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This is the Good Neighbor Podcast

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, the place where local businesses

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and neighbors come together . Here's

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your host , Jeremy Wolf

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.

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Hello everyone and welcome back

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to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast

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. I am your host , jeremy Wolf , and

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I must say it is Friday

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. I am feeling pretty , pretty

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wonderful today . I am very grateful and happy

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to be here and I've had many

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, many folks on the show . This

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is actually the 239th interview

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and I've not yet had an

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architect on the show . I've done realtors , builders

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, decorators , all sorts

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of different industries , and this will be the first

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architect , so I'm happy to be

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sitting here with Alejandro Echavarri and

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Alejandro joins us from Stiles

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Architecture . Alejandro , thanks for joining

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us , brother .

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Thank you for having me , jeremy , equally as pumped

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to be your first architect . So thank you , yes of

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course , brother .

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It's truly our pleasure . This is what we

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do , and thanks , as always , to our listeners

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for tuning in to learn more about our great community

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and the businesses that serve us . So , without

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further ado , alejandro , everybody

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knows what an architect does , but tell us about what

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you do specifically with Stiles Architecture .

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Thank you , jeremy . So Stiles Architecture is

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a little unique for

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those people that might not know

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the Stiles name . We're

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a 75-year year old company over

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75 years old . We

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do developments , or we're

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a one stop shop development

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company that also happens to do

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construction , architecture , property

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management and half a dozen

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other things , including

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project management . So we're a pretty

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diverse company and

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, like I said , unlike some

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other architecture companies that

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only provide architecture , design

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and engineering , we have

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a suite of other products that we can offer

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our clients , and

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that's what makes us unique .

2:02

Very interesting . So is Stiles a

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company that operates locally

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to South Florida or all of Florida or all

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of the country ? Where do you guys ?

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operate ? Good question , good question . So our hub

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is South Florida , so we're very active

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in the Tri-County area , but

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we have offices all throughout the state

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and we also operate

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out of North Carolina and Tennessee

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. So we have a couple of development projects currently

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going on in Nashville and

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in North Carolina , like I said , but

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the bulk meat and potatoes bulk

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of our projects are in South

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Florida , specifically Fort Lauderdale

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and in the surrounding areas . So

2:41

Broward County is our main area

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of operation and the surrounding

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areas .

2:46

So Broward County is our main area of operation . Nice

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Are there any ? You mentioned off the top developments . You're big into developments . Are there any local developments

2:53

that are under construction now that you'd like people to know about ?

2:56

Yeah , absolutely so . We have a new

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headquarter building on

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six acres it's actually Davie

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, so right next to Cooper City , but

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it's a 60,000

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square foot headquarter building for Best

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Roofing , which we are

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currently in permitting , in

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the permitting phase . So we'll see that start coming

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up , hopefully sometime this year

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and be complete by the end

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of next year . And

3:23

then we're also doing some

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medical , some healthcare . We have

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a nice project up

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in Riviera Beach that's a

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clinic for underserved communities

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and they offer low

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cost healthcare . Very proud

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of that project as well . If you

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follow me on LinkedIn , you'll be able to see some

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images of that , some rendering , some really cool

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renderings of what that's going to look like

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. And then , of course , just

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multiple projects throughout Pembroke

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Pines . So the Lexus of Pembroke Pines we're

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currently remodeling , just

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to name a few .

4:04

So from what I'm hearing , it's all commercial

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. Do you do any residential ?

4:08

We don't design any residential but

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we do develop residential . So

4:12

the Ellsworth implantation

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that was a really cool project that we

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actually developed and constructed

4:19

about a year ago , one

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project of the year from

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NAOP and we're really proud of that

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and we do a good amount .

4:28

Sorry , what's NAOP for the layman ?

4:31

National Association of

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. I always forget this acronym

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, but it's development National

4:38

.

4:38

Association of NAOP N-A-I-O-P . N-a-i-o-p

4:44

. All right . National Association

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of Terrible with acronyms , I don't know . Yeah

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, all right . Well , fair enough . So talk

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a little bit about your journey . How did you

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connect or end up with Stiles

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? What's your role there ? What did

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you do before ? Tell us a little

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bit about Alejandro Echavarri's journey

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.

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So I'm currently acting in the

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capacity of president for the architectural

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group . I came on

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board as a vice president , been

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president for about a couple years

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now , and it's

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been a great journey . I actually

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came from a company named

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Atkins , previously PBSNJ

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in Miami , where I was vice

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president there as well , and

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my journey started actually

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when I came over from Columbia

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, where I'm originally from . We landed

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in Indiana , if you can believe it , very

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cold .

5:37

Columbia to Indiana . What part of Columbia

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did you grow up in ? Where are you from ? Medellin the

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valley . What is it ? I'm sorry , medellin

5:43

, medellin . Okay , my brother-in-law

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is from , I believe , bogota

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. I've

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been down myself , I think , two times to Bogota . Yeah , we went on a jungle

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retreat . We went deep into the jungles

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and did an ayahuasca ceremony in Colombia

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. It was very , very interesting . That was amazing .

