Kaufman & Company has announced BUILD 2030, a national development initiative that unites its housing, real estate, construction, technology, and AI infrastructure capabilities under a single coordinated investment and development strategy. The initiative reflects a growing recognition that America's next infrastructure cycle will be defined not only by traditional utilities but by two critical needs: housing for people and computing infrastructure for an AI-driven economy.
The company's founder and principal, Daniel Kaufman, framed the initiative as a corrective to a narrow focus on technology. "Everyone is talking about the AI infrastructure boom, but infrastructure cannot only be about machines," he said. "If we're going to build infrastructure for AI, we should be equally serious about building infrastructure for people."
BUILD 2030 will coordinate projects across Kaufman & Company's existing platform, which includes residential development, build-to-rent, workforce and affordable housing, custom housing, commercial and hospitality development, AI infrastructure, real estate advisory, and venture capital. The strategy draws on more than 25 years of development experience, representing over $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units developed.
Central to the initiative is what Kaufman calls "infrastructure convergence." Housing requires land, power, transportation, entitlement expertise, construction capacity, and capital. AI infrastructure requires many of the same inputs. Kaufman believes developers who understand both physical and digital infrastructure will have a significant advantage in the coming decade. "The real estate industry still tends to put everything into separate boxes: multifamily, build-to-rent, affordable housing, data centers, technology," Kaufman said. "We don't see it that way. We see land, infrastructure, housing, technology and capital increasingly colliding. BUILD 2030 is our response to that."
The initiative also emphasizes community impact when evaluating future AI infrastructure locations. Rather than treating data centers as isolated industrial projects, Kaufman & Company intends to explore opportunities where infrastructure investment can support broader economic development, including workforce housing, community improvements, and local employment. "We don't want to be the developer that arrives in a community, consumes power and leaves behind a box," Kaufman said. "The better model is to ask what else our investment can unlock for the people who already live there."
This approach could set a new standard for how AI infrastructure is sited and developed. As demand for data centers surges, communities increasingly resist projects that bring few local benefits. By pairing AI infrastructure with housing and community investment, Kaufman & Company aims to create a more sustainable model that addresses both technological and social needs.
The announcement comes at a time when the intersection of real estate and technology is attracting heightened attention. Kaufman & Company's venture portfolio includes technology for the real estate industry, and the company's existing platform spans multiple asset classes. BUILD 2030 will serve as the connective strategy across those businesses as the company evaluates its next generation of projects and partnerships.
"We've spent 25 years building real estate," Kaufman said. "The next 25 will be about building the infrastructure around it."
For more information on Kaufman & Company's initiatives, visit their website at https://kaufmanandco.com. To learn more about the BUILD 2030 initiative, see https://build2030.com. Daniel Kaufman's professional profile is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielkaufman.
