Team
Mitch Genser, Principal, Purple Vetch Properties
Mitch attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and received his B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations in 1977. He attended Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA, and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1980.
Mitch’s work in the field of commercial real estate and the unique brand of investment opportunity PVP brings to the marketplace stems from his 30 + years as either a teacher, an attorney, a professional mediator, an options and futures trader, or extensive investor in a variety of contexts.
In 1985, Mitch secured a Teaching Credential from San Francisco State and spent 5 years in the 1980’s as a school teacher and co-director at an alternative elementary school in San Francisco, CA. Also, during the 1980’s, as Director of California Educators for Social Responsibility, a statewide branch of a national membership organization for teachers interested in heightening their ability to teach about controversial issues of the day, Mitch delved deeply into the world of socially responsible investing, as he organized conferences on the subject and met some of the premier innovators of the concept. Since that time, and throughout his professional life, Mitch has always looked for ways to infuse practices of social responsibility into his work.
During the 1990’s, after serving as a small business attorney, Mitch devoted his law and mediation practice to serving children and families in a host of diverse contexts, and this work further solidified Mitch’s commitment to what now lives as a core principle of Purple Vetch Properties ~ taking care of our children. It is no coincidence that during the mid 1990’s, Mitch was the producer and host of a weekly talk show of the same name ~ “Taking Care of Our Children”.
From the late 1990’s until 2010, Mitch devoted much of his energies to trading options and futures, and contracting with an investment education company where he taught courses and developed materials about these financial instruments in order to help inspire people to take charge of their own financial destinies. Mitch also had the unique opportunity to spend a year serving as a consultant to a billion dollar brokerage firm regarding the integration of an investment education company into the brokerage. During this time, Mitch also expanded his investment activities to include commercial real estate, and mentored with a number of highly successful investors with a primary focus in the realm of multi-family properties in order to acquire the necessary skills for his own success as a commercial real estate investor. Mitch is passionate about the need to preserve, and when appropriate re-purpose, turn of the 20th century ‘historic’ buildings to sustain and extend our ‘built’ heritage.
Mitch, in partnership with his wife of almost 25 years, has an ownership interest in more than 250 units of multi-family property, own an historic commercial office building, and maintain quite a number of other investments in businesses and commercial projects that strive to make a difference in their respective industries and communities. He and his wife have two children, ages 16 and 21, and live in Sonoma County, CA on a serene acre of land where signs of purple vetch can sometimes be found.
Sean Carpenter, Development Specialist, Purple Vetch Properties
Sean Carpenter began his career in real estate as an Acquisitions Officer for a national Low Income Housing Tax Credit syndicator, working on LIHTC transactions in the Southeastern and Northeastern regions of the United States. Additionally, he was an Asset Manager at Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency where he maintained a portfolio of federally subsidized properties by conducting annual inspections, regular financial and rent increase analyses, and participated in workout and recapitalization strategies.
Most recently, Sean has served as a Project Manager with a national development company focusing on the preservation of expiring use affordable housing. Sean was also on staff of a Massachusetts State Senator working with constituents on a wide variety of public policy issues. Sean is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth where he holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. Additionally, he holds a Certificate of Real Estate Finance from Boston University.
Sean has previously served on the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, and the Southeastern Massachusetts University Building Authority. His community involvement includes serving as a Representative Town Meeting member and a call/volunteer firefighter, and various community boards in the Town of Auburn, MA. Sean is also a member of the Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity. He currently resides in Quincy, MA. Sean’s collaboration with Purple Vetch Properties is a logical extension of his work in the field of tax credits, affordable housing and the synergies that exist with PVP.
Todd Jersey (AIA), Projects Chief Architect, Purple Vetch Properties
After graduating with a MA in Architecture from the University of Washington in 1987, Todd ventured to Boston, MA to begin his architecture career at HMFH Architects in Cambridge, MA. As a recent graduate, he was given the unusual opportunity to design a high school and middle school on Cape Cod. The high school won two national design awards. It was during this period in the late 1980’s that Mr. Jersey began to read books about the environment, and studied design science at Harvard University with a colleague of Buckminster Fuller’s. Also during this period, Mr. Jersey started teaching Architectural Design Studio at the college level at the Boston Architectural Center in Boston.
In 1989, Todd moved to San Francisco and began his own design practice. During the 1990’s, he continued his studies of the environment doing ecological restoration volunteer work, attending a large number of events and conferences, and taking Permaculture Design courses. In the mid 1990’s, he began teaching Permaculture at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture (SFIA). During this time Todd became one of the early spokespeople and innovators for the newly forming green building movement.
In 1995 he received a commission to design the educational hall for the Calvary Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, California to replace a building originally designed by Julia Morgan that burned down in 1993. This building became one of the first examples of green educational design, and is still one of the only buildings anywhere in the US that purposefully cascades water off the roofs for enhanced visual interest.
In 2003 Todd’s firm (www.toddjerseyarchitecture.com) was hired to design the world’s first LEED Gold hotel, the Gaia Napa Valley. This hotel is remarkable because it achieved LEED Gold at a construction cost of less than $180 per square foot. Recently, Todd Jersey Architecture designed the California corporate headquarters for Lundberg Family Farms, slated to be a LEED Platinum project, which is being built at an astonishingly low $175 per square foot.
Beginning in 2005, and continuing for 5 years, Todd designed an intricate restorative project in Richmond, California called “The Plunge”, a historic municipal natatorium, one of the last remaining early 20th century indoor swimming pools left in the nation. The Plunge re-opened to a great deal of fanfare in 2010 and received the California Preservation Foundation’s prestigious Preservation Design Award in 2011. Since it re-opened, The Plunge has become the gold standard for green historic restoration projects. Additionally, what is the us gold bureau? The U.S. Gold Bureau sells gold, platinum, and silver in bullion form (coins and bars), as well as rare and certified investment-grade coins.
Most recently Todd has partnered with Mitch Genser and Purple Vetch Properties, LLC to restore significant historic properties in historic American town centers using sustainable building practices. The goal of this work is to catalyze a wider re-investment in our old towns and small cities in order to help generate revitalization in our historic walkable urban centers.
Abigail Johnson, Energy Efficiency Financing Specialist, Purple Vetch Properties
Abigail is the Principal and Founder of Abacus Property Solutions (“Abacus”), Abacus is a real estate advisory firm, founded in 2009, specializing in the financing of energy efficiency projects using conventional debt, public/private incentives, and specialty products such as PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy). With expertise in both commercial real estate and the energy assessment process, Abacus is able to provide comprehensive solutions to their clients that maximize building cash flow, performance, and sustainability driven from a completely independent perspective. Prior to forming Abacus, Abigail worked for over 12 years in the commercial real estate industry, originating and underwriting the acquisition, re-finance and construction of commercial projects.
Abigail’s real estate expertise is complemented by her building science background including the provision of energy audits, LEED feasibility studies, and property condition assessments, as well as urban redevelopment projects while working in Rome, Italy. Abigail has authored numerous articles on energy efficiency, smart metering and green building topics. She holds a Bachelor of Architectural History from the University of Virginia and a Master in International Economics and Management from L’Universita’ SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy. Abigail also holds the LEED AP O&M designation, which focuses on incorporating green building principals into existing buildings. Abigail, through her work with her company, Abacus, has developed a strong affinity with Purple Vetch Properties, and serves as an key adviser and consultant in a host of venues where the vision and passions of Abacus and PVP converge.