estate

  • The Post-Pandemic Office Should Be a Clubhouse (WSJ)
  • Supply-Chain Issues Leave New Homes Unfinished (WSJ)
  • As Florida home prices spike, middle-class residents wonder if they can afford to stay (Washington Post)
  • All for one, and none for all: Is banning single-family zoning easing the housing crisis? (Boston Globe)
  • Warehouse space is the latest thing to be hoarded (NYT)
  • People Are Going Out Again, but Not to the Office (WSJ)
  • Real-Estate Investors Head South, Bid Up Sunbelt Apartment Buildings (WSJ)
  • Underused Office Buildings Get New Life as Deluxe Apartments (WSJ)
  • Offices Are Leased Up, Thanks to Cash Gifts for Tenants, Months of Free Rent
  • (WSJ)
  • Foreign Investment in U.S. Commercial Property Exceeds Pre-Pandemic Levels (WSJ)

Urbanism & Mobility

  • Berlin is planning a car-free area larger than Manhattan (Fast Company)
  • Car Fatalities Rose in 2021 at Fastest Clip in Nearly Half a Century (WSJ)
  • Companies are racing to make self-driving cars. But why? (Washington Post)

Entrepreneurship, Management, Leadership & Sales

  • Friday Brunch: Work-From-Home’s Forbidden Pleasure (WSJ)
  • How humble leadership really works (HBR)
  • Creativity may be key to healthy aging. Here are ways to stay inspired (Washington Post)
  • The Off-Site Is the New Return to the Office (WSJ)
  • US to spend $10 Billion to Boost Small Business (WSJ)
  • This CEO Lets His Employees Work Whenever They Want-From Wherever They Want (WSJ)
  • The New Benefits Employers Could Offer to Make You Stay (WSJ)
  • Workers Care More About Flexible Hours Than Remote Work (WSJ)
  • The Mentors Who Helped Ulta Beauty’s Unlikely CEO Succeed (WSJ)

Economics

  • Americans Should Pay More for Gas, Not Less (WSJ)
  • Inflation Was Hottest in Atlanta, Mildest in San Francisco in 2021 (WSJ)

Stoicism, Health & Wellness

  • To Get a Better Night’s Sleep, First Fix Your Day (WSJ)
  • How Health and Fitness Trackers Are About to Get a Lot More Granular (WSJ)
  • Thich Nhat Hanh: ‘Father of mindfulness’ Buddhist monk dies aged 95 (BBC)
  • How to choose the best sleeping position, and why it matters (Washington Post)
  • How to Design a Home Gym That You’ll Actually Use (NYT)
  • Antawn Jamison on Tim Duncan’s stoicism: “If it was probably me, I would be an ass**le, talking sh*t as much as possible” (Basketball Network)
  • How to crack the code to happiness in the second half of life (NPR)

The 305 & Etc.

  • Miami is crazy about Honduran food. Here are some local spots you should try (Miami Herald)
  • Neanderthal extinction not caused by brutal wipe out (BBC)
  • Marseille: France’s ‘good natured’ city (BBC)