The Moonlight Real Estate Side Hustles and Syndications Show

️Why Kevin Kennon Builds Luxury Resorts Instead of Chasing Fast Returns 🎯🏨

Kevin Kennon · January 17, 2026

Entrepreneur · Wellness · Leadershipin

Interview with Kevin Kennon

️Why Kevin Kennon Builds Luxury Resorts Instead of Chasing Fast Returns 🎯🏨

Podcast: The Moonlight Real Estate Side Hustles and Syndications Show

January 17, 2026 · 34 min

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️Why Kevin Kennon Builds Luxury Resorts Instead of Chasing Fast Returns 🎯🏨

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The Moonlight Real Estate Side Hustles and Syndications Show

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Key topicsGood Bones — Why the Best Return Is in the Building Already StandingKevin Kennon has spent 40 years putting buildings up and taking old ones apart, including the conversion of the American Express Building in Tribeca and the rebuild of Macy's Herald Square. Most developers price a site as if the structure on it were a cost to clear, when the frame, floors and shell are often the most valuable thing in the deal. He walks through how he reads an existing building for what it can carry, where reuse beats new construction on cost and timeline, and where it does not. Listeners leave able to look at an older property and tell whether the return sits in the land or in what is already standing.Own Worst Client — Why the Best Projects Start When You Stop Taking CommissionsAfter 40 years taking commissions from other people, Kevin Kennon founded Beyond Zero DDC and became the client he used to work for. He argues that the work practitioners are proudest of only happens when they carry the risk themselves, and that waiting to be hired quietly caps what a firm can ever build. He covers what changed once he was raising the money, picking the sites and answering to investors: slower decisions, harder trade-offs, and far fewer compromises written into someone else's brief. Listeners leave with a clear view of what a practice gives up by staying on the commission model, and what it takes to fund a first project of their own.How to Build Zero-Carbon Where There Is No Power GridKevin Kennon builds at zero carbon on sites with no power line, no water main and no road, as founder of Beyond Zero DDC and after 40 years on projects as large as the 1.5 million square foot Barclays North American headquarters. A remote site removes the usual escape route: there is no grid to buy clean power from, so the building has to make and store its own. He explains what that forces, from off-grid generation and local materials to the trade-offs between what gets shipped in and what gets built on site. Listeners leave knowing which of those choices transfer to ordinary projects on the grid, and which only work when there is nowhere to plug in.View all topics →

About Kevin Kennon

Award-Winning Architect and Sustainable Design Visionary

40+ Years of architectural practice40+ Design awards20+ Iconic buildings1.5M sq ft Barclays North American Headquarters

Kevin Kennon is an internationally renowned architect with more than 40 years of experience designing landmark cultural, commercial, and hospitality projects around the world. Known for combining design ambition with deep human insight, he brings a humanity-first philosophy to architecture — creating spaces that do more than impress visually; they shape how people feel, connect, recover, and remember an experience.

As Founder and CEO of Beyond Zero DDC Inc., Kevin is leading the development of a new model of luxury hospitality: zero-carbon wilderness resorts designed around intimacy, wellbeing, adventure, and safety. Rather than treating sustainability as a marketing layer, Kevin approaches it as a natural consequence of building responsibly in remote environments — while placing the guest experience at the center of every design decision.

His portfolio includes the 1.5 million square foot Barclays North American Headquarters, the Rodin Museum in Seoul, multiple award-winning Bloomingdale’s stores, and leadership of United Architects, a finalist in the World Trade Center design competition. His work has been featured in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York, and he has received more than 40 international design awards.

Kevin’s expertise spans architecture, adaptive reuse, urban development, hospitality design, and high-level real estate advisory.

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About this episode

Many high-income professionals believe real estate success requires speed — fast deals and quick exits. In this episode,Kevin Kennonexplains why his approach is different. While running a full-time architecture, development, and consulting business, Kevin focuses on long-term ownership, lifestyle alignment, and lasting value.

Instead of separating work, life, and investing, Kevin believes they should support each other. He builds real estate that still makes sense when timelines stretch — assets you’d want to live in, work in, or proudly share with your community. This conversation is ideal for professionals who want real estate to strengthen, not disrupt, their lives.

💼 How Kevin Is Buying and Developing Real Estate While Running a Full-Time Business

Kevin’s career began in architecture in the late 1980s. Before investing, he already owned and operated his own firm in New York City. His first real estate deal was a syndicated development in Tribeca, where he was both investor and architect.

That project — the original American Express building in Tribeca — took years to stabilize and survived the 2008 financial crisis. This experience shaped Kevin’s long-term mindset: real estate rarely moves on your timeline, so choose assets you believe in even when plans change.

🏨 Luxury Boutique Resort Development as Lifestyle Investing

This episode focuses on high-end boutique hotel and resort development — not flipping or short-term speculation.

Kevin shared a key consulting experience in Saudi Arabia, where he reviewed a proposal for a 500-room resort in a remote desert location. After feasibility studies, he advised against building at that scale.

That experience led to his current focus:

Smaller, ultra-high-end luxury resorts

Remote or wilderness-adjacent locations

Long-term ownership horizons

Projects investors would actually want to visit

For Kevin, real estate must offer intrinsic value beyond projected returns.

📊 How These Developments Are Structured and Timed

Developments are structured through a holding company, with each resort placed in its own LLC. Holding company investors receive rights of first refusal on future projects.

Key details:

• Mostly self-funded deals

• 5+ year development timelines

• High-20% to low-30% IRR targets

• 10–15 year exit horizons

Kevin emphasized that deals must justify the time, complexity, and risk involved.

🎯 Rules of Thumb for Balancing Business and Life

• Integrate business and life

• Invest in what you truly believe in

• Plan for challenges and downside risk

• Avoid speculation and think long-term

• Use patience as a competitive advantage