Alan Ojeda, President & CEO, Rilea Group

Invest: spoke with Alan Ojeda, president and CEO of Rilea Group, about designing buildings from the inside out, building durable operating performance, and managing risk through conservative capital structures. “We see ourselves as artisans of buildings, not simply production builders,” Ojeda said.

What does craftsmanship and design discipline mean in practice, from concept through construction?

We see ourselves as artisans of buildings, not simply production builders. Any project can be done better or worse, and our job is to be disciplined about how a building works, not only how it looks.

It starts with behavior and function: access, circulation, and the day-to-day logistics people feel even when they cannot explain them. A simple example is separating trash access from car access, so you do not create avoidable conflicts. We also pay attention to energy consumption, elevator performance, and all the practical elements that make a place feel friendly and agreeable. If someone says a building feels pleasant, that is usually the result of many small decisions made correctly.

To me, aesthetics is the last step. We design from the inside out. First we make sure the inside works, then we address the exterior expression and aesthetics, and we try to keep a balance between both. Too often, projects are designed from the outside in and the interior gets sacrificed to protect an exterior concept. We work in the opposite direction because function is what supports long-term value.

Your portfolio spans office, multifamily, mixed-use, and hospitality concepts. How are you seeing demand shift across those asset classes?

It depends on what kind of developer you are. If you are a production developer, you follow the latest trend because you build and sell. If you are a long-term holder, like we tend to be, you think in terms of cycles and usefulness over time. We still own projects we built decades ago, and demand is never static.

In rentals, preferences shift between smaller units, larger units, and everything in between. So you want a product that stays relevant, and you want a mix that can serve changing needs. The same is true with amenities. Some are real amenities that improve daily life, and others exist mainly for marketing. We try to provide what is genuinely useful, not the newest fad.

Service is also a major differentiator. If you rent from an individual owner who is not local, you may not even know who to call when something breaks. We focus on service and responsiveness, and we listen constantly to tenants and customers. If people are happy, they renew, and they become your best ambassadors.

Office demand will evolve, but people still want to be with people. You spend a large portion of your waking hours at work, so the workplace has to be comfortable and efficient. The pleasant place is created through details like temperature, daylight control, glass performance, and operational efficiency. Those details lead to retention and reputational strength.

Rilea highlights a record with no foreclosures and no loss of investor capital. What risk management principle has been critical in maintaining that record?

There is one answer: do not leverage the projects too much. Everything else is talk.

Assuming you have a decent project that is well built and well located, foreclosures happen when you owe too much money. If rents soften and the mortgage cannot be serviced, the project fails. Equity is the keel that keeps you stable when the weather changes.

We try to capitalize projects with enough equity, and when we refinance, we do not treat it as a moment to pull cash out just because it is possible. If refinancing can lower the rate and strengthen the project, that is valuable. The goal is always to keep enough equity to withstand tough times, even as interest rates and market risk change.

How do you evaluate relationships and ensure alignment over the lifetime of a project?

First, I define partnership carefully. If I hire an architect, that is not a partnership. Partnership, in the strict sense, is co-investment. Everyone else is part of the team.

On the team side, we look for practical experience and low ego. Development is not simply architect designs and contractor builds. If it were, developers would not exist, and many buildings would go broke. Our role is to assemble the right team around a clear product vision that fits the market, the location, and the realities of operation.

A suburban garden-style apartment requires different expertise than a high-rise in an urban core. We choose zoning counsel, architects, and consultants who understand the specific product and municipality, and who listen.

But above all, the common denominator is character. Good people. Good human beings. Then you add experience and technical capability, but trust matters first.

Because the company both develops and manages properties, how does the operational side influence design decisions, tenant experience, and long-term asset performance?

We mainly manage what we own. Ownership changes your mindset. If a leak happens later, it is your leak. If a system fails, you are the one fixing it. In the short term, cheaper can look good. In the midterm, cheaper becomes expensive.

Design and maintenance have to be connected. If there is one word I repeat in our office and with design teams, it is maintenance. How do people clean this? How do they repair it? What are the warranties? What will this look like after years of use? That thinking shapes material selection, detailing, and the systems we choose, because we want long-term resistance and long-term performance.

As a family-led company with more than four decades in the industry, what cultural values or internal practices have been essential to longevity?

To me there are two categories: ethical values and quality values.

On the ethical side, the most important thing is transparency. If there is a problem on Monday at 9:00, investors should know at 9:01. You do not hide problems. You solve them, but you keep people informed.

We also keep projects separate. Each project is its own entity. We never move money from Project A to Project B, and we avoid cross-collateralization. When you mix projects, a problem in one can create a domino effect. Keeping things simple reduces unnecessary risk, and a lot of so-called financial engineering creates complexity without real value.

On the quality side, we assume tenants and customers are intelligent people. If you want lower rents, our approach is not to lower quality. It is to choose a product type with a lower cost basis while still building it the right way. You can change the model without changing the standards.

As for passing values forward, I have three kids working in the company, and they are taking over. The next generation brings new ideas, new design thinking, and new perspectives, and many times they are right. Some experience can only be transferred so far, but the fundamentals should remain: transparency, clarity, doing the right product, and respecting the people who live and work in what you build.

Finally, your best marketing is your clients. You can advertise to bring someone in once, but if the experience is not right, they will not return, and they will tell others. If you treat people well and you deliver quality, your clients become your strongest advocates.