RECSA Council Monitor

COUNCIL MONITOR Quarter 1 - 2024

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Thank You!

By: Carrie Caesar, Cushman & Wakefield

President 2024

I can’t believe we already have one quarter of the year behind us! I am excited to provide my first update to you as your 2024 President. First and foremost, thank you George Peck for your leadership, hard work and dedication last year as President! You did a fantastic job and your efforts on behalf of RECSA are very much appreciated.

Thank you to Stephanie Reyes for your leadership and passion for RECSA. Your constant work on behalf of our members does not go unnoticed. I would also like to recognize Magda Coronel, Director of Operations – you just continue to knock it out of the park for us. Congratulations on your ten-year anniversary with RECSA in February. Along with that, welcome our new Director of Member Engagement, Lauren Gonzalez and Director of Special Events and Leadership Development, Casey Weed. They have been great additions to the team and are doing an unbelievable job helping us streamline our processes and act as the glue to keep us organized and moving forward.

Thank you to our members and volunteers for your hard work in representing RECSA and helping us advocate for responsible development and sustainable growth for our city. You all are the reason RECSA is so successful. I am looking forward to another great year and leading this remarkable organization!

Although 2023 didn’t have the bombardment of massive issues to stay in front of as in prior years, our RECSA members continue to work as hard as ever to advocate on our behalf and work with local and state governmental agencies and local officials. I have attended several of these meetings this year and I am impressed with the rapport RECSA has built with these various groups. There is good communication and a genuine openness to listen to what RECSA has to say. Our voices are being heard as industry experts. Building these relationships is critical to our industry. It could not be done without the work of our volunteer’s year in and year out.

A few reminders I would like to pass along. We have and are committed to making positive changes with RECSA. One of those changes was the implementation of a calendar year billing cycle. All memberships will now run January through December. Invoices were sent out in January via email. If you have not paid your invoice or have questions reach out to Lauren Gonzalez today at laureng@recsanantonio.com.

Now is the time of year to update your office information. If you need to update your business address, office roster, or any other contact information get with Lauren to ensure we have the most up-to-date information and that you are not missing any important updates from RECSA!

Lastly, in the coming quarter we will be unveiling a new member dashboard! This dashboard will house all your membership information, invoices, RECSA events, and more. This dashboard will be a wonderful tool to keep our members informed and engaged with us. Be on the lookout for more information related to the member dashboard to be released soon.

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

The Mission is Always Driving

By: Aaron Parenica, Kimley-Horn

Vice President of Government Affairs, 2024

Most reading this are involved in some form of business planning during the latter part of each year, and into the first part of each New Year. We reflect back on how the year went relative to what we expected the year before. We evaluate how things played out and identify things that could have gone better. Then make decisions and put pieces in certain places to start out the New Year as best as we can based on what we stir up during business planning. Well of course, there is only so much we can control. Politicians, general economic factors, interest rates…politicians…are always wild cards in the game that we have to work with and adjust to as needed.

After the reset year of last year following such a long strong run of economic growth, especially for us here in the San Antonio area, all signs point to this year being very similar to last year relative to overall economic activity. But as always, we’re fortunate to be in Texas, and we’re fortunate to be in San Antonio. Through the first quarter of the City of San Antonio’s fiscal year, commercial permit activity remains steady and strong, at very similar levels overall compared to 2023. Residential permit activity is significantly higher than 2023 numbers, somewhat related to numbers being suppressed this time last year due to supply chain challenges with several notable pieces of electric service infrastructure. There is still the challenging interest rate situation. The political environment, especially at the national level will only get nastier as the year goes on. But so far for us here in The Alamo City and Military City USA, we’re off to a solid start.

On our collective Government Affairs initiative, we continue to develop and cultivate our strong, deep relationships with our community partners, as well as work toward initiating a potential new and very impactful one. There is already big news from the City of San Antonio this year with Mr. Rod Sanchez taking retirement from the city after 30+ years of service, and accepting a leadership position at VIA. We’ll continue to stay in touch with City leadership to coordinate and track the repercussions of that big move.

More notable news is that new, and of course higher, SAWS impact fees will go into effect later this summer. RECSA leadership and volunteers have been engaged with SAWS staff in the study and development of this new fee structure through the established 5-year cycle that helps keep the operation of our local water and sewer service provider financially stable and sustainable. CPS Energy leadership continues to tell us that we’re almost fully out of the supply chain challenges of the last couple years, but we’ll continue to stay engaged with CPS staff on this front as we refocus our efforts this year on updating their service delivery processes. SARA continues to execute its capital improvement plan to keep up with growth, Bexar County is FINALLY launching their online portal for submitting and processing permit applications, and we’ve had some positive initial conversations with the new leadership of our local TxDOT District!

