Introduction
Joe Youannas, a real estate investor and developer in Charlotte, North Carolina, joins Jack Ossa on The Power of Design Podcast to talk about his upbringing, his career and the adaptive reuse project he was finishing on the west side of the city. Joe leads Blue Jay Investments and a residential development arm, and works with his father as a business partner.
The two men begin with immigration, identity and what diversity really requires, then move to how a developer and an architect can share one goal: shelter for other people.
About the Episode
Joe was born in Egypt, moved to Toronto at age eight and later settled in Charlotte. He recalls a construction site from his childhood, where workers mixed concrete by hand on an old dump site, as the start of his interest in building. His father, a pharmacist who talked business at the dinner table, and an uncle who is a structural engineer were his role models. Jack adds his own experience as an immigrant who held back in meetings until he realized that his different perspective was what he brought to the table.
The main project story is Station West. Joe was looking for an office, a broker showed him two warehouse buildings behind a chain-link fence, and he saw that the area was changing. The site lacked parking, so he spent about a year negotiating with the railroad company next door. He describes his role as bringing a vision and letting an architect, a landscape architect and a civil engineer improve it, so that the result is better than what he imagined.
They also talk about the gap between a plan on paper and a space people actually use, why virtual reality helps clients judge a room, how Joe treats worry, and how he keeps learning by asking questions and listening to people outside his field.
Key Takeaways
- Bring a vision, not ownership: Joe shares his vision and asks the design team how to make it better instead of insisting on his own version.
- Shelter is the common goal: developers, architects, engineers and bankers all work to meet a basic human need, and fees and profit follow from that.
- Solve the unglamorous constraint: securing parking from the railroad took a year, but it made the whole project viable.
- Plan the tenant mix early: Joe had a list of target tenants, including design professionals and food and beverage, before he closed on the property.
- Plans are hard to read: clients cannot judge a floor plan or a single material sample, so tools like virtual reality bring them closer to the real space.
- Build a team smarter than you: ask questions of contractors, architects and other developers, and learn from mistakes as well as successes.
- Pause and listen: asking people where they are from and what they do can teach you something about your business and your life.
Highlights from the Conversation
Surround yourself with people that are smart and that are smarter than you in many ways, that are experts in what they do.
Joe Youannas
I'd rather have a cup of coffee with another developer and talk to them about the challenges of my project rather than how good my project is and the successes of my project.
Joe Youannas
What we're both after is create that shelter, that basic need for a human being, a fellow human being.
Joe Youannas
Topics Discussed
- Growing up between Egypt and Canada
- Immigration, diversity and speaking up with a different perspective
- Early memories of construction and family role models
- Residential and commercial development in Charlotte
- The Station West adaptive reuse project
- Negotiating parking with a railroad company
- How clients experience plans, materials and space
- Humility, patience and continuous learning
Why This Conversation Matters
Joe's story shows what happens when an owner and a design team trust each other: an idea for an office turns into a mixed-use hub for the neighborhood. That is the kind of work we do in architecture and interior architecture, where existing buildings are given a new purpose. Projects such as Hedgemore Flex and the B&W Fiberglass Office are examples of adaptive reuse that turn older industrial space into places people want to use.
About the Guest
Joe Youannas is a real estate investor and developer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Born in Egypt and raised in Toronto, he leads Blue Jay Investments, the commercial arm of a family group that also includes Main Street Properties and Development, a residential builder and developer, and a coffee business. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute. Learn more at Bluejay Investments or connect with him on LinkedIn.
