Commercial real estate development can lose valuable time long before construction begins. A revised site plan sits with an architect while an engineer waits for it to complete the next stage of design. An approval remains outstanding because nobody has established who is responsible for securing it. Each professional may be doing their job, yet the project as a whole continues to stall.
After two decades in commercial development, Ed Hale, commercial real estate development specialist and Principal at Ed Hale Consulting, has repeatedly encountered this disconnect. His experience across development approvals, feasibility, and project oversight has shaped his view that effective delivery depends on leadership capable of connecting technical expertise to the owner’s ultimate objectives.
“Almost all delays and frustrations can be traced to an unmet expectation,” Hale explains. “Team members are not clear on expectations for deliverables. It is not uncommon for one member of the team to fail to fully understand that everyone else is waiting for them for the next item on the critical path, while another person may be aware of a problem but mistakenly believe somebody else is dealing with it.”
The implications can be substantial. Commercial developments depend on specialists working across different disciplines, each with their own responsibilities and priorities. Owners must navigate these relationships while managing budgets, securing approvals and moving towards occupancy. Without someone maintaining oversight of the entire process, small communication failures can become expensive setbacks.
Hale’s approach draws on a career that includes leadership experience in the Marine Corps and the Los Angeles Police Department, alongside 20 years in real estate development. Both environments reinforced the importance of understanding the wider mission while recognising the specialist knowledge required to achieve it.
His distinction between management and leadership informs his thinking. Managers ensure work is executed correctly, while leaders determine which work deserves attention first. Hale believes effective development requires both capabilities, particularly when teams comprise experienced professionals who must coordinate their efforts without losing sight of the owner’s objectives.
“I have decided to be intentional about being the guy who makes sure the right things are done rightly, no matter what level of leadership I hold,” he explains.
This requires judgement as much as technical knowledge. Hale points to the importance of knowing when a specialist needs to contribute, when a discussion has moved beyond their purview, and when an issue should be resolved separately. Poorly managed meetings consume time that professionals could otherwise spend advancing their own responsibilities.
“The mission-focused, driving impetus is to keep the project moving without stepping on toes, by harnessing all of these people who do what they do well because they enjoy doing it and have acquired their own technical knowledge,” he says. “Somebody needs to know when it is time to bring this person in and when it is time to let them go. I am not wasting their time in a meeting.”
His experience also informs how he assesses development risk before a transaction is completed. In one case, a client was preparing to purchase a partially completed commercial development following foreclosure. Hale reviewed the information supplied by the bank and identified what he considered a flawed calculation of development impact fees, based on an inappropriate interpretation of the relevant authority’s fee schedule.
His analysis indicated that completing the project would cost more than $650,000 above the amount represented by the seller. The client renegotiated the purchase price, securing an immediate saving of $750,000, according to Hale. The episode illustrates how scrutiny at the front end can materially affect an owner’s financial exposure.
Hale is now applying this experience through his consultancy, while contributing strategic development expertise to commercial brokers and their clients. His work focuses on feasibility, due diligence and discretionary entitlements, helping owners and buyers assess what a site can realistically support before committing to a development plan.
He also sees potential in supporting companies whose expansion depends on property development, particularly businesses opening multiple locations across different jurisdictions. Such programmes require consistent oversight while accounting for the requirements of each individual site.
According to Hale, independence offers the freedom to choose clients whose approach reflects his own standards of integrity. His wider argument concerns accountability: projects advance when expectations are explicit, responsibilities are understood, and technical decisions remain connected to the intended outcome.
“Leadership and technical acumen have to exist at the same time,” he argues. “You cannot lead in a highly technical field that is very dynamic unless you have a certain amount of understanding of the technologies that can be brought to bear to solve the problem quickly.”
Commercial development will always require specialised expertise. The challenge is ensuring that expertise translates into decisions, approvals and progress that serve the owner. Hale’s experience suggests that the most valuable contribution may come from the person who understands enough of the entire process to recognize what needs to happen next.