6:01

You got to check out Medellin , though . If you

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have that , I've been there once .

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I think he's from Bogota , but I think he got

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married in Medellin . I can't remember . It's going back

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10 , 15 years , but what a beautiful country

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, and my wife is from Peru , actually .

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Oh , excellent . Well , I will say if you

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haven't been in 10 years , you should go back

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.

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Yeah , it's on the radar

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, as they say . I definitely got to get back down there . So

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you moved from Columbia to Indiana , of all places

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. What part of indiana ?

6:24

columbia , indiana , indianapolis , the castleton

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area , nice and uh kind

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of we're . We were there for about 10

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years until the cold drove us out so

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much better down here , man .

6:36

Nothing against the folks up north , man , we have it really

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nice down here , beautiful city , you know , very

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nice .

6:41

Still a pacers fan but just can't

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deal with the cold .

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So we won't hold that against you okay

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.

6:46

Right , I'll

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root for the heat , unless they're playing

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Indiana , anyway , yeah , so I came down to South Florida

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, studied at FIU , got

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my master's of architecture

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and then went back for my

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master's of construction management . And

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that was back in 2004 when I got my first degree and have been

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working as an architect ever since and just had different positions throughout three

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or four different companies in South Florida until

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landing here at Stiles .

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Nice Good stuff

7:21

, brother . So , looking back across

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your journey , is there something that

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comes to mind ? I don't know , maybe a

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defining moment , right , or some life

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hardship or challenge , something that you faced along

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the way that you'd like to share with

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our audience ?

7:36

Sure , sure , there's been a few . A

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few come to mind , Obviously

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. 2008 was a challenging time

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for all of us , especially us in the

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construction and design industry , because

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I always say that we're the first to feel

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the effects of an economic downturn

7:52

First line of defense . First line of defense

7:54

. Yeah , we're the canary in the coal mine , so when

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we're not designing things , there's

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less construction , obviously , and

8:02

things sort of take a while to

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recover and we're the last industry , I think

8:06

, to recover . So 2008 was certainly

8:09

a challenge . And then the pandemic right

8:11

A few years ago I

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was already at Stiles and we were delivering

8:16

the main , which is the newest

8:18

class A office building on Las Olas in

8:21

downtown Fort Lauderdale , and

8:23

you can remember what happened during the pandemic People

8:25

, just% occupancy in the building . So

8:27

, through design strategies

8:51

, yeah , and the building's LEED certified

8:53

. You know , downtown Fort Lauderdale is amazing

8:55

. It's gone under such a dramatic

8:57

change in the last 15 to

9:00

20 years that you just wouldn't recognize it if

9:02

you haven't seen it since . But you

9:04

know everyone's back to the office , the you know

9:06

buildings full , and that

9:09

was something that we're . We're very proud

9:11

to say that we didn't just survive through

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, but

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we're definitely thriving , I wouldn't say as a result of , but despite of of what happened

9:21

there during that pandemic .

9:21

Yeah , best things are yet to come . All these difficult

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times , 2008 , the pandemic , all

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these life-altering experiences

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always have a way of making everybody stronger

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in the long run , always have a way of making us more

9:34

resilient against future

9:36

issues , which are bound to happen . But we

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meet them with grace and

9:41

perseverance and we get through to

9:43

the other side . So , alejandro , when you're

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not out there designing projects

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to help underprivileged folks

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with these hospitals and these beautiful commercial

9:52

properties , what do you like to do

9:54

for fun in your spare time ?

9:56

Me personally . When I have spare

9:58

time which it seems like we barely

10:01

get much spare time

10:03

these days I like to stay active

10:05

, I like to work out , enjoy playing

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basketball , racquetball

10:10

, yeah , yeah , Shoot some hoops

10:12

. Soccer we had a

10:14

soccer tournament recently here in

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Pembroke Pines , a soccer

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town there . It was an architectural

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tournament , so not quite as competitive

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as your typical tournament , but a whole

10:25

lot of fun .

10:26

Not a lot of star soccer players in the architectural

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world .

10:29

I can't say that there are . I mean , I can't speak

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for my company , but maybe some other companies

10:34

. But yeah , we're , you know , we're , we're architects , we're not

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, we're not athletes . But

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yeah , you know , I like to stay active , I like the outdoors

10:41

, I like kayaking . Just

10:48

just being outside , I would say , say , is what I like to do . You got kids

10:50

. I have two beautiful daughters , 12 and 10 . Do you all know what that

10:52

means , brother ?

