Before a project breaks ground, it has to pass through city hall. In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, we break down the role of zoning, city planning, and the entitlement process in real estate development.

From regulatory approvals to community engagement and political dynamics, we explore how cities ultimately decide what gets built, and how those decisions shape risk, timelines, and investment outcomes.

Real estate development is built on a complex network of legal agreements.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, we break down the role real estate attorneys play throughout the development process, from land acquisition and due diligence to zoning approvals, partnership structures, financing, construction contracts, and leasing.

Learn how attorneys create the legal framework that allows capital, property, and partnerships to come together to make development possible.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, we explore the critical role engineers play in commercial real estate development.

While architects shape the vision of a building, engineers design the systems that make it function in the real world. From structural frameworks and HVAC systems to electrical distribution, plumbing, and site infrastructure, engineers form the technical backbone of every project.

The episode also breaks down the major engineering disciplines involved in building design and how these teams coordinate complex systems during design development, permitting, and construction.

From construction costs and operating efficiency to long-term building resilience and asset performance, if buildings are complex systems, engineers are the professionals who make those systems work.

Architects do far more than design how buildings look. In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, we break down the critical role architects play in real estate development, from early feasibility studies and zoning analysis to design coordination, permitting, and construction oversight.

Learn how architects translate a developer’s investment thesis into a buildable project, and how their decisions influence costs, efficiency, tenant experience, and long-term asset value.

Before capital is deployed or plans are drawn, zoning has already determined what’s possible.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, we break down how zoning shapes commercial real estate, from use, density, and intensity to height limits, parking requirements, and impact controls. We also explore how rezoning and policy shifts create opportunity, and how institutional investors evaluate zoning risk.

Zoning isn’t bureaucracy... it’s the architecture of permission.

If you understand zoning, you understand supply. And if you understand supply, you understand real estate.

In commercial real estate, deals don’t fail because of pricing or paperwork — they fail because the risk isn’t financeable.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, Spencer Correnti breaks down how lenders actually underwrite commercial real estate deals. From sponsor strength and property durability to leverage, reserves, guarantees, and exit metrics, we walk through the exact framework most institutional lenders use to decide whether a deal gets approved — or dies quietly in credit committee.

You’ll learn:

• Why lenders underwrite 1) sponsor, 2) property, and 3) debt terms as a single risk equation

• How experience, liquidity, and communication shape sponsor credit

• What lenders really look for in stabilized, transitional, and development deals

• Why leverage, reserves, and covenants matter more than interest rate

• The exit metrics that decide most loan approvals

Lenders don’t finance upside. They finance risk.
And the best sponsors know how to present a deal like a credit.

This episode is educational and does not constitute tax advice. Always consult your CPA, tax counsel, and qualified intermediary.

A 1031 exchange can help commercial real estate investors defer taxes and keep more equity working for the next deal, but only if it’s executed with planning and discipline.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, Spencer Correnti breaks down the mechanics of a 1031 exchange, including the 45-day identification window, the 180-day closing deadline, the role of the qualified intermediary, and how investors get forced into bad replacement deals when they don’t properly prepare.

We close with a rapid-fire checklist designed to help you avoid the most common execution mistakes.

Note: This episode is educational and does not constitute tax advice.

Depreciation is one of the most important drivers of after-tax returns in commercial real estate, but it’s often misunderstood.

In this episode of The Alkaline Reaction, Spencer Correnti breaks down what depreciation is, how it works, and why it matters in real deals.

We cover the land vs. building rule, standard depreciation schedules, how cost segregation accelerates deductions, where bonus depreciation can create year-one expensing depending on “placed-in-service” timing, and how depreciation recapture impacts full-cycle outcomes at exit.

The episode includes practical examples and case studies designed to help investors and operators understand depreciation as a strategic part of deal underwriting.