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Deals & Dealmakers

WHO’S NEWS:

Lee & Associates has welcomed Jedd Nero to its retail leasing division as an Executive Managing Director/Principal.

Prior to joining Lee NYC, Nero was an Executive Managing Director/Principal at Avison Young and had been leading their retail services group since its inception five years ago. He specialized in both tenant and owner representation for some of the city’s most influential retail transactions. Nero started at Lee NYC on August 19.

 Over the course of his career, Nero has completed numerous high-profile transactions including the 110,000 s/f Chrysler showroom at 629-641 West 54th Street, the 57,000 s/f flagship H&M location at 589 Fifth Avenue, and the 7,000 s/f flagship Hershey’s Chocolate World location at Times Square. Nero has also completed transactions both locally as well as nationally for Diesel, Miss Sixty, FILA and Verizon Wireless. 

 In his spare time, Nero enjoys practicing his photography skills and drumming. His father, Peter Nero, is a well known conductor and pianist and Nero served as his drummer for three years. Before entering the real estate business, he even performed at the White House with his father.

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Akerman LLP, a law firm serving clients across the Americas, has announced the growth of its Real Estate Finance Practice with the addition of Beau Baker and Christopher McCranie who join Akerman from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.  

Beau Baker focuses his practice on real estate capital markets, securitizations, financial services, structured and commercial finance, creditors’ rights, loan portfolio management/servicing, and financial restructuring. He represents traditional and non-traditional lenders in a variety of transactions including secondary market portfolio and single asset loan sales/acquisitions, joint venture and preferred equity investments, warehouse and repo lending facilities, and bank and non-bank mezzanine, bridge, CMBS, and life insurance company loan originations.

Christopher McCranie focuses his practice on all aspects of commercial real estate transactions. He represents community, regional, and national institutional lenders in permanent and development loan transactions secured by real and personal property, as well as distressed asset loan workouts, foreclosures and bankruptcy. McCranie represents traditional and non-traditional lenders in a variety of transactions including secondary market portfolio and single asset loan sales/acquisitions, joint venture and preferred equity investments, warehouse and repo lending facilities, and bank and non-bank mezzanine, bridge, and CMBS loan originations. He also represents commercial real estate developers in connection with the acquisition, development, and disposition of retail, hotel, single-family and multifamily properties. 

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The Carlton Group has announced that the real estate investment banking firm has added Lino DiLascio as Managing Director. With more than 30 years’ experience in real estate finance, DiLascio will report to Campbell from the firm’s New York City office.

After working closely with The Carlton Group’s founder for nearly 20 years, Michael Campbell was named The Carlton Group CEO in December, 2018. In the last seven months The Carlton Group has closed over $2.5 billion and has actively sought to add to its team of experienced professionals servicing multiple client needs from capital structuring to investment and loan sales.

Before joining The Carlton Group, DiLascio was Managing Director of Tremont Realty Capital and a Principal at Johnson Capital’s New York Office. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Iona College and is a graduate of New York University’s Real Estate Institute.

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Community Housing Capital (CHC), a national, nonprofit community development financial institution, has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors. Joining the Board is Bruce F. Martin, Executive Director and Division Manager for Community Development Banking at Chase, Alan Ferguson, Senior VP, Community Development for Invest Atlanta, and Daryl Shore, Director of Inclusive Communities at Prudential Financial. The appointments will increase the size of CHC’s Board of Directors to 15 members.

Bruce F. Martin is Executive Director and Division Manager for Community Development Banking at Chase. With over 35 years of commercial real estate experience, he has financed thousands of affordable housing units and has mentored numerous community development lenders. He serves on the board of directors of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation, and Housing Opportunities & Maintenance for the Elderly. He is also on the board of advisors of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Martin will serve on the board’s Governance/Nominating/Personnel Committee chaired by Kara Hay, Chief Executive Officer, Penquis, located in Bangor, Maine.

Alan Ferguson is Senior Vice President, Community Development, for Invest Atlanta, a registered local government authority that was created to advance Atlanta’s global competitiveness by growing a strong economy. Ferguson is responsible for leading the division’s strategic, management, and transactional activities. He is responsible for the oversight of a portfolio exceeding $1.6 billion in property assets and budget oversight exceeding $3 million. Ferguson has formerly served as Credit Risk Manager for Fannie Mae and as a Senior Business Manager with AD&C Lending, Washington DC/Atlanta, GA.

Ferguson will serve on the board’s Audit and Risk Management Committee chaired by Tom Bloom, former executive vice president and chief financial officer of NeighborWorks America (NWA) and former senior deputy controller at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Daryl Shore is the Director of Inclusive Communities at Prudential, in which he serves in a hybrid role between Prudential’s Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact & Responsible Investing teams. He leads the company’s inclusive economic growth strategy in Newark and beyond and manages impact investment deals in real estate development. In his role as Director of Inclusive Communities, he works to improve the effectiveness of public systems and coordinates key stakeholders to increase economic opportunities for the most vulnerable and underserved communities, particularly in Newark. He is also active as a board member in several civic and nonprofit organizations: Westtown School, Gesu School, Friends of Yemin Orde and Harlem Grown.

Shore will serve on the board’s Business Planning Committee chaired by Chris Krehmeyer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beyond Housing in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Eagle Rock Properties (“Eagle Rock”), a real estate private equity firm and property management platform, has announced the promotions of Rishi Gupta and Ilda Rastoder to Partner.

Gupta and Rastoder participated in the formation, fundraising and deployment of Eagle Rock’s fund series, which is winding up deployment of its most recent fund. The fund has amassed over 2,500 apartments in 14 communities within the last two years. Gupta and Rastoder have taken lead roles in the acquisition and re-capitalization of over $1 billion in multifamily assets. Rishi Gupta leads Eagle Rock’s multifamily investments and serves on the firm’s four-person investment committee.

