Columbia Property Trust, Inc. has named David Cheikin Senior Vice President – Strategic Real Estate Initiatives.
Based in Columbia’s New York office, Cheikin will provide operational leadership for Columbia’s national real estate portfolio, with direct oversight of its properties in New York, Washington D.C., and Boston. He will also serve on Columbia’s Investment Committee.
Cheikin spent the past 16 years with Brookfield Properties, serving most recently as Executive Vice President and head of its New York and Boston regions.
In that role, Cheikin oversaw the performance of that company’s 25 million square foot commercial office portfolio in those regions.
Eaerlier in his career, Cheikinwas an associate at JLL.
•••
JLL announced the appointment of former Google executive Vinay Goel as its Chief Digital Product Officer.
JLL created this new role to oversee delivery of innovative technology solutions to enhance clients’ business performance.
Goel brings JLL a blue-chip Silicon Valley track record. He served in global product leadership roles at Google – including Google Maps, Google Apps, Google Station and other high-profile products during his 11-year tenure.
Earlier in his career, he was Country Head of Products for Google India and held product development and management roles at companies including Oracle, Intel, CheckPoint Software and Silicon Valley startups.
Goel graduated with a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.
•••
CBRE announced that David Fowler has joined CBRE Capital Markets as a First Vice President.
Based in the firm’s Midtown Manhattan office, Fowler has been involved in more than 100 transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $6 billion.
He will be joining the team led by Darcy Stacom and William Shanahan along with other team members Eric Negrin, Ryan Spector and Carl Shorett.
Fowler joins CBRE from HFF where he formed the investment sales office team in 2015 and served as a senior director focused on commercial real estate financing, joint venture equity and investment advisory transactions.
During his tenure with HFF, he arranged numerous high-profile transactions including the sale of 60 Wall Street valued at $1.04 billion.
Prior to joining HFF in 2012, Fowler was a senior associate at Massey Knakal Realty Services in New York City where he focused on Lower Manhattan investment sales.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University.
•••
U.S. Bank has named Kim McKee as its first-ever market manager in New York City to build out the CRE team and support growth in the market.
The creation of this new role represents an expansion of U.S. Bank’s Commercial Real Estate East region and Corporate & Commercial Banking business in New York.
Prior to joining U.S. Bank, McKee worked with Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate in Morristown, New Jersey. There, as a senior vice president, she led a team responsible for a portfolio in the New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania regions.
Earlier in her career, she worked for Bank of America in New York City where she originated, structured and closed commercial real estate loans.
McKee earned a B.S. degree in finance from The College of New Jersey and J.D. degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law.
•••
Greenspoon Marder LLP announced the expansion of the firm’s Real Estate practice group in New York with the addition of partners, Mark Fawer and Carolyn Austin, and associate, Jonathan Castellanos.
Mark Fawer focuses his practice on matters including the representation of institutional, fund and private capital sources in every aspect of subordinate real estate financing.
He has successfully negotiated intercreditor and co-lender agreements with many of the most active senior lenders in the industry and has helped structure cutting edge financings in some of the most challenging contexts.
Carolyn Austin handles matters ranging from sophisticated financing transactions representing both lenders and borrowers involving all asset classes and types, to the negotiation of partnership, joint venture, and limited liability company operating agreements, to the drafting and negotiation of leases from both the landlord and tenant perspectives.
Jonathan Castellanos provides representation to lenders and borrowers in connection with their mortgage and/or subordinate financing transactions involving all asset classes and types.
His practice focuses on drafting and negotiating loan and ancillary documents, leases, opinions, and organizational documents.
•••
Cozen O’Connor has welcomed transactional attorney Marnie R. Kudon to its national Real Estate practice.
Kudon has spent more than a decade guiding investors and operators through New York City’s administrative approval processes.
Her practice includes reviews of the proposed development and the public approvals, land use and zoning, tax incentives, environmental review, construction contracts, code compliance, leases, and financings that will be required.
She also counsels and represents institutional developers, property owners, architects, engineers, and contractors in a range of matters related to the acquisition, development, construction, lease-up, land use, and zoning of multifamily properties.
Kudon, who previously served as senior counsel at the New York office of Locke Lord LLP, joins the firm as a member and will reside in Cozen O’Connor’s midtown Manhattan office.
