Mike Bell Real Estate Show: What Developers will be Building

The housing market is changing. The needs of the millienials is very different than that of the Baby Boomer Generation. Michael Dieden explains the direction community building is going an why, in an intriguing conversation.

Michael Dieden

Mr.Dieden is currently head of site acquisition, pre-development design, entitlements and marketing for CHA.
Michael Dieden founded Creative Housing Associates in 1997, and he has established a national model on how to create transit-oriented developments. CHA is based in Los Angeles, and Michael seeks to solve the larger public policy issues of suburban sprawl and sustainable development through his visionary designs.

Michael began his career by working in politics, where he learned how to negotiate with government agencies and listen to community needs. He first was a campaign aide on Jerry Brown’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 1974. In his first dealings with real estate in the mid-1970s, Dieden and his brother Edward built single-family homes in the Oakland Hills.

When the recession hit, Michael’s interest in building evolved into shaping public policy. He moved to Los Angeles to become political director of a statewide public interest organization. Sifting consensus from controversy, Dieden successfully managed Tom Hayden\'s initial campaign for the California State Legislature in 1982.

Prepared for contentious causes, Michael looked beyond politics and set his own agenda by blending his career passions, continually stepping closer to home building with a sense of humanity. In 1983, he launched The Michael Dieden Company, a public affairs company that specializes in real estate entitlement campaigns.

Michael quickly earned a reputation as the premier community consensus-builder in California by leading entitlement campaigns for many controversial projects, including the Water Garden in Santa Monica, Venice Renaissance, Stanford Ranch in Placer County and Playa Vista for Maguire Thomas Partners. Urban Land magazine profiled Michael’s groundbreaking approach in an article \"Listening to the Community, New Rules for Successful Development.\"

In 1986, Michael headed The R.A.M.M. Partnership, a group of investors who rehabilitated dilapidated buildings in Venice into desirable and profitable homes. In 1988, Michael partnered with Harlan Lee & Partners to develop award-winning urban infill projects such as Venice Renaissance, a 132,000-square-foot, mixed-use building in Los Angeles, and Crossroads, 176 for-sale condominiums in Inglewood.

Michael was raised in the Oakland/ Berkeley area. He was educated at Gonzaga University, Laney College and the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied Sociology and Philosophy.

Michael and his wife (photographer and filmmaker) Dana Gluckstein reside in Los Angeles with their 8-year-old daughter, Marena. Michael\'s son, Colin, is 16.

Creative Housing Associates