🎧 EPISODE / 010
We speak with Jeff Shapack, CEO of Shapack Partners, about his unconventional path to real estate, the power of observation, and the transformation of Chicago’s Fulton Market District.
Dear No Contest Listeners,
Episode 10.
10 is a milestone conversation with a game-changing placemaker.
Over a decade ago, Jeff Shapack and his team at Shapack Partners had the vision to transform a meatpacking district into Chicago’s first live, work, play, stay neighborhood.
Before Jeff, Fulton Market was an overlooked corner in one of America’s greatest cities.
A place that buzzed with plant workers before sunrise, while the rest of the city slept, but offered no value during the day when most people were buzzing around town... a part of Chicago that longtime Chicagoans described as “the wrong side of the highway.”
Today, it's home to Soho House, Google, WeWork, The Hoxton, Ace Hotel, and a plethora of world-class restaurants, including Nobu, Momotoro, and Girl & the Goat. Put simply, Fulton Market has elevated Chicago to a different cultural status — closer in line to neighborhoods in New York, London and Los Angeles.
To understand this transformation, you have to get inside the mind of Jeff Shapack. In this episode, he describes the practices that make his projects stand out from the crowd:
First and foremost, Jeff’s superpower is observation and seeing patterns. He studies the greatest neighborhoods in the world and travels incessantly — capturing the intricacies of architectural wonders and cataloging them, over and over again.
Second, he decodes the best relationships between retail, food & beverage, office, hospitality, and residential, mapping how all of these asset classes feed off nature and grit and the catalytic force of brand, to turn a series of blocks into a true neighborhood.
Finally, he purposely surrounds himself with people who test his every assumption, fill in his gaps, and think differently about space.
And in Jeff Shapack style, he’s just getting started in the Windy City.
Listen in and listen close. This episode is a doozy.
Enjoy.
✌️ NWS (@nowalls.studio)
🚨 WHO IS NO WALLS STUDIO (AND WHAT DO WE DO)?
No Walls Studio is a design and brand consultancy that helps Placemakers create spaces that people love.
Our mission is to make sameness extinct in real estate, which means that everything we do comes with new ideas and unique angles — all, grounded in a deep understanding of culture and consumers.
We do three things for our clients (often, all in the same project):
Research
Brand Development
Spatial Experience Design
Want to work with us or learn more? Reach out to us. 📧
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🏴 A MESSAGE TO OUR LISTENERS
Everything we do and say is out of passion and love for the industry we are in and the work we are doing.
If we ever talk out of line, misquote you or somebody, or say something that may offend you or someone you know, we mean no harm. Seriously. We’re just figuring out this whole podcast thing.
Our intent is to make the world a better, more enjoyable place to live. We want to educate (and learn from) a diverse group of developers, industry experts, and creatives…many, who also want to make sameness extinct in real estate.
Remember, different is good, innovative is perfect, and we want to hear from you. If you are interested in what we do, want to learn more about our guests, or if you want to have a fun conversation about space, holler at us — hey@nowalls.studio.
EP / 010 | Jeff Shapack, Shapack Partners: The story of Fulton Market District