Bill Lenehan: Investing in Commercial Real Estate - [Invest Like the Best, EP.306]

My guest today is Bill Lenehan. Bill is the CEO of Four Corners Property Trust, a listed REIT and one of the leading owners of restaurant real estate in the US. Their portfolio is made up of 982 properties across 47 states. Real estate is something most of us own, whether as an investment or a home, and Bill’s insight into the asset class at this particular moment in time is fascinating to hear. Please enjoy my conversation with Bill Lenehan. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:03:19] - [First question] - Recent increases in mortgage rates and a frozen housing market [00:08:55] - Projected real estate trends over the next decade [00:13:38] - How a company’s ROI can be more consistent with backing from a real estate firm [00:16:41] - Risk-return rate and risk exposure in real estate compared to other asset classes [00:20:09] - The skills, traits, and circumstances that make a top-level real estate investor [00:22:38] - Stand-out learnings from his time at Farallon Capital Management [00:33:20] - The value of shopping malls and offices in a post-COVID, e-commerce US [00:39:27] - Pros and cons of different types of real estate investments, including REITs [00:43:22] - The impact of climate change on the real estate market [00:45:39] - The role of modern technology in investing and in real estate infrastructure [00:51:10] - Hard costs of building and renovating for the future [00:54:20] - How hard costs and supply levels impact rates of return and housing costs [00:57:17] - How the retail industry is adapting to consumer trends [01:01:23] - Why retailers need to adapt to a changing economy and how they’ll do it [01:04:03] - The relative magnitude of change in today’s real estate market [01:06:51] - The role health and wellness plays in real estate and finance [01:09:28] - What it feels like to be investing in 2022 [01:12:23] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him