Gupta takes an active role in the firm’s day-to-day operations and advises on the Eagle Rock companies’ growth strategy. Rastoder leads Eagle Rock’s fund marketing initiatives and manages the firm’s institutional investor relationships. She is a member of the investment team, focusing on research, acquisition due diligence and specific asset management initiatives.

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FXCollaborative has anounced the promotions of six principals, who have all contributed toward the firm’s latest milestones.

Alex Leung, AIA, LEED AP, CPHD, has worked for FXCollaborative for over 20 years and is Technical Design Director for the firm’s Cultural/Educational Studio and project leader for the Columbia University Business School. As an interface between the firm and the outside entities, he oversees the management of an entire project and serves as the final check that ensures every detail matches our high standards of quality.

Mark Nusbaum, AIA, LEED AP, joined FXCollaborative in 2006 and is a Technical Design Director and Construction Administration Leader. Notable projects include Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and The Juilliard School Expansion, renovations to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, The Greenwich Lane, Hunter’s Point Campus, and Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge and Offices at Moynihan Penn Station. Nusbaum collaborates directly with construction managers, owner representatives, design, and engineering consultants to ensure that each design is built according to the client and office’s vision.

Joe Pikiewicz, AIA, LEED AP, joined FXCollaborative in 2003 and oversees studio operations and strategies as a Studio Director. He also serves as a project architect and project manager, directing urban design efforts and mixed-use, residential, and infrastructure projects throughout the country, including two large administrative office projects for the California Department of General Services.

Alexandra Pollock, AIA, LEED AP BD+C,
joined FXCollaborative in 2013 and is the firm’s Director of Design Technology and provides leadership through leveraging the firm’s application of technology to design and deliver projects. Working with a range of project teams, she is instrumental in the development of tools and workflows ranging from computation, analysis, and virtual reality to overall project collaboration and delivery using Building Information Modeling. Her portfolio ranges in scale and global reach from small renovations to large institutions and high-rise towers, and throughout her projects runs a consistent thread: the use of methodologies to predict factors that enhance the lives of people who live and work in an urban setting — and ensure that the built environment is above all sustainable.

Shannon Rodriguez, LEED, GA, joined the firm in 2005 and is FXCollaborative’s Human Resources Director. She is one of the firm’s “go-to” people for direction, guidance, and mentorship, and is responsible for performance management, mentoring and training programs, employee relations, recruiting, staffing, and benefits administration. As a member of the AIA Large Firm Round Table and the Society for Design Administration, Shannon takes part in cross-industry dialogue about the future of architecture, delving into the nuts and bolts of benefits as well as affirmative action and recruiting.

Wendi Shafran, AIA, LEED, AP BD+C, joined FXCollaborative in 2016 and is a project architect and technical design specialist with extensive expertise in multi-family residential and mixed-use projects. With a focus on resolving complex design, technical, and programmatic issues, her specialty is in the creation of inspirational yet socially conscious spaces that address specific community needs while responding to the local context.

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Oxford Properties Group, a commercial real estate investor, developer and manager, announces a series of changes to its leadership team and the appointment of Dean Hopkins as Chief Operations Officer (‘COO’).

An appointment from outside the real estate industry, he most recently served as the CEO of scaleup innovation hub, OneEleven. Prior to that, Dean spent 12 years leading global transformation programs for information giant Thomson Reuters. Hopkins’s appointment will accelerate the company adoption of a digital first strategy.

Eric Plesman and Chad Remis now lead Oxford’s North American business and have been appointed to the Executive Leadership Team as Executive Vice Presidents, North America. Aligning leadership to strategic growth areas, Chad Remis will be responsible for Oxford’s North American office, residential and hotels businesses, with Eric Plesman leading its investments, development, retail and industrial businesses in North America.

 As part of the reorganization, Jo McNamara becomes Managing Director, Head of Europe, and David Matheson takes the role of Managing Director, Head of Asia Pacific.

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Cresa, a commercial real estate firm, has welcomed Gregg Cohen to the New York office as a Principal. Prior to joining Cresa, Cohen was a tenant representative at Norman Bobrow & Co., where he consulted on behalf of such national and multinational companies as Akaris Global Partners, Meridian Compensation Partners, Agence France-Presse, Arkin Solbakken, Haves, Pine & Seligman, and IA Englander.

Cohen’s experience also spans two decades in executive positions at Northern Trust, Jefferies & Co., and Bear Stearns, among others. In addition, he was the Managing Partner of Aviate Global US, which was acquired by Northern Trust in 2016.

In his previous position, Cohen successfully negotiated subleases and direct leases, renewals and lease terminations, as well as representing buyers in the purchase of commercial condominiums. More recently, Cohen developed a proprietary product that boasts a readership exceeding 1,200 visitors monthly.

He is a member of REBNY and is active in its Plaza District Committee.

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Madison Marquette has announced the appointment of Fernando Vazquez as Senior Vice President, Asset Services. In this new role, Vazquez will serve as strategy advisor for developing new business pursuits; expanding the company’s services platform, focusing on the growth of new and existing client relationships across service lines, asset classes and markets. He will manage account development and service delivery for the company’s integrated leasing and property management asset services. 

Vazquez has over 17 years of industry experience, most recently, as Senior Managing Director of Portfolio Strategy for Newmark Knight Frank. He was previously a Senior Financial Analyst for Strategic Accounts and Manager of Business Development at CBRE.

He began his career as a research analyst at Cushman and Wakefield, and has built a career on using data to assess and add value to client real estate assets.

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