George Brewster
Biography
George Brewster is a real estate developer, author, innovator, and consultant focused on the theory and practice of land use, and the creative integration of the built and natural environments. George has a background in real estate law, homebuilding, commercial real estate investment and development, financial advisory, nonprofit and family office management, and as an advisor to financial institutions. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
George’s interest in land use and building began as an architectural apprentice to visionary architect and urban theorist Paolo Soleri at Cosanti Foundation, in affiliation with the Arizona State University School of Architecture. His undergraduate thesis at Bard College focused on land use and ownership issues in pre-revolutionary America. And while a student at Columbia Law School he authored a published law review article on tenant/landlord rights. At Bard he was Editor of the award-winning weekly Bard Observer.
Early in his career as a homebuilder at Heritage Homes in Western North Carolina, George’s firm was a pioneer in the use of manufactured housing, achieving significant cost and time savings in the production of over 450 homes. At Calmark Asset Management, he directed the systematic acquisition and renovation of 4,500 workforce apartment units nationwide. George managed a $350 million private real commercial real estate portfolio for a private family office and advised a former Secretary of the Treasury on the acquisition and workout of a $1.2 billion distressed property portfolio. He has Served as Vice President of Banker Mortgage Corp, a publicly traded company and as a partner and director of two private equity firms and as an financial advisor at UBS and Merrill Lynch.
George was recruited by The James Irvine Foundation to be the founding Executive Director of the Center for Creative Land Recycling, a nonprofit policy think tank, where he developed land use and redevelopment policy initiatives that changed California laws on brownfields remediation, and provided training and grants to communities creating new housing, shopping and recreational facilities. He authored Land Recycling and the Creation of Sustainable Communities (CCLR, 1996), (cited by California State historian Kevin Starr as ”…a brilliant analysis of land use in California”), as well as Case Studies in Brownfields Redevelopment (CCLR, 1999).
George co-founded Terra Group in Napa, CA with pioneering architect David Easton, where their process for the commercial scale construction of pneumatically impacted stabilized earth (PISE) walls was granted patents in multiple countries. The leading edge construction technology resulted in homes and retail buildings and wineries that are environmentally sound, energy efficient, fireproof and people friendly.
As an active member of the Urban Land Institute, George co-founded its Sustainable Development Council and served as Vice Chair of its Residential Development Council. ULI commissioned his authorship of a compendium of current best practices in sustainable land use and green building technology in The Ecology of Development: Integrating the Built and Natural Environments (ULI, 1996) .
George has served with Amory Lovins and William McDonough as an advisor to Habitat for Humanity for the rationalization of its home designs, and was appointed by President Clinton to the Environmental Financial Advisory Board of the EPA. George has been a guest lecturer at the UC Haas School of Business; the UCLA Annual Land Use Conference; and a presenter at The Real Estate Roundtable.
His current work focuses on promoting sensible land use and infill development, advocating for leading edge construction methods and systems, and advising private clients on optimizing their real estate portfolios.
