East Bay Multifamily Update

Patrick Kennedy is the owner of Panoramic Interests, a development firm that has been building housing, live-work space, and commercial property in the Bay Area since 1990. The firm has focused on dense, mixed-use, mixed-income, infill developments, typically financed with private funds. All of the multi-family housing projects include below market rate units. The firm’s projects incorporate the Smart Growth principles designed to discourage auto use, mitigate sprawl, encourage local business, and enhance the pedestrian streetscape. Mr. Kennedy grew up in the East Bay, and attended Claremont McKenna College, majoring in Economics and English. He is a former member of the Carpenters Union and Steelworkers Union, and the California Bar. After college, he worked as a contractor, and then attended Harvard Law School and MIT, graduating with a J.D. and a Masters in Real Estate Development. Early development work included building his own house, and renovating several small commercial properties. His hobbies include open water swimming and ultra-light backpacking, both of which have furnished surprising insights into his work in development.

Riaz Taplin has been thinking about workforce housing for most of his professional life. Growing up in a real estate family, Riaz detoured early in his career from the family business to develop his own style by founding a design/build firm and developing over 50 ultra-luxury residences in the Bay Area. Completing his last project just before the great recession, Riaz refocused his vision to workforce housing in Oakland. Over the next decade, Riaz built a portfolio of over 1,300 units in the workforce housing category. In the process, Riaz consistently worked to innovate market-rate approaches to workforce housing, also known as naturally-occurring affordable housing. In successive projects and ventures, Riaz explored co-living, adaptive reuse micro-units, student housing, and traditional ground-up construction – all of which led to the firm’s custom workforce housing solution – the ABD Studio. Today, Riaz leads Riaz Capital, a vertically integrated workforce housing developer and institutional-grade sponsor with a core team of over fifty professionals managing a portfolio of over 1,300 units, and with over 1,000 residences in the pipeline. Riaz is a board member of the Oakland Promise, the urban planning think tank SPUR, and co-chair of the American India Foundation SF Bay Area board. He earned a B.A. in Economic History from the London School of Economics.

Carlyn Obringer was elected to the City Council in November 2016 and served as Vice Mayor in 2018 and as Mayor in 2019. She previously served on the City's Design Review Board and the Planning Commission, which she chaired. A community leader, she has chaired the City's July 4th Parade since 2016, and founded Concord's annual Art and Wine (and Beer!) Walk. She is the former chair of Monument Impact and the Contra Costa Commission on the Status of Women, and a past President of Soroptimist International of Diablo Vista. Obringer has been active in many local organizations including the American Association of University Women-Concord Branch, the Concord Ambassadors, the Concord Historical Society, and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and resides near downtown Concord with her husband, Justin, and their dog, Coco.

Todd represents clients in the broad spectrum of land use, real estate and environmental issues in both litigation and administrative proceedings. He works with private clients and public entities, including landowners and developers of residential, infill, commercial and industrial property, as well as local agencies, providing property entitlement processing and local government land use approvals; CEQA compliance and litigation; planning and zoning law advice; and real property litigation. He also has experience with infill project streamlining, density bonus and housing laws, affordable housing and historic preservation regulations, as well as advising clients on public-private partnerships, the Subdivision Map Act, the Williamson Act, and cannabis land use regulations, along with easement and boundary dispute matters. A contributing editor on the 2010 – 2011 edition of State and Local Government Land Use Liability, and a reviewer of the 2012 and 2013 editions of the Municipal Law Handbook, Todd also has spoken throughout the state on land use law, with particular emphasis on CEQA.

