WHO’S NEWS: Helmsley Spear appoints Harlem specialist, RCS adds managing director

Helmsley Spear announced the appointment of Michael Williams as a retail, commercial, and investment sales agent specializing in the Harlem and in Upper Manhattan markets.
Williams has had a 25-year career in the real estate industry, first as a mortgage banker in the residential, commercial and affordable housing sector with several banks, including Apple Bank, Roosevelt Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings and New York Community Bank.
Previously, Williams served as a real estate agent at Halstead Property.
He also held executive positions with various development and construction companies. His experience includes working with new market tax credit development in Bridgeport, Connecticut and as a subcontractor to Turner Construction in building the new Yankee Stadium.
Williams earned his B.A. from Stony Brook University.

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RCS Real Estate Advisors has bolstered its team with the addition of managing director Ed Coury.
Coury brings over 30 years of real estate experience and insight from being on both the tenant and landlord side of lease negotiations. He will be located at the RCS headquarters in Manhattan.
Coury began his retail real estate career in the early 1980s. Most recently, he was a senior vice president at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield where his responsibilities included the direct supervision of seven of the company’s super regional flagship properties, as well as budgeting, strategic lease planning and execution.
Prior to URW, he worked at Starwood Retail Partners as the Head of Leasing and Senior Vice Presiden.
On the tenant side, Coury has held high level positions at Gap Inc. and Chico’s, and served as Senior Vice President of Leasing and Construction for Charlotte Russe.

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Sahn Ward Coschignano, PLLC (SWC) announced that Michelle Greenberg has joined the Firm as Counsel.
Greenberg concentrates her practice in real estate law and transactions. Her experience and expertise include all phases of commercial real estate transactions, contract negotiations, construction and mortgage loan financing, commercial property acquisitions, lease negotiations and IRC §1031 exchanges.
Greenberg is admitted to practice in the State of New York. She is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, the Westchester Women’s Bar Association and Commercial Real Estate Women New York.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Juris Doctor degree at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.

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JLL announced that Michele Mahl has joined the firm’s Hotels & Hospitality as Executive Vice President, based in Manhattan.
Mahl will report to Americas Co-Head of Hotel Capital Markets Jeffrey Davis and focus on spearheading full-service and resort hotel investment sales.
Mahl joins JLL from Newmark Knight Frank’s lodging capital markets group and, prior to that, was a tenured member of Eastdil Secured’s hotels team.
Throughout the course of her career, Mahl has been involved with more than $65 billion in property sales, debt placements and M&A advisory.
Key transactions include the marquee sales of the Waldorf Astoria New York, The London NYC, W Union Square New York and the Washington Hilton.

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Hugo Neu Group announced that Dominique Lueckenhoff has joined the company’s executive team as Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability.
Lueckenhoff will focus on Kearny Point, the company’s $1 billion adaptive reuse of the four-million-square-foot former WWI and WWII ship-making facility, which is being transformed into a modern green workplace.
Lueckenhoff will oversee all partnerships and initiatives related to: corporate sustainability; climate adaptation & resiliency, environmental policy; green business growth and investment opportunities; and overall social, environmental, and economic well-being activities with an immediate focus on the development and communities related to the Kearny Point Project.
Lueckenhoff brings over 25 years of environmental experience and program development and management with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spanning multiple geographic regions.
She served as Senior Advisor to the USEPA Region 3 Administrator, where she developed and led strategies and initiatives related to Public Private Partnerships (P3s).
She served as Acting Director and Deputy Director of the EPA Region 3 Water Protection Division and is recognized as an expert in green infrastructure and green, sustainable communities.
Throughout her career she has received multiple industry awards, and public sector awards.
Lueckenhoff will continue to lead national innovations in resiliency and alternative water sector financing, delivery, and asset management through her role as new Chair of the National Council for Public Private Partnerships’ (NCPPP) Water Institute.
She also serves on the faculty of Virginia Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability.

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Colliers International Project Management announced that Dana Whitney has joined the Corporate Interiors Project Management team as Director of Client Services.
Whitney will play a leadership role with the team’s business development initiatives and will be active in growing the Corporate Interiors and Workplace portfolio in the New York metropolitan area.
Prior to joining Colliers, Whitney was the Director of Business Development at TPG Architecture and, before that, was a BD at Workwell Partners.
She attended Becker College.

