This will be an expanded session presented in partnership with the UC Berkeley Master of Real Estate Development + Design program. The room will include participants from both the Developer Pathway Program and the MRED+D program, creating an opportunity for a broader and more dynamic conversation among emerging developers, graduate students, and capital professionals.
One of the most persistent challenges emerging developers face is building and balancing a capital stack. How do you layer debt and equity effectively? How do you align your deal structure with project risk and your own capacity as a developer? And how do you position your project so that lenders and investors actually want to be at the table?
On this month's session, HAC + ONYX are bringing together three experienced capital and financing professionals for a moderated panel discussion for our Developer Pathway Program participants designed to tackle these questions head-on. Panelists include Zachary Jacobs of Conventus, Justin Smith of REL Equity, and Heather Hood of Enterprise Community Partners.
This is a practical, hands-on session built for developers who are actively working to get their first or next deal financed. The goal is to help participants understand what it means to be genuinely capital ready, not only whether the project itself appears feasible, but whether the sponsor, team, financial capacity, documentation, and execution plan give a capital partner confidence to proceed. The discussion will compare the developer, affordable housing, and market-rate lending perspectives while giving participants practical tools they can apply to their own projects.