10:54

I got a 10-year-old boy , 12-year-old daughter , oh that's

10:57

the one how interesting has it been

10:59

now with your daughter getting

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into middle school and going into the teenage

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years . It's been a wild journey for me

11:05

. Brother , I don't know about you In

11:10

a roller coaster of emotions

11:12

. Let me tell you , my

11:21

daughter has so many wonderful qualities of persistence and determination

11:23

, but it's all tied into her stubbornness and not wanting to

11:25

listen to me . It's so funny . When I was young , I tell her all these things to

11:27

try to impart wisdom upon her and just goes in one ear

11:29

, out the other . I was talking to my mother the

11:32

other day and I told her mom , when I was young , why

11:34

didn't you ever tell me about all this wisdom

11:37

and these things that I'm , I know ? Now she goes , jeremy

11:39

, I used to tell you that all the time . You

11:41

never listened to me . I was like ah , okay

11:43

. Kind of put things into perspective .

11:46

Yeah , no , you're 100% right

11:49

. 12 years old , sixth grade that's

11:51

not how I remember sixth grade . The

11:53

things that they deal with and talk about . It

11:55

blows my mind sometimes . Now

11:58

was bring your kids to work day . So

12:05

they were here with me in the office and they had a blast . We

12:08

did a little presentation on architecture

12:10

and they

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like being in the office for some reason . So

12:14

maybe there'll be architects who knows Gotta bring

12:17

them onto the payroll early , let's go . Yeah

12:19

, make them start producing and pull their own

12:21

weight .

12:23

Absolutely so before we wrap

12:25

this up , brother , what would be

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, I don't know , the one thing that

12:30

you'd like to share with our listeners about

12:32

styles , architecture .

12:35

Well , I think there's a misconception

12:37

that , you know , design and architecture

12:40

is expensive and a lot of people forego

12:42

the whole design process

12:44

. They'll just hire a contractor . But

12:47

I think if , if

12:50

it's actually not , it's not quite as

12:52

expensive as everyone thinks , and

12:55

it's pretty important because it can really shape

12:57

the success of a project and

13:00

you can you can do so much through design . So

13:03

if you've ever thought about , you know

13:05

, building , developing anything

13:08

from a ground up to an interior renovation

13:10

reach out to an architect , reach out

13:13

to Stiles . We

13:15

also , like I said , build . So

13:17

in any projects in construction that

13:19

you guys might have on

13:22

the horizon , let us know we're very

13:24

competitive and

13:26

we really take what we do seriously

13:28

. We love building into our community

13:31

and giving back . We're very active in

13:33

the local community and the local charities , so

13:35

it's a big thing for us . This is where

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we live , this is where we play

13:39

and work and

13:41

we want to make things better . We want to leave

13:44

the world better off than

13:46

what we found it .

13:48

Love it , love it . So safe to

13:50

say that if a homeowner is out

13:52

here listening or somebody that's looking to build a residential

13:54

property and they want to get , they need to

13:56

get an architect involved . You handle that as well ?

13:58

Yes , I can certainly make

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a few referrals . So , being an architect , not

14:03

styles , but yes , styles

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wouldn't necessarily build . You do more larger scale

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projects , correct More commercial

14:09

and multifamily things like that , but certainly

14:11

anyone . Like

14:15

I said , I've been an architect for over 20 years , so if you're looking to add onto your

14:17

house or renovate , I could certainly point you in the right direction

14:20

.

14:20

All right . Good to know For

14:23

everybody out there listening that would like to learn

14:25

more , would like to do a little bit more

14:27

research on styles or connect with you . What's

14:29

the best way to do that ?

14:32

So stylescom . Or

14:34

look me up on

14:37

social , so LinkedIn . Definitely

14:40

an easy way to reach me there . Or

14:42

just give us a call 954-627-9109

14:47

. Or on the web that's the easiest way to get ahold

14:49

of us . Or

14:53

on the web that's the easiest way to get ahold of us . All right , s-t-i-l-e-s . Sorry

14:56

, it's a common mistake there on the spelling S-T-I-L-E-S

14:59

.

14:59

We will link in the description to all of your

15:01

contact information Alejandro thanks

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for joining us today .

15:10

It was a pleasure getting the opportunity to talk with you and

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learn a little bit about what you do . Thank you , Jeremy . It was a pleasure to

15:15

be on with you and hope to hear more about Good Neighbor Podcast

15:17

. Very happy to be here .

15:18

Oh yeah , we are on the train to glory . My brother , have

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a wonderful day , a great weekend , and

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wish you all the best with everything that you do and

15:25

to our listeners , thanks so much for tuning in

15:27

and we will catch you all next time on the

15:29

next episode of the good neighbor podcast . You want

15:32

to have a wonderful day , take care and

15:34

be blessed .

15:35

bye-bye thanks

15:37

for listening to the good neighbor podcast , cooper

15:39

city . To nominate your favorite local

15:42

business to be featured on the show , go

15:44

to gnpcoopercitycom

15:48

. That's gnpcoopercitycom

15:51

, or call 954-231-3170

16:00

.