Alan E. Dones is a licensed contractor, a long-time entrepreneur, an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity in employment and contracting, and an accomplished musician/producer. Dones is principal of ADCo, LLC and managing partner and co-founder of SUDA, LLC, a firm specializing in large-scale, innovative, public agency projects and mixed-use development. SUDA has completed several landmark projects in Oakland, CA and is currently pioneering international development projects in Africa. In 1988, Alan Dones co-founded and served as CEO of Rondeau Bay Construction, Inc. (RBC), an engineering and construction firm based in Oakland, CA. Under his leadership, RBC grew to include offices in five major US cities and completed over $70 million of construction projects. Alan is active in a number of local and national organizations. He has worked with agencies throughout the United States to revise and enhance their small business and W/MBE policies. Currently, he is a member of the City of Oakland’s Workforce Investment Board; member of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation; and member the East Bay Conversion and Reinvestment Commission. Formerly, Dones served as president of the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors; vice-chairman of the Oakland City Charter Review Committee; board member of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce; delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business; and member of the Legislative Committee for the Engineering and Utility Contractor’s Association. As a member of the Military Conversion and Reinvestment Commission, Mr. Dones was instrumental in promoting legislation and drafting revisions to the language of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that enhanced the ability of Women and Minority owned firms to compete for DOD and conversion related contracts. Mr. Dones has authored several articles on minority business issues in local and National publications. He has co-authored a measure on the 1996 ballot in Oakland, California to amend Oakland’s City Charter mandating Affirmative Action programs, combating disparities in City employment and contracting. This initiative had national significance in that it is one of the first voter responses to counter the impact of the controversial anti-affirmative action California Civil Right Initiative (CCRI). Alan Dones is executive producer and co-founder of Strategic Media Alliance, LLC (SMI) ― an international production company based in Oakland, CA. His musical credits are many. Alan co-authored the 1981 hit single, “Be Yourself” with world-renowned bassist, Nathan East. The song appeared on singer Debra Laws’ first solo album, “Very Special” and rose to the top-ten mark on Billboard’s R&B charts [listen]. In 1981, Dones co-authored, “Go For It”, performed by Bill Summers & Summers’ Heat and featured on their classic Jam the Box album. Alan has produced, written and performed with many of the Bay Area’s top artists, including Rodney Franklin, Ray Obeido, Larry Batiste, Jennifer Johns, Hannibal Means, Patricia Banks, Harvey Scales, David Daniel, and The Nemonics. He performed for more than a year in the award-winning and highly acclaimed San Francisco musical review, “Soul, Style & Sass.”

Lauren Seaver is President of OHG. In her role, Lauren is responsible for all stages of the acquisition, due diligence, financing and asset management process. She has over 8 years of experience in institutional multifamily and commercial development and acquisitions. Over her career, she has led the development, entitlement and acquisition of over $800 million in multifamily and commercial real estate. She was a 2019 Bay Area Power Woman and SF Business Times Woman of Influence. Lauren holds an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Stanford University in Economics with a minor in Mathematics. She is an active mentor for college-bound students in the College is Real, a licensed California Real Estate Broker, and mom of Brooke (3 yrs) and Clayton (<1 yr).

David Bogstad has been developing innovative solutions for a wide variety of projects for over 30 years, many with intricate and complex programs. David’s strong belief that collaboration brings about superior buildings begins with qualified teams of experienced consultants and extends to his work with government agencies. His passion for design, fine detail and constructability, together with his natural ability to motivate and energize the team, has resulted in the successful completion of a large portfolio of significant projects.

Robert S. Miller is a Partner in Lubin Olson's Business, Real Estate and Land Use Practice Groups, resident in the firm's Walnut Creek office. He represents business and individuals in all aspects of their real estate business operations, including real property acquisitions and dispositions, entity issues, leasing, construction and related contract negotiation, financing, project development and entitlement, regulatory compliance, litigation management, insurance and risk management. Mr. Miller has particular experience in the homebuilding industry and transactions and represents numerous homebuilders and residential developers in his practice. Prior to joining Lubin Olson, Mr. Miller was General Counsel of Braddock & Logan Services, Inc., a diversified real estate holding, development and home building company. In that capacity, he represented the company and its affiliates in connection with their management and operation of residential, commercial, retail and residential care facility properties, with a particular emphasis on the homebuilding industry. Mr. Miller also previously served as an associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in San Francisco, and Tomotsune, Kimura & Mitomi in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Miller has been active in several community and legal organizations, including the California State Bar Real Property Law Section, the California Apartment Association, the Rental Housing Organization of Northern Alameda County, the East Bay Chapter of Amigos de las Americas, and Congregation B’Nai Tikvah. Mr. Miller has been honored by Thompson Reuters as a Northern California Super Lawyer in 2017 and 2018. In addition, Mr. Miller is a frequent presenter on real estate issues and has had numerous publications on real estate topics. A number of his presentations and articles are listed below.