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Andrew Franz Architect PLLC has announced the promotion of senior architectural designer and project manager Anne Mason Kemper to the level of Associate, where she will take on expanded roles in leading the firm and its building projects.
Kemper joined the firm in 2011 as an architectural designer. She has been involved in the management and design of several major residential projects including East End House, the Meadow Beach House, and Tribeca Loft.
Kemper has also been involved in hospitality, workplace and institutional projects at the firm.
Kemper studied Art History at Rice University followed by a one-year studio at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York City and Paris.
She went on to earn a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University’s School of Architecture, where she was selected as a teaching fellow and received design honors including the prestigious Frederick Bland Scholarship and the Rome Drawing Seminar.

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Asaf Yogev, AIA, SARA, an Associate with CTA Architects, PC, has been elected president of the New York Council of the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA).
SARA, founded in 1956, is a think tank and professional association of architects.
Yogev first became a member of SARA NY in 2013. He joined the board of directors in 2015, and became the vice president in 2016. He is also a member of the Architects Council of New York City.
Yogev has spent his entire career with CTA, since joining as a student intern in 1998. He has honed his skills there over the past 21 years, particularly in the areas of design, adaptive reuse, and architectural rendering.
He has been instrumental to the firm’s design aesthetic and played a critical role in the development of CTA’s overall design vision.
His recent projects include the rehabilitation of the Haven Plaza, a four-building, 371-unit, low-income housing complex on the Lower East Side.
Yogev is currently working on the design of the new addition at Public School 206Q in Queens for the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA).
Yogev grew up in Israel, moving to the U.S. for college in 1995. He first attended Santa Monica College, then Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, where he completed his B.Arch.

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Gregory Socrates, CEM, has been named Associate Principal, Director of Infrastructure Systems at Lilker Associates.
Socrates has managed some of Lilker’s most complex projects, recently completing work on the 700,000 s/f GroupM facility at 3 World Trade Center.
In his five years with Lilker, he has provided outstanding engineering services on adaptive reuse projects, interior fit-outs, renovations, central facilities, base building engineering and main infrastructure systems.
Alina Zaccarelli, one of Lilker’s resident experts in plumbing systems design, has been named Senior Associate.
Combining several decades of experience with extensive knowledge of LEED protocols, Zaccarelli delivers high-performance, cost-appropriate plumbing systems for all facility types.
She teamed with Socrates on the GroupM project, and provided plumbing expertise on the landmarked Beekman Hotel and Residences, Barney’s New York, and for many NYC School Construction Authority projects.
In addition, the following Lilker team members were named to new positions: Andre Forte, Associate, Mechanical; Suzie Lee, Associate, Lilker Lighting Group (LLG); Peter Beneski, Senior Engineer, Mechanical; Lucian Varga, Project Engineer, Mechanical; and Gabriela Fernandez de Bulnes, Senior Designer, Plumbing & Fire Protection.

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McLaren Engineering Group announced that Jeremy Billig, PE, has been named president.
Billig, most recently the firm’s vice president and New York City regional director, will lead McLaren along with Malcolm McLaren, PE, CEO and founder.
Billig’s appointment follows a board-driven growth plan that includes the firm’s recent expansions in New Jersey and Philadelphia, and the addition of several senior leaders.
During his 15-year tenure at McLaren, Billig has directed a range of engineering projects while starting and growing the New York City office to over 40 staff.
Billig has worked across the firm’s 10 markets, ranging from entertainment venues and healthcare facilities to structural work and restoration of landmarked buildings.
Projects include the Sentosa Crane display in Singapore, the Longacre Theatre renovation in New York City and construction engineering design work for the Pulaski Skyway bridge rehabilitation.
He also lent his talents to A-list entertainment events, including the Rolling Stones’ 2005 tour and Lady Gaga’s 2010 Monster Ball tour.
Billig holds a Professional Engineering (PE) registration in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, with a certification in Special Inspections.
He holds two degrees in Civil and Structural engineering from Cornell University.

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Pizzarotti, LLC announced that Bruce Schlesier has joined the team as Vice President of Pre-Construction, Estimating and Procurement.
Schesier has over 30 years of experience and has held senior corporate leadership positions in the US and abroad.
Before joining Pizzarotti, he served as the Vice President of Estimating for Hollister Construction Services, Chief Estimator for The Rinaldi Group and Director of Preconstruction and Chief Estimator for Tutor-Perini Building Corporation.
He is also involved in numerous professional organizations including serving as the National Vice President for the American Society of Professional Estimators, USGBC as a LEED AP BC+C and The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York.