The Howard Hughes Corporation announced the appointment of Anthony A. Williams to its Board of Directors.
Williams is the CEO of Federal City Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of civic life in the nation’s capital.
He previously served two terms as the mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1999 to 2007, and is credited with leading the city’s revitalization, restoring its finances and dramatically improving city services.
As the independent Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia from 1995 to 1998, he worked with local officials, the D.C. Financial Control Board, and the U.S. Congress.
He has held various positions in federal, state, and local government, including serving as the first CFO for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and served as the William H. Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Management at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Williams holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College, as well as a number of honorary degrees and awards, including the 2020 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and former President of the National League of Cities.
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CBRE announced the hiring of commercial real estate veteran Bruer Kershner to its Office Institutional Properties Group led by Robert Fahey in greater Philadelphia.
Bruer joins CBRE as a senior vice president, and will specialize in large portfolio and single-asset transactions based in the Philadelphia area.
Prior to joining CBRE, Bruer spent more than eight years at Eastdil Secured as a senior vice president on the investment sales team in New York City.
He began his real estate career as an intern with CBRE after graduating Penn State University, Smeal College of Business with a BS in Finance. He also spent a Semester at Sea with the University of Virginia, circumnavigating the world studying international relations and global cultures in developed and emerging nations including South Africa, India, China, Vietnam and Ghana.
Primarily focused on the disposition of office properties, Bruer has closed on 33 transactions totaling $10.4 billion in the New York City and Philadelphia markets since 2014. Recent notable office transactions in Philadelphia include the sale of Independence Collection and 2000 Market Street.
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Cresa has welcomed Mitchell Kunikoff to the New York office as a principal.
A veteran commercial real estate broker with more than three decades of experience, Kunikoff has represented such clients as Gotham Bank NY, ConnectOne Bank, Knotel, Restoration Hardware, Offerpop.com, Knotel and The Seaport Group, among others.
Prior to joining Cresa, he spent over eight years in the New York office of Lee & Associates as executive managing director and principal.
His experience also includes 10 years as an executive at George Comfort & Sons and leader of the brokerage division of Collins Tuttle & Co.
Kunikoff holds a B.A. in Business Management from New York University.
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B6 Real Estate Advisors (B6) announced the appointment of Brock Emmetsberger as senior managing director, an industry veteran responsible for in excess of more than $1.7 billion of commercial real estate transactions sold throughout his 17-year career.
Emmetsberger will be responsible for overseeing Investment Sales for the firm’s Chelsea and Greenwich Village territories, and working with owners and brokers to close transactions throughout New York City.
Emmetsberger most recently served as managing director in the Capital Markets Group at JLL, where he focused on investment sales in downtown Manhattan. Prior to JLL, he was first vice president of sales at Massey Knakal Realty Services, which was acquired by Cushman & Wakefield in 2014.
In 2020, Emmetsberger was responsible for four of the 11 properties sold in Chelsea, amongst other sales he completed in New York City
He graduated from Miami University’s Richard T. Farmer School of Business with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, majoring in Finance.
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RM Friedland has welcomed Reed Waggoner as an associate in its new office division.
Waggoner previously served as a Capital Markets Associate at JLL, where he closed multiple multifamily, mixed-use, office, and office co-op assets.
Reed began his real estate career at Harbor Road Holdings, a NYC based real estate investment firm. He interned there while attending Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and then served as an analyst at the firm prior to his move to JLL.
A Westchester native, Waggoner obtained a Real Estate Finance degree from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business.
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J.P. Morgan Chase announced the hiring of Vincent Toye as managing director, Head of Agency and Off Balance Sheet Lending for the Commercial Banking’s Real Estate business.
Toye will be responsible for growing a national team to provide the firm’s commercial real estate clients access to a broader suite of lending and credit solutions through Government-Sponsored Enterprise partnerships.
Toye joins the firm from Wells Fargo, where he served as executive vice president and Group Head for Community Lending and Investment. Previously, he served as Head of Production for Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital.
Toye received his M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia.
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Matthew Ross has joined Avison Young’s New York office as a director in Valuation Advisory Services specializing in tax advisory services.
Ross’s vast experience is comprised of appraising office buildings, distribution warehouses, controlled and rent stabilized apartment buildings, super-regional malls, neighborhood and community shopping centers and producing HUD Map, Yellow book, Green Acres and Red book/IVS compliant reports.
His significant assignments include managing large portfolio valuations for clients both nationally and internationally, and individual projects such as The Arc Tunnel Project for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, One and 11 Times Square, 1095 Avenue of the Americas and 200 Park Avenue.
Prior to joining Avison Young, he was the Founder and Principal of his own consulting firm. Before that, he was managing director for Valbridge Property Advisors. He began his career in commercial real estate while working as a college intern for Integra Realty Resources and remained with the firm for over a decade.
Ross is currently a candidate for designation, Appraisal Institute (MAI), which he is on track to complete in 2021. He earned a degree in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
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Marks Paneth LLP has appointed Ryszard (Rich) Jania as partner-in-charge of the firm’s New Jersey Office.
Jania succeeds John Evans, who retired on December 31.
In his new role, Jania will oversee the New Jersey office’s growth and direction and provide leadership on office matters, while deepening his community involvement and building the firm’s brand in the marketplace.
With over 20 years of audit, consulting and buy-side transactional advisory experience, Jania specializes in advising franchises, specifically quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and casual dining establishments.
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Herrick, Feinstein LLP announced the expansion of the firm with the addition of seven lawyers with a focus on cooperatives and condominiums
Bruce Cholst represents cooperative and condominium clients in complex sponsor defect and sponsor arrears litigation, shareholder controversies, commercial and residential nonpayment actions, foreclosure suits, vendor claims and board election disputes.
