Hello ... 30 Mar 2025, 9:03 pm

... my name is Jason Carroll (middle initial 'R', after my grandpa, Bob). I'm a real estate developer, and currently run the multifamily division of a national real estate investment company based in the Midwest. Over the past 20+ years, I've led projects and transactions totaling well over $1 billion in value—spanning nearly every aspect of real estate development, operations, and investment. My specialty is creating value in underutilized assets, and I have deep experience in affordable and workforce housing. My projects have utilized nearly the entire gamut of public and private equity and debt financing sources. More details: LinkedIn. 

To keep myself sharp (a person doesn't really understand something unless they can explain it simply), I teach real estate investment and development to grad students at Kent State University's College of Architecture.

Prior to becoming a real estate developer, I was an architect—art, design, urban planning, and the general built environment are all passions of mine. I try to keep creativity flowing through photography (more here), travel, reading, drawing on my old Dietzgen drafting table, a keen interest in all things design, and an ongoing amateur attempt to study philosophy. I'm an avid tech junkie, hobbyist programmer, love collecting (and using) vintage audio equipment and electronics, and can make espresso that gives any barista a run for their money. I quite like sports cars, and you'll occasionally find me driving on backroads with no destination, for fun and meditation. Coincidentally, this is the same reason I enjoy running. 

I'm an alumnus of Cornell University (graduate) and Kent State University (undergraduate), and currently reside with my wife, son, and daughter in Shaker Heights, Ohio—a beautiful, old, tree-filled, first-ring suburb of Cleveland—where I serve on the Landmark Commission. 

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(Personal blog begins below.)

Work In Progress 3 May 2024, 12:30 am

My project -- Andrews Terrace, Rochester, New York. 526 units of affordable housing -- we're bringing it back from the brink. Beautiful Brutalism. 

Linear Series Photographs 28 Apr 2024, 1:07 am

Novalis 2 May 2023, 11:51 am

"Philosophy can bake no bread; but she can procure for us God, Freedom, Immortality." 

C64 Rendering 9 Jan 2023, 7:15 pm

Rendered on a Commodore 64, then assembled on a PC. 

 30 Sep 2019, 2:04 pm

Thankful for the simple but wonderful nights with my family, when we're home together and all the windows are open, and the weather's perfect, and we eat dinner together and talk a little, and then the kids do homework at the dining room table while we clean up the kitchen.

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction 18 Sep 2019, 2:02 pm

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable." — Arthur Conan Doyle

 13 Sep 2019, 2:00 pm

"Gird yourself about with philosophy, an impregnable wall. Though it be assaulted by many engines, Fortune can find no passage into it." — Seneca The Younger

 26 Aug 2019, 1:55 pm

"Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man." — David Hume

 12 Aug 2019, 1:51 pm

A picture is worth a thousand words, and an action is worth ten times that again.

 1 Aug 2019, 1:48 pm

If you're angry all the time, you're probably not getting much done.

Family Trip to Japan 2019 19 Jul 2019, 12:45 pm

 13 Jun 2019, 12:30 pm

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

Computer Spec Evolution 28 May 2019, 3:44 pm

If you know me, you know I'm a tech junkie, and you know I love fiddling with things. To that end—if you happen to be interested—below is the evolution of our household's main PC specs since February 1, 2007 (updated 5/27/19). Bold indicates current status: 

Processor	1. Intel Core2 Duo (2-Core) E6600 2.4 GHz (original to system 2/1/07) 2. Intel Core2 Quad (4-Core) Q6600 2.4 GHz (upgrade 9/13/11) 3. AMD FX 8350 (8-Core; 2 logical x 4 physical) 4.0 GHz (upgrade 12/29/12); upgraded stock CPU cooler to Zalman CNPS8900 on 12/27/13 4. Intel Core i5-9400F Coffee Lake 6-Core 2.9 GHz (5/27/19)
Memory	1. 2 GB (2x 1 GB) OCZ Gold DDR2-800 SDRAM 2. 4 GB (4x 1 GB) OCZ Gold DDR2-800 SDRAM (upgrade 1/7/09) 3. 16 GB (2x 8 GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1333 SDRAM (12/29/12) 4. 16 GB (2x 8 GB) 2666 DDR4-RAM (5/27/19)
Graphics	1. Sapphire Radeon X1950XT 256 MB  2. Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 512 MB (upgrade 12/26/08) 3. MSi Radeon HD 7870 2 GB (upgrade 3/31/13) - card went bad 4. XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB (upgrade 8/13/15) 5. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6 (5/27/19)
Hard Disk	1. 1.0 TB: 2x Maxtor 500 GB, 3.0 Gb/s, 7,200-RPM, 16 MB cache (now repurposed as external media & backup drives) 2. 5.75 TB: Seagate Barracuda 2.0 TB Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB + Hitachi Deskstar 1.5 TB, 6.0 Gb/s, 7,200 RPM, 64 MB Cache + 64 256 GB Samsung (2011) Sandisk (2014) Solid State Boot Drive + 2x Toshiba 1TB external media & backup drives 3. 6.0 TB: Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB + Hitachi Deskstar 1.5 TB, 6.0 Gb/s, 7,200 RPM, 64 MB Cache + 500 GB Western Digital Blue SSD Boot Drive + 2x Toshiba 1TB external media & backup drives (5/27/19)
Optical	1. Lite-On 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer, LightScribe 2. LG 12x Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Burner, LightScribe (upgrade 10/12/11)
Motherboard	1. Asus P5B-VM Intel LGA775  2. Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 AMD AM3+ (upgrade 12/29/12)  3. ASRock B360 Pro 4 (5/27/19)
Networking	1. 802.11n + Ethernet (2/1/2007) 2. 802.11ac + Ethernet (5/27/19)
Display	1. 2x Sony SDM-S73 17" SXGA (1280x1024) 16 ms TN panel LCDs, 2.6 MP  2. 2x HP LP2465 24" WUXGA (1920x1200) 6 ms S-PVA panel LCDs, 4.6 MP (upgrade 01/13/10)
Case/PSU	1. Thermaltake Lanbox with 550W Rosewill PSU 2. Upgraded PSU to Thermaltake 850W (12/29/12) 3. ATX Mid-Tower Case with Corsair 600W PSU (5/27/19)
OS	1. Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit  2. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (upgrade 01/09/10) 3. Windows 8 Professional 64-bit (upgrade 12/29/12) 4. Windows 10 (upgrade 6/2015)
Input	1. Logitech wireless keyboard, mouse 2. Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Keyboard, Razer Naga Epic Mouse (upgrade 1/3/11) 3. Razer BlackWidow Chroma, Razer Naga Chroma (upgrade 11/24/2016)

 15 Apr 2019, 12:27 pm

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." — Martin Buber

Five Stories 17 Mar 2019, 2:24 pm

Collage I made from newspaper images.

 4 Mar 2019, 11:37 am

I'm an optimist, but I walk through life with the recognition that there are usually more ways for things to go wrong than to go right. It's just the way things are—entropy.

 11 Feb 2019, 11:59 am

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it." — Bruce Lee

 22 Jan 2019, 11:38 am

"I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead." — Kurt Vonnegut

 1 Jan 2019, 2:37 pm

There is no "meaning of life". Meaning is a result of life.

 13 Nov 2018, 1:00 pm

Good advice can come from bad places.

Fourth Axonometric Composition 6 Nov 2018, 12:45 pm

 5 Nov 2018, 1:02 pm

Politics is the lazy, underachieving, slacker friend of philosophy.

A Late Fall 4 Nov 2018, 10:28 pm

Fall came to our house a bit late this year. The Great Old Ones in our yard finally decided to change color.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy 2 Nov 2018, 12:06 pm

"One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." — Albert Camus