Meet Ashley Stiles

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Ashley Stiles again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.

Ashley, always such a pleasure connecting with you and thank you for sharing your stories, insights and inspiring messages with our community. We’re looking forward to getting the download and what you have been up to since our last interview, but first can you briefly introduce yourself to folks who might have missed the prior conversation.
Thank you for having me back!
I am Ashley Stiles the CEO and Founder of Tribe Development. Tribe is a female-founded and Native-owned commercial real estate development and advisory firm that focuses on creating and cultivating community by looking beyond the physical elements of a project to consider its greater impact on the people who use it.

I started my career on the design side of projects, and while I was a good designer, I excelled at connecting with clients and making money for the firms I was a part of. These same clients are the ones who convinced me to make the jump to development, and I have been working in the industry for the past 15 years. I have had the privilege of working on great projects during this time but I knew that I wanted to have my own firm, a place where I felt I could use all my skills, be more connected to projects and communities, and to have a bit more freedom.

Building a development company from scratch has been harder than I could have imagined, this industry requires significant capital to get projects going, it is a ton of risk for future possible rewards. Since starting the firm six years ago, we had to navigate a global pandemic and one of the worst capital markets in history, needless to say owning your own business is not for the faint of heart, but we have built a solid pipeline of projects, partnered with other amazing developers and provided advisory services to once in lifetime type of projects- it has been a wild ride- we are so excited about the next couple of years, they are going to be transformational for our company!

Great, so let’s jump into an update on what you have been up to since we last spoke. What can you share with us?
This last year has been the culmination of years of hard work and planning. We have three active development projects, which are approximately $100M in total project costs – that is a lot for our small firm! We acquired property with a partner for a multifamily project located in the heart of Old Town Fort Collins. We also partnered on a mixed-use project in northern Colorado, we anticipate both projects being under construction in 2025.

And most recently we bought a hotel! The path to get to a closing was the most difficult year of my career. I have never worked so hard on a project, I encountered more no’s than I ever have, and I had to be willing to pivot and alter my path more times than I ever have in my career. This project was a true test of my vision, determination and persistence. But we got it done!
The hotel was built in the 1960’s and is steeped in great history. While the bones of the project are great, the project hasn’t been renovated in more than a decade. Our plan is to bring the hotel back to its former glory and to be an asset to the community once again.

During my time in the design industry, I worked almost exclusively on luxury hotel projects. The hospitality industry was the first to understand how to drive loyalty and elevate the visitor experience through the built environment and engagement of all your senses. My team has spent a considerable amount of time developing the story of the hotel, how we want our guests to feel- what they see, hear, touch and smell. To that end, we developed a brand that articulated the mission, and vision, but also a playlist, you can find it on Spotify “The Buxton”, as well as a signature scent.

We should be under construction on the project in the next couple of months with a completion in early 2026. We are documenting the progress and sharing the process on our Instagram, we would welcome readers to follow along and to come visit the hotel!

We have now arrived at one of our favorite parts of the interview – the lightning round. We’ll ask you a few quick questions to give us all some fun insights about you.

Favorite Movie: I have so many!

Favorite Book: The Shell Seekers- Rosemunde Pilcher

Favorite TV Show: Great British Baking Show

Favorite Band or Artist: Sza

Sweet or Savory: Sweet!!!

Mountains or Beach: Beach

Favorite Sport (to watch): College Football

Favorite Sport (to play): Does pilates count? I do Lagree 5 days a week, I’m obsessed

Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): Gymnast

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: A news anchor- I wanted to be Barbara Walters or Diane Sawyer

French Fries or Onion Rings: French Fries

Chuck Rhodes or Bobby Axelrod: Bobby Axelrod

Favorite Cartoon growing up: Scooby-Doo

Favorite Childhood movie: The Parent Trap – the OG version

Favorite Breakfast Food: Biscuits and gravy

What do you want people to remember about you and your brand? What are some of things that you feel are most important, unique, special, etc?
In development you are often required to have public meetings about your projects. As an organization we strive to not have opposition. That is a big, difficult, and uncontrollable goal, but just having it means that we do more than what is required for outreach, we are transparent and share plans much earlier than most, and most importantly we take feedback. We live in the communities that we work in, and we want them to be assets to the communities. We are in such a fast-changing environment, as a state we always rank high in best places to live, and with that brings change. Change is hard, but we believe that if you have the right people who are truly invested then we can dictate the terms of growth to benefit the many.

Additionally, while we strive to provide great returns for our investors, we don’t start with the numbers. We start every project by determining who our user or tenant will be and what motivates them. From there we create the brand, which informs and guides every decision throughout the design process. We start here to ensure that as the financial proforma is developed the decisions we make enhance our users’ needs and doesn’t diminish the experience.

We have a few rules that we live by- we have a line item for art in every project. We use local artist on all our projects, and while we evaluate the proforma on a 10-year timeline, we make decisions that are on a 30-year timeline. We don’t work for, or with jerks. We believe that what you focus on expands, so put our energy into the things that matter, and we treat people well.

Commitment, communication and high standards are what I hope Tribe will be known for.
Persistence, creativity and honesty are the attributes I hope to be described by.

Image Credits
Buxton Hotel- Owner: Tribe Development, architect, VFLA
Cherry Street- Owner: Tribe Development, Colmena, architect VFLA
The Draper- Owner :BH Developers, Development Partner: Tribe Development, Architect, Tryba