Who I Am, What We Build, and Why

An introduction to Brick + Mortar and the vision behind Village Ventures.

Hey —

Welcome to Brick + Mortar, a newsletter on small-scale real estate development and construction. 

A bit about me:

In 2020, I packed up my stuff in NYC and moved back to my hometown in Vermont to start Village Ventures, a small-scale real estate development company.

What started as a simple touch-up to a duplex grew into more complex projects—a triplex, then another, and another. Fast forward to 2023: I developed a 9-unit mixed-use building in Fairlee, VT, and general contracted the project myself.

Now, we've got a number of projects lined up including 19 units of affordable housing, a 15-home pocket neighborhood, and 20k square feet of village center mixed-use. The name of our game is infill projects within our small region's village centers and downtowns.

Most recently, I started Réal Hazen Construction with a partner, a full-service general contractor specializing in energy-efficient residential builds in our nook of Vermont and New Hampshire. We focus on building high-quality, green homes that stand the test of time.

I don’t have formal training in real estate or construction. Just a passion for building well-designed, sustainable spaces—and a desire to create a portfolio of properties that make a difference locally.

When I dove in, I found a lack of educational resources on developing smaller projects. You have books on real estate investing, 10,000 SF commercial buildings, and high performance home building. But little focused on the end-to-end development of small-scale projects.

Furthermore, we have a shortage of small-scale developers. Look around your community—how many vacant or rundown buildings do you see?

The solution isn’t complicated. Talent and capital are abundant. Transparency and accessibility are not.

Small-scale development has become a lost art due to a shortage of training, networking, and mentorship opportunities.

So, I decided to share my journey building my small-scale development and construction business. And, in doing so, help folks wanting to tackle their own small-scale projects and/or just connect with another developer.

Every so often, I send an email on the acquisition, financing, design, construction, or operations of small-scale real estate.

Let me know what you’re working on or cooking up. If you reply to the welcome email you receive after subscribing, I’ll respond!

Until next time.

— Jonah 🧱

P.S. Want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn.