Eastern Consolidated has announced that Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Marin, Ravi Idnani, and Jeff Geoghegan have been promoted from Associate Director to Director.
Jonathan Schwartz has been named a Director in the Investment Sales Division, where he specializes in the sale and acquisition of multifamily and mixed-use properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Schwartz has been involved in closing or putting into contract more than $200 million in transactions since beginning his real estate career in 2012.Schwartz received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Tulane University. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).
Jason Marin has been named a Director in the Investment Sales Division where he specializes in the sale and acquisition of all asset types in Manhattan with an emphasis on multifamily, office, and development assets in Lower Manhattan.
Marin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and Urban Studies. He is currently enrolled at New York University’s Graduate Hospitality Industry Studies Certificate Program.
Ravi Idnani has been named a Director in the Retail Leasing Division where he specializes in both tenant and landlord representation and has completed transactions on behalf of national and local tenants throughout New York City.
Idnani graduated from Pace University with a degree in Business Administration and a concentration in Marketing Management. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Jeff Geoghegan has been named a Director in the Retail Leasing Division where he specializes in landlord and tenant representation in the New York Metropolitan area. He concentrates on leasing in the Food and Hospitality Industry throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Geoghegan earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Pace University and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
***
Winick Realty Group announced that Robert Weber has been named Senior Director of the company’s New Jersey office.
Weber has been a broker with Winick Realty Group since 2008, representing both landlords and tenants in successful lease transactions throughout New York, New Jersey and the East Coast. In his new role, Weber will leverage his extensive knowledge of the New Jersey markets to drive business development and expand ongoing relationships.
Weber came to Winick Realty Group after a 27-year career at JP Morgan Chase. As Market Director of Real Estate, he was in charge of overseeing the real estate portfolio of all Chase branches in Manhattan and Northern New Jersey.He assisted in the integration of many of the bank’s subsidiaries, which throughout the years have included Manufacturers Hanover/Chemical Bank, Chemical Bank/Chase, JP Morgan/Chase, Bank One/Chase and Bank of New York/Chase.
***
Steven Paquette has been appointed director of the water practice for the U.S. region of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.
In his new position, Paquette will be responsible for managing the operations of the firm’s water business, which provides a range of water and wastewater engineering services to municipalities, government agencies and utility companies. He will be based in New York City.
Paquette has 30 years of senior management experience at major consulting engineering organizations. Prior to joining WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, he was national sales manager at a global infrastructure engineering company, where he also served as national water-wastewater business line leader. Previously, he founded and served as president of Groundwater Technology Government Services, a national firm providing water and wastewater consulting services to government clients.
Paquette received a B.S. in environmental engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His professional affiliations include Women’s Transportation Seminar, the American Water Works Association, and the World Environment Federation.
***
Simone Development Companies announced the appointment of Sara Rubenstein as General Counsel. Rubenstein, who has worked in the real estate and construction industries for more than 15 years, brings to Simone a broad range of legal and operations knowledge in real estate finance, complex development, sales and acquisitions, leasing and the construction process.
Rubenstein was previously with Lend Lease, one of the world’s largest development, property, infrastructure and construction management firms. As Associate Counsel for the Americas region of Lend Lease, she advised senior officers and directors concerning the legal and business impact and implications of transactions, project issues and disputes.
Prior to joining Lend Lease, Rubenstein was an attorney in private practice.
Her previous experience as an attorney included working as a Real Estate Associate for Herrick, Feinstein LLP, where she advised prominent owners, lenders and developers, including Real Estate Investment Trusts and private equity funds, in their real estate acquisitions, dispositions, developments, financings, workouts, restructurings and joint ventures. A resident of Manhattan, Rubenstein earned a J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with concentrations in Finance and Accounting, from the University of Miami.
***
Walker & Dunlop, Inc. announced that Christopher Doerr and William Harvey joined its investment sales group, Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales (WDIS).
Doerr and Harvey will be based out of Walker & Dunlop’s Bethesda, Maryland office and will be responsible for the origination and execution of investment sales and equity capital raises for multifamily assets.
Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Doerr served as a senior managing director for five years at Cushman & Wakefield where he worked with the owners of institutional real estate providing disposition services for multifamily properties and land in the Washington, D.C. area as well as joint venture structuring, recapitalization, and equity placement.
Before Cushman & Wakefield, Doerr was vice president of multifamily investments for Grubb & Ellis.
Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Harvey served as an associate at Cushman & Wakefield where he assisted in the disposition and equity placement process with financial underwriting, preparation of marketing materials, property tours, and due diligence coordination. Mr. Harvey’s prior experience includes serving in the Finance department at FINRA.
