Scott Paton, Managing Partner at CrossHarbor Capital Partners, joins Blueprints & Breakthroughs to discuss risk, long-term ownership, and investing in experience-driven real estate. Drawing on a career across high-yield banking, private equity, mezzanine investing, and fundraising, Scott explains CrossHarbor’s emphasis on disciplined underwriting, creative structuring, and downside protection.

The conversation centres on CrossHarbor’s evolution in Big Sky, Montana – from Yellowstone Club’s restructuring to a broader destination strategy spanning resort land, hospitality, workforce housing, and infrastructure. Scott also discusses the K-economy, private-resort demand, and CrossHarbor’s partnership with Singer Vehicle Design at Willow Springs International Raceway, where the firm is preserving an iconic motorsport venue while enhancing its operations and member experience.

Scott Paton is a Managing Partner and Head of Business Development and Investor Relations at CrossHarbor Capital Partners, a Boston-based private real estate investment firm with a three-decade track record investing across traditional and alternative property sectors, and across equity and credit strategies. Before joining CrossHarbor in 2023, Scott was Managing Director of Private Equity Coverage at William Blair and other growth focused investment banks. He was also a co-founding partner of CapVest and MezzVest, a London-based private equity and mezzanine firm.

Jan Smidek, Partner at JMA Ventures, joins Blueprints & Breakthroughs to discuss investing in hospitality, leisure, and other experience-driven real estate. Drawing on a career that began in data-driven economic consulting and has since spanned acquisitions, development, and operations, Jan explains why investors must distinguish model precision from accuracy and why capital structure can matter as much as asset quality.

The conversation spans the bifurcation between luxury and midscale hospitality, contrarian opportunities in markets facing capital-flight narratives, and the practical applications of AI in hotel revenue management and asset management. Jan also unpacks the nearly two-decade evolution of Homewood Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe, including its transition toward a four-season, mountain-and-lake hospitality platform in partnership with Discovery Land Company.

Jan Smidek is a Partner at JMA Ventures, a San Francisco-based real estate investment and development firm focused on hospitality, leisure, and mixed-use assets. He joined JMA in 2009, has overseen more than $750 million in transactions, and lectures on real estate at UC Berkeley.

David Smith, Deputy CEO of Echelon Data Centres, joins Blueprints & Breakthroughs to discuss the data centre investment thesis and unpack how Echelon is building powered hyperscaler campuses across Ireland, the UK, Italy, and Spain. Drawing on nearly a decade at Starwood Capital before joining Echelon, David explains how Echelon grew from an Irish office developer into one of Europe’s leading digital infrastructure players, and why integrating energy assets has become central to both growth and regulation. The conversation spans demand from hyperscalers, Ireland’s grid constraints, sovereign AI and data in Europe, and Echelon’s new joint venture with Iberdrola in Spain.

David Smith is Deputy CEO of Echelon Data Centres, a leading owner and operator of large-scale data centre infrastructure headquartered in Ireland. Before joining Echelon, initially as Chief Investment Officer, he spent nearly a decade at Starwood Capital Group, where he helped build and lead the firm’s European data centre investment strategy after earlier roles in Citi’s credit risk and commercial real estate financing teams in Dublin and London.