A high-volume net lease buyer treats AI as a tool and keeps the final investment call with people. Joshua Zhang, Head of Investments at FCPT, built the firm's investment team from its first hire after FCPT spun out of Darden Restaurants in 2015, and this summer closed the largest deal in company history: 102 veterinary properties for $268 million. He talks with Ricardo Chamorro about buying more than 100 small assets a year, closing all cash with no mortgage financing, reading a market near 5% on the 10 year, and the data, trust, and privacy tests an AI vendor has to pass at a public company.

Chapters:

00:00 Trailer

00:38 Meet Joshua Zhang and FCPT

01:07 From Harvard econ to Detroit's bankruptcy

03:06 Goldman's real estate group to a brand new REIT

05:20 Going granular: 100+ small deals a year

07:29 What debt underwriting teaches a net lease buyer

10:21 Analyst to MD: how the job changes

12:47 Running investments at a public REIT

14:13 Capital chasing deals, or deals chasing capital?

16:22 The 102 property, $268M veterinary portfolio

19:26 Why FCPT was the natural buyer

20:11 Diversification versus a high quality portfolio

22:35 All cash, unsecured, no mortgage debt

24:56 AI in 2026: still a tool, humans decide

26:28 What would change Joshua's mind on AI

28:55 Where AI has and hasn't transformed the work

31:11 Hiring AI-fluent talent out of college

32:47 Adopting AI as a public company

35:59 The real prize: a queryable deal database

38:20 Advice for a net lease shop starting with AI

40:35 Career advice in a post-AI era

45:00 Rapid fire: best pass, parking spaces, Popeyes, NYC

You can follow Joshua Zhang here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-zhang-re?utmsource=sharevia&utmcontent=profile&utmmedium=memberios

Learn more about FCPT:

Website - https://fcpt.com

Follow the host, Ricardo Chamorro here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardo-chamorro-941021103/

A credit trained investor is making a $3.8 billion district pencil on 48 acres of Chicago lakefront, and he is doing it inside a 20 person shop that leans on AI harder than most institutions ever will. Dhruv Basu, Director, Investments at Farpoint Development, came to development through fixed income at Goldman Sachs, a stint on Mayor Ben McAdams' housing council in Salt Lake County, and Chicago Booth. He talks with Ricardo Chamorro about opportunity cost, the Michael Reese site, repositioning on the Magnificent Mile, and where he draws the line on what AI touches.

Chapters:

00:00 Lean into it before the bear catches you

00:35 What The Memo is

01:09 Meet Dhruv Basu and the Farpoint 48 acre district

01:52 From accounting to Goldman to development

02:40 Salt Lake housing council and buying a shopping center

04:59 What a credit brain sees that developers miss

06:34 The five eggs and opportunity cost

07:24 What Booth taught about the time value of time

08:07 Inside the 48 acre Bronzeville site

09:42 Managing city, community, and equity stakeholders

10:23 How a 20 person team splits the work

12:40 Repositioning on the Magnificent Mile

15:53 What outsiders get wrong about Chicago

17:21 Technology then versus now in development

19:20 Is AI a bigger wave than everything else

21:00 Where AI unlocks hours in a lean shop

23:22 Why lean shops move faster than institutions

25:43 Running alongside the beast, not fighting it

26:53 A foundation settlement example

28:20 Why a beast and not a rocket ship

29:59 Will AI ever replace judgment

31:42 What Dhruv hands over and what he won't

34:10 The risk of the gap getting wider

35:43 Would he take the same path again

37:23 Chicago, no regrets

38:09 Advice for someone starting out in 2026

40:17 The one AI move to make this year

41:58 Rapid fire

You can follow Dhruv Basu here:

LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/dhruv-basu-48479562

Learn more about Farpoint Development:

Website - https://farpointdev.com

Affordable housing operators work the expense side of the statement because their income is capped, while market rate teams fight for every tenant on the income side. Michael Behot has run both books. As VP of Asset Management at RPM Development Group in Montclair, New Jersey, he moved from institutional market rate work at Heritage Capital Group and Castle Lanterra into regulated affordable housing, so he can say where AI already earns its keep in accounting and billing, where it fails on compliance, and why the local data that never got built by hand in 2012 is now within reach.

Chapters:

00:00 Two sides of the same business

01:00 From DC development to affordable housing in New Jersey

02:44 What an asset manager does all day

04:36 Moving from good to excellent at the job

05:18 Why equilibrium matters more in affordable housing

06:35 What each side gets wrong about the other

08:41 RPM's in-house model and its tradeoffs

10:34 Specialized knowledge of subsidy programs

11:17 Old buildings given a second life

13:20 LIHTC versus Section 8, explained

16:40 What separates a building that runs well from one that doesn't

17:56 Finding and keeping great site staff

18:33 What RPM has tried with AI so far

21:21 The gap between AI ideas and implementation

22:42 Will AI widen the gap between big and small firms

24:00 Why AI usage clusters in leasing and resident communications

26:42 The compliance problem AI has to get perfect

28:34 The data side and building a property income database

34:08 What would actually unlock more affordable housing

36:53 AI, faster approvals, and cutting red tape

40:17 Reaching residents and one-off affordable units

41:00 Rapid fire: strange buildings and career advice

You can follow Michael Behot here:

LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/michael-behot-6aa28017

Learn more about RPM Development Group:

Website - https://rpmdev.com