Mollie Ricker was an investor in tech companies before she moved into real estate development. “I used to invest in tech companies, now I build and lease space to them!” she says. Mollie will be one of our speakers at Bisnow's Silicon Valley Creative Office event June 15 at the Westin San Jose.

Mollie's career includes positions at Goldman Sachs and the tech-focused private equity firm Francisco Partners. She is now a partner at Dostart Development Co (DDC), where she handles all aspects of the process, including screening opportunities, negotiating, entitling, managing construction and leasing. Bisnow spoke to her about the link between Silicon Valley real estate and infrastructure development.

DDC occupies a unique niche, focusing on transit-oriented development in critical markets in Silicon Valley and across the Peninsula. Projects such as 601 Marshall St in Redwood City offer Class-A offices near major transit like Caltrain. The company employs a “first to lease, last to go vacant” philosophy in selecting sites, Mollie tells us.

She believes Caltrain's increased acceptance is one of the biggest themes shaping Bay Area infrastructure. After six consecutive years of setting ridership records, rail has proven itself as the mode of transport that reduces congestion on roadways. While driverless cars are maturing as a technology, they need more time to develop to realize their true potential. Eventually autonomous vehicles “could create a tipping point in terms of carpooling,” she predicts.

Progress on major infrastructure spending comes in fits and starts. Mollie encourages lawmakers to move quicker in selecting and approving transit projects to ensure rail and road networks are modernized to meet demand. “Infrastructure spending is always addressing latent traffic demand,” she notes. Mollie says lawmakers also need to find the political courage to “address the high public cost of free/low cost parking.”

It is a myth, she adds, that clamping down on development will reduce traffic congestion. Instead of trying to fight the inevitability of growth, Mollie suggests it is “more constructive to use urban planning and development to channel where that growth happens.”

Hear more from Mollie and our other panelists at our Creative Office event June 15. Sign up here.