Kudon earned her J.D. at Vermont Law School and her B.A. at the University of Central Florida.
•••
Retail leasing specialist Alana Friedman has joined Cushman & Wakefield as a senior associate based in East Rutherford.
With six years of industry experience, Friedman’s expertise spans both retail tenant and landlord representation in New Jersey and the larger New York metropolitan area.
She joins the firm from RKF and also previously worked at The Goldstein Group.
A licensed salesperson in the State of New Jersey, Friedman earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies form the University of Rhode Island.
•••
Denihan Hospitality announced that Nadia Karmali and Michael Shiwdin are joining the Company as Vice President of Revenue Management and Vice President of Asset Management, respectively.
Nadia Karmali joins Denihan from Marriott/Starwood Hotels and Resorts where she spent the past 13 years serving in various advanced revenue management positions.
She will be responsible for driving revenue, market share and ongoing yield improvement across all of the Company’s flagship brands – The James, The Surrey, Affinia Hotels & Suites and The Benjamin.
Among her responsibilities at Starwood, she oversaw strategic management of guestroom inventory and pricing, driving optimal market share gains for some of the largest hotels in the country, including the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Westin Copley Place and the W South Beach.
Karmali holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) in Finance and Marketing from McGill University.
Michael Shiwdin will support the development team through the maximization of the value of Denihan’s assets, analyze operating performance and execute capital projects.
Previously, he was Vice President of Operations for sbe Entertainment Group, where he oversaw strategic initiatives and operating performance for the company’s portfolio through collaboration with ownership groups and internal department teams.
Shiwdin also spent time leading a top line analytics team with Starwood and at JP Morgan Chase.
•••
Clark Hill PLC announced the addition of Robert S. Davis as a member in the firm’s Real Estate practice and Director of Real Estate Growth & Expansion for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Prior to joining Clark Hill, Davis was a partner and vice-chair of the real estate department of a regional law firm in Philadelphia.
Davis focuses on sophisticated commercial and residential real estate transactions, including leasing, acquisitions, sales and development, loan workouts and restructurings, tax-free exchanges and real estate finance.
He also has extensive experience with multi-family transactions and has successfully closed hundreds of sales and acquisitions ranging from $1 Million to $50+ Million.
Davis frequently handles complex multi-state transactions and recently served as counsel in connection with a $ 2 billion loan transaction for a national supermarket chain.
He earned his J.D. at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law and his B.A. at George Washington University.
•••
Arbor Realty Trust announced that David Galst has joined Arbor as Vice President, Originations.
Galst will be responsible for originating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, Bridge, Mezzanine, and Preferred Equity loan transactions nationwide.
With over 25 years of industry experience, Galst has extensive expertise delivering client-specific financing across all agency platforms.
Prior to joining the company, he spent eight years with Wells Fargo in its Business Banking Group. In his most recent role as Principle Real Estate Industry Specialist, he originated and underwrote commercial real estate investor loans for various property types, while managing a sizeable portfolio.
Previously, he held several positions as Vice President with Preferred Bank, Union Bank of California, and Commercial Bank.
Galst holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The George Washington University.
•••
Cushman & Wakefield has announced 15 broker promotions in its three New Jersey offices.
Andrew Merin and David Bernhaut have been named Executive Vice Chairman.
Three brokers have been named Vice Chairman; Charles Fern, a senior supply chain expert, Investment sales specialist Gary Gabriel and industrial specialist, Jules Nissim.
Brian Whitmer, an investment sales specialist, was named Executive Managing Director.
Five brokers were named Managing Director. Jason Barton, a specailists in warehousing and distribution facilities;
Ben Brenner represents office landlords and tenants across multiple industries;
David DeMatteis, a tenant representation specialist with multiple national portfolio assignments;
William O’Keefe has negotiated more than eight million square feet of leases during his career.
Jon Williams specializes in strategic analysis of alternatives for acquisitions, dispositions, and lease renewals.
Tenant advisory specialist Allan Greene was named Senior Director.
Andrew Schwartz earned the firm’s Senior Director title.
Earning the title of Director, Jerry Shifrin represents local and regional landlords on a variety of agency leasing assignments.
Mina Shehata was named Senior Associate. He implements corporate real estate strategies for his tenant clients and represents landlords on select agency leasing assignments.