***
Law firm Wilson Elser announced that Roy B. Smolarz has joined the firm’s White Plains office as of counsel. He also will be working from the firm’s Las Vegas office to serve his large Nevada-based client roster.
Smolarz, a lawyer and CPA, brings to Wilson Elser more than 30 years of legal and investment banking experience representing large and middle-market public and private companies in the United States and Asia Pacific region, principally in the real estate, lodging and gaming sectors.
He handles mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, due diligence, debt and equity placements and corporate advisory work.
Prior to launching a career in investment banking, Smolarz was a practicing lawyer with a prominent New Jersey law firm where he focused on gaming, real estate and securities law. He also was senior vice president and leader of the gaming, hospitality, real estate investment banking practices at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. and Gruntal & Co., both NYSE-listed firms.
Smolarz graduated with high honors from Baruch College Zicklin School of Business with a B.B.A. degree and from Seton Hall University School of Law with a J.D. degree (1980). He is a Certified Public Accountant in New York and maintains his FINRA registration Series 7, 63 and 79 in New York, Nevada and California.
***
Hunt Mortgage Group announced that Raymond J. (R.J.) Guttroff has joined the firm as Managing Director. He will be based in the New York office.
Guttroff will focus on loan production, with particular emphasis on Hunt Mortgage Group’s proprietary loan products and will report to Bill Hyman, Senior Managing Director and Chief Production Officer, Commercial Real Estate.
Guttroff joins Hunt Mortgage Group from Barclays where he was a Director leading a national team of originators and underwriters. Earlier in his career he worked at a number of other key financial and real estate institutions in a variety of capacities including: Deutsche Bank, Securities Greystone & Co., Nomura Securities and UBS Warburg. Guttroff is a graduate from the University of Vermont and the New York University Real Estate Institute.
***
Peter Weissbrod has joined R.J. Brune1li & Co., LLC as a sales associate and restaurant specialist.
Weissbrod brings over 30 years of experience in the real estate and hospitality industries to his new position at the Old Bridge-based retail real estate brokerage, including a special emphasis during the last 16 years on mixed-use redevelopment projects and multi-family developments.
He comes to R.J. Brunelli & Co. from Jordan Baris Realtors, West Orange, N.J., where he served as President of the firm’s Commercial Division, managing a team of commercial realtors marketing mixed-use, retail, multi-family, and investment properties. Prior to that, from 1999 to 2011, Weissbrod was Managing Partner/President of Cranford, N.J.-based Summit Developers, where he managed all facets of the ground-up construction and sales of 270 multi-family homes under redevelopment agreements with the cities of Newark, N.J. and Baltimore, Md.
While at Jordan Baris and Summit, Weissbrod’s roles ranged from property leasing and sales, to asset management, project design and construction, due-diligence, and marketing.
In the hospitality arena, Weissbrod was Founder and President of Linda’s Diversified Holdings, a Westfield, N.J.-based regional rotisserie chicken chain. In that capacity, he managed franchise development and construction of 11 restaurants. Previously, he was Vice President/Director of Real Estate for Charlie Brown’s/The Office Restaurant Group, in New York, where he managed real estate assets, construction, and capital projects for the casual themed chains.A resident of Scotch Plains, N.J., Weissbrod earned an M.B.A. degree from Baruch College, New York, N.Y., and a B.A. from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penn.
***
Kevin T. Lillis, a 27-year veteran of the property management industry, has been hired as Senior Managing Director of Property and Construction Management and Administration for ABS Partners Real Estate, LLC.
Effective immediately, Lillis will report to Jay Kreisberg, director of Property Management and Administration. Lillis will work on the day-to-day operations of ABS’ property management division, which encompasses commercial office buildings, retail spaces and multifamily properties across New York City.
At ABS Partners, Lillis will oversee many of the day-to-day operations of the company’s portfolio. He will work on all facets of property management, including tenant satisfaction, construction and renovation projects, and infrastructure and technical operations. In addition, Lillis will work closely with the ABS management team at 44 Wall Street, a 24-story office building in Downtown Manhattan, which is currently receiving elevator upgrades and new pre-built units on two full floors.
Over the course of his career, Lillis managed more than seven million square feet of commercial property in New York City.
Prior to joining ABS, Lillis spent 21 years at Fisher Brothers. From 1994 to 2014, Lillis served as Senior Property Manager for the company; he then spent 2015 as Director of Interior Construction.Lillis is an active member of REBNY and the Buildings Owners & Managers Association (BOMA) in New York, serving on the Codes and Regulations Committee and the Energy Sustainability Committee. He holds an Operating Engineers Certification from the FDNY, a real estate broker’s license from the State of New York, and is a Building Owners and Managers Institute (BOMI) Real Property Administrator. Lillis received his MBA in Finance from C.W. Post University.