I know, I know, I’ve said hopeful things about progress on a better relationship with local TxDOT leadership at both of our last year-end Government Affairs update programs. But we now have a new District Engineer in office, we’ll be having more regular interaction this year with local leadership as he evaluates things from the perspective of his new role, and I really think this is the year that we initiate a mutually beneficial community partnership with TxDOT. Really this time.

PROGRAMS

Mark Your Calendars!

By: Alicia Wakely, Frost Bank

Chair 2024

2024 is shaping up to be another great year for RECSA Programs!

We kicked off the year with our January 30th luncheon, “From the Ground Up”. Brian Baize (President of Chicago Title) moderated the discussion with Bart Koontz (President and CEO of Koontz Corporation), Bill Shown (CEO of Oxbow Development), and Ryan Smith (Principal of Agarita Management Company). They discussed 2023 in the rearview mirror and projects in the works for 2024.

Our second luncheon of the year, featuring “Women in Real Estate” was hosted on March 20th. Laurie Griffith (Independent Financial) moderated the discussion with Vicki Adelstein (Senior Associate at Foresite Commercial), Carolyn Hinchey Shaw (Executive Managing Director & Partner at Stream Realty), and Deborah Bauer (Founder of Drake Commercial Group). They spoke about their career paths and insight into the CRE market today. To see photos from this event, click here.

Our annual Fiesta Kick-Off Mixer is coming up on April 17th, starting at 4:30pm in the St. Paul Square Courtyard. Don’t forget to register for this social event!

Mark your calendars for our third luncheon of the year, “Legacy and Leadership Series- Lewis Westerman Award” on Wednesday, September 11th from 11:30am until 1pm at the Security Service Event Center. It will be another great program featuring Bob Worth (Founder and Chairman of Worth and Associates) and moderated by Jenna Saucedo-Herrera (President and CEO of Greater SATX).

Our fourth and final luncheon of the year, “Philip M. Barshop Founders Award” will be held on November 5th from 11:30am until 1pm at the Mays Family Center at the Witte Museum.

Lastly, our Annual Holiday Party will be held on December 5th.

Stay tuned for more information to come on our upcoming luncheons and awards.

Thank you to everyone for supporting our programs. We have created a new sub-committee, under the Programs umbrella, called the “Hospitality Committee”, tasked with greeting guests at the luncheons and raising awareness about our programs. We are looking for volunteers to join the committee, which is a wonderful way to build your network. Please reach out to me, if you are interested in joining the committee.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership Chair Update

By: Laura Gilliland, Embrey REFD Program, UTSA Alvarez College of Business

Chair 2024

2024 is off to a strong start!

RECSA welcomed Lauren Gonzalez, Director of Member Engagement, in January. She along with the membership committee have been hard at work this first quarter!

We are looking forward to exciting new initiatives for RECSA in the coming months that will provide enhanced benefits for our members. This month we held our first quarterly membership mixer which was a great success and we appreciate member company University Title for sponsoring! We look forward to hosting another membership mixer in the second quarter.

Thank you to all of our members for your support of RECSA, and we are thrilled to welcome our new members.

Corporate:

- Elevate Architecture

- Chesmar Homes

- TTL USA

- Toll Brothers

Individual:

- Alan Bass

- Andy Bourne

- Erin Bley

- Kevin Love

Student:

- Eduardo Cruz

Thank you to the Membership Committee for your dedication to ensuring top-tier benefits and resources for RECSA members and recruiting new members to the organization.

2024 Membership Committee

Crystal Baker, SWBC

Adrian Brett, The Bank of San Antonio

Jackie Browning, EmPower Team

Carrie Caesar, Cushman & Wakefield

Kathleen Doty, University Title

Laura Gilliland, UTSA Embrey REFD Program

Steven Grau, Satterfield & Pontikes Construction

Laurie Griffith, Independent Financial

Samanta Guerra, Sol Schwartz & Associates

Steven Hutson, SWBC

Justin Meyer, Jackson Walker

Lisa Mochel, Lonestar Capital Bank

Steven Hutson, First American Title

Ashley Nelson, Guido Construction

Allen Niesinov, Verde Commercial Real Estate

Dustin Ouellette, Farrimond Castillo & Bresnahan, P.C.

George Peck, KCI Technologies

Ashley Zimmerman, Alamo Title

Victor Zuniga, CORE Commercial Real Estate

Table Sales End Friday!

Limited tables are available through Friday, April 5, 2024. Do not miss your chance to attend RECSA's annual premier fundraiser.

Visit our website

Registration is Open

You are invited to join us for our 3rd annual Fiesta Kick Off! Admission includes delicious bites from Toro and Cuishe, a selfie station, a DJ playing your favorite tunes, and open bar.