Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 990

I used to skateboard when I was growing up and so I have a lot of respect for the sport. This summer, from June 30 to August 12, The Bentway  here in Toronto will be working with Build for Bokma and Vans to transform its outdoor (ice) skating trail into a summer-long celebration of skateboarding arts and culture . This is great.

I am sure you all know Vans. But you may not be aware of Build for Bokma. They are a non-profit whose mission is to create skateable public structures. And their long-term goal is to develop a permanent skatepark that commemorates the late Canadian pro skateboarder, Justin Bokma .

A big part of skateboarding culture is reimagining spaces and adapting to different urban environments. And if you think about it, that’s exactly what The Bentway is doing. They are reimagining a part of this city’s urban infrastructure. So I think this is a perfect fit and I am excited to see it come to life this summer.

Three years ago I wrote about the design and development firm, ASH NYC . What attracted me to them was how they were vertically integrating design, development, property management, and even hospitality management.

Well they have continued to grow and this spring they opened up a new 106 room hotel in downtown Detroit called The Siren . It is located in the Wurlitzer Building , which the firm purchased back in 2015.

With The Siren, ASH NYC also introduced their first-ever furniture line. It goes to show you just how focused they are on design and on the details. Surface Magazine did a good feature on the hotel, and the firm, here .

The other thing, which I think is very cool, is how they paid tribute to the late and great Detroit street photographer, Bill Rauhauser . Check out the culture section of The Siren website to see what I mean.

So if you’re planning to be in Detroit or are looking for an excuse to be in Detroit, maybe check out The Siren.

Image: Christian Harder via Surface Magazine

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I like to incorporate tech into the topics I cover here and that I follow a lot of venture capitalists. 

Well, I was reading Mark Suster’s recent post on why confidence is so important in (venture capital) fund raising and immediately thought that this audience may also find it interesting.

Maybe you’re trying to raise money for a real estate development project. Maybe you’re trying to start a small business. Or maybe you’re just interested in human psychology.

Here’s an excerpt from the post:

But confidence is CRITICAL in fund raising. Investors are human and humans want what they can’t have and what they perceive other people want. It’s human nature —  just read Cialdini and others on this topic. We don’t think we work that way, we do. If you don’t act in demand, people will subconsciously know you’re not in demand.

It reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies (which I have posted before on this blog):

“Now the trick is that we gotta look like we don’t need this shit and they give us the shit for free.“ - Mike Peters

There’s a lot of truth to that.