Summary

Ken Weinstein is an active entrepreneur and real estate developer in the Philadelphia area. He is the president of Philly Office Retail, which has renovated and restored over 300 vacant properties in the region. Ken also founded Jumpstart Germantown, a community development program that trains and mentors local residents in real estate development. The program has expanded to 15 cities and has graduated over 2,500 mentees. Ken shares his journey as an entrepreneur and discusses his experience in the restaurant industry. He emphasizes the importance of confidence and trust in building a successful team. In this conversation, Brian Corcodilos discusses the importance of mission-driven work and core values in retaining employees. He also talks about his involvement in the new mayor transition in Philadelphia and the goal of bringing 10,000 affordable housing units to the city. The conversation touches on the challenges of zoning and the need for increased density to address the affordable housing crisis. Corcodilos emphasizes the importance of mentorship and learning from mistakes in entrepreneurship. Keywords entrepreneur, real estate development, community development, Jumpstart Germantown, Philadelphia, vacant properties, restaurant industry, confidence, trust, mission-driven work, core values, employee retention, mayor transition, affordable housing, zoning, density, mentorship, entrepreneurship

Takeaways

-Ken Weinstein is an entrepreneur and real estate developer in Philadelphia. -He has renovated and restored over 300 vacant properties in the region.

-Ken founded Jumpstart Germantown, a community development program that trains and mentors local residents in real estate development.

-Jumpstart Germantown has expanded to 15 cities and has graduated over 2,500 mentees.

-Ken emphasizes the importance of confidence and trust in building a successful team. Mission-driven work and core values are important in retaining employees.

-Zoning and density play a crucial role in addressing the affordable housing crisis.

-Mentorship and learning from mistakes are essential in entrepreneurship.

-Involvement in local politics can have a positive impact on community development.

Sound Bites

“You’re an entrepreneur, you’re a real estate developer, but you’re also giving back in such a massive way.”

“I wasn’t helping anybody. I was encouraging them. I was feeling better about myself because I was saying yes to folks.”

“We charge $125, and then I surprise the students on the last day on graduation day. We give that money to a nonprofit.”

“What makes Philly office retail different and why we retain a lot of our employees and retain our best employees is because we’re mission driven.”

“I’m just curious, you know, in your experience, how do you think you create housing that’s more affordable? What’s your what’s your macro broad brushstroke to that? My macro is doing exactly what Jumpstart is doing by focusing on our middle neighborhoods, not our struggling neighborhoods and not our hot neighborhoods.”

“So to start with, I acknowledge that you cannot improve a neighborhood without some gentrification. Yep. OK. I’d agree with that. So any developer that comes in and says to you, yeah, I can renovate all the vacant houses in this neighborhood, and there will be no displacement, no gentrification, that’s a lie.”

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Ken Weinstein’s Background

01:24 From Entrepreneur to Real Estate Developer

15:25 The Birth of Jumpstart Germantown

23:40 Building a Successful Team

25:59 Mission-Driven Work and Employee Retention

30:07 Addressing the Affordable Housing Crisis

36:47 Gentrification and Neighborhood Improvement

39:35 Zoning and Density

45:12 The Challenges of Running a Restaurant

49:29 The Importance of Mentorship