Transforming Real Estate with Mass Timber

How is a 26-year-old entrepreneur convincing risk-averse investors to build with trees instead of steel? At 26, Nate Helbach has already founded Neutral, one of America's most innovative real estate development companies. Growing up between Wisconsin and California's redwood forests sparked his environmental passion, leading him to pioneer mass timber construction that reduces building emissions by up to 26.5%. Currently breaking ground on the tallest mass timber building in the Northern Hemisphere in downtown Milwaukee, Nate discusses the gap between sustainability solutions and implementation. "The difficulty isn't the solutions—it's getting investors comfortable with the unknown over the status quo." How is this young entrepreneur overcoming real estate's notorious risk aversion? Nate Helbach is the Co-Founder and CEO of Neutral, a regenerative real estate development company pioneering mass timber construction in high-rise buildings. At 26, he's already breaking ground on what will be the tallest mass timber building in the Northern Hemisphere in downtown Milwaukee. Growing up between Madison, Wisconsin and California's redwood forests, Nate studied finance and sustainability before founding Neutral to bridge the gap between climate solutions and real-world implementation. His company focuses on mass timber construction, passive house design, and Living Building Challenge certification to achieve carbon-neutral development. In This Episode: (00:00) Nate Helbach- young real estate innovator (04:21) Background and entrepreneurial journey through sustainability discovery (09:07) Age of adoption story, implementation versus innovation challenges (12:38) Mass timber and passive house design differentiation (16:08) Adoption barriers in jurisdictions and building codes Share with someone who would enjoy this topic, like and

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Transforming Real Estate with Mass Timber is an episode from Raising Your Antenna by Keith Zakheim.

This episode is 00:21:26 long.

This episode was published on Aug 26, 2025.

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