Adrian Washington- Socially Conscious Developer (#59)

Adrian Washington and John Coe Bio Adrian Washington, CEO and Founder, Neighborhood Development Company Mr. Washington has over 30 years of experience in real estate development, construction and management, and has led the startup of four private companies and one public/private entity. Since founding NDC in 1999 he has led the development of over 1 million square feet of real estate in the DMV area, with an active pipeline of another one million. NDC is also a partner in the District’s City Center DC project and in Baltimore’s State Center project. In 2005, Mr. Washington took an 18 month leave of absence from NDC to serve as the President and CEO of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC), the entity charged with leading the redevelopment of the city’s Southwest and Anacostia Waterfronts, including Nationals Stadium, the Navy Yard, and the Wharf. In 2021 Mr. Washington founded Platform LLC, a visionary new startup company that will disrupt the $1.3 trillion construction/real estate development industry. Mr. Washington grew up in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood and is a lifelong resident of DC. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the Harvard Business School. Show Notes Strategic leader and sets the course for the company (5:15)Impacts of pandemic- increased need for housing (5:45)Freed up government resources (6:40)Commercial portfolio affected negatively (6:50)Expected to have trouble with rental collections, but did not happen (7:15) Origins Grew up in SE DC (Anacostia) (8:20)Parents were government workers (8:45)Mother was a librarian and she influenced him academically (9:00)No entrepreneurial influence from family (9:20)Older brother influenced him with his newspaper route and he watched him and participated (9:55) Education Attended a private school for HS- Canterbury School (11:00)Attended Stanford University (11:10)Never had been to California (11:30)Political Science/Pre Law (12:10) Initial Employment Joined IBM in their Sales training program for three years (12:50) Harvard Business School Accounting & Finance new to him (16:15)Organizational Management- running a company (16:30)Marketing learnings (16:45)International business learnings (16:50) Next Employment Management Consulting- Strategic Planning Associates (17:20)DC firm that advised Fortune 100 companies (18:00)Taught him rigor- Grad school on top of Grad School (18:20)Clients usually out of town (19:00)Didn’t like the idea of being the “product” for clients (19:30)Wanted to make decisions himself and live with them, but as a consultant (20:10) Real Estate Insp...