Andrew Freedland focuses on the representation and counseling of condominiums, cooperatives, sponsors/developers, purchasers and sellers of commercial and residential real estate, and lenders.
Deborah Koplovitz concentrates her practice in real estate litigation and general representation of condominiums, cooperatives and sponsors. She handles construction issues and sponsor-defect cases, vendor disputes, corporate governance issues, foreclosure matters, commercial lease defaults, discrimination claims, hoarding cases, alteration disputes, lease and bylaw defaults and noise complaints.
Peter Livingston concentrates his practice in cooperative and condominium law, real estate and litigation. He has been retained by both the FDIC and RTC to represent their interests with respect to complex real estate foreclosure matters and related lender liability issues. Prior to joining Herrick, Peter founded the firm Rosen Livingston & Cholst.
Karol Robinson practices cooperative, condominium and real estate law with a focus on affordable housing, nonprofit organizations and general transactional work. Karol has also been involved extensively in secured and unsecured financing transactions from both lender’s and borrower’s perspective.
Andrew Wagner has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and handles all areas of real estate litigation, including summary eviction proceedings, brokerage disputes, “Yellowstone” injunctions, foreclosure actions and creditor representation in bankruptcy proceedings. He has also successfully argued numerous appeals before the Appellate Term and Appellate Division, in both the First and Second Departments.
Devin Ness concentrates his practice in real estate, litigation and cooperative and condominium law.
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JLL has hired 25-year industry veteran Seth Geldzahler as a senior managing director with the firm’s Northeast Industrial Region team, which serves a three-state market comprising roughly 1.54 billion square feet.
Geldzahler, former vice president of real estate with Bed Bath & Beyond, brings a deep understanding of the complex space-use, logistics and supply chain challenges faced by owners and occupiers in the rapidly evolving landscape.
He will work alongside David Knee, vice chairman and broker lead for the Northeast Industrial Region.
Over 25 years, Geldzahler was responsible for a broad scope of real estate functions at Bed Bath & Beyond, focusing on industrial solutions during the past 10 years.
Prior to Bed Bath & Beyond, he worked as a commercial real estate attorney at Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti, LLP, and at the Resolution Trust Corporation.
Geldzahler graduated cum laude from Tufts University, and earned his juris doctor from Rutgers Law School Newark.
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Urban Edge Properties announced the appointment of Danielle De Vita as executive vice president of development.
De Vita most recently served as an executive vice president of real estate at Simon Property Group where she directed more than $3 billion of development projects in the Premium Outlet Platform. She was with Simon for 18 years and worked previously as a land use attorney.
She completed developments and expansions of some of the most productive retail properties in the United States including Woodbury Common in New York, Orlando Premium Outlets in Florida, and Desert Hills Premium Outlets in California.
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Lightstone announced the hiring of Jonathan Shapiro as a director of Lightstone Capital, Lightstone’s real estate debt platform.
Shapiro, with 16 years of experience in the industry, will lead portfolio asset management efforts of the rapidly growing platform, which was launched in 2018.
Shapiro spent the past two years as a senior vice president at Revere Capital Group, where he focused on sourcing and underwriting middle market bridge loans.
Prior to that, he served as the director of originations at Maxim Capital Group. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years as a debt portfolio manager at NorthStar Realty Finance.
Shapiro is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, and New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, with a master’s degree in Real Estate.
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Greystone announced that Michael Zampetti, Jr., managing director, has joined the commercial finance team led by Scott Chisholm, based in New York.
Zampetti will focus on loan production across an array of platforms while working to expand the firm’s lending activities to a broader scope of commercial asset classes.
He brings 20 years of CRE lending, asset management, and securitization. He previously spent seven years at CIBC, where he focused on balance sheet and CMBS lending. Before that, Zampetti spent time at CWCapital, FitchRatings, and Credit Suisse.
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Greystone announced that Pranika Uppal Sinha has joined the company as its first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Managing Director.
Sinha joins the firm from Occidental Petroleum Corp in Houston, Texas, where she spent nine years in various senior talent, training, and development roles, most recently as Senior Manager, Talent Development & Inclusion. Prior to Occidental, she held talent development and diversity-focused roles at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston and 21st Century Consulting, Inc. in Chicago, IL.
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Cushman & Wakefield has hired Sayo Kamara. Joining the firm from Colliers International, Kamara will be responsible for tenant and landlord representation.
Kamara will be working with a wide range of clients, assisting with financial analysis, disposition, site selection and lease negotiations. In addition, he will help strategize and implement leasing strategies on behalf of some of New York City’s most preeminent landlords.
Previously at Colliers International, Kamara has experience as an advisor at Cresa and a summer associate at Lee & Associates.
He studied finance at the University of North Texas.
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PGIM Real Estate has hired Stephanie Wiggins as managing director and head of production for its agency lending platform, responsible for oversight of the firm’s originations for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, and Affordable multifamily loans.
In this newly created role, Wiggins reports to Mike McRoberts, head of agency lending and chairman of the agency platform.
Wiggins brings more than 30 years of commercial real estate finance experience. Most recently, she was a senior vice president and chief production officer for the FHA team at Walker & Dunlop, where she oversaw multifamily loan production through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Wiggins is also a PGIM Real Estate alumni, having previously served as a director and senior investment officer from 1997 to 2000.
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Newmark Group, Inc. announced the hiring of Richard Bertasi as chief executive officer of its Global Corporate Services business.
With more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive for real estate and investment companies across the globe, Beretasi will head the GCS business as it seeks to expand both domestically and internationally.
Prior to joining Newmark, bertasi served as head of real estate & facilities for Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, where he oversaw the fund’s investments across a wide range of corporate real estate assets. Prior to that role, he spent 10 years working in Europe, including five years overseeing global corporate real estate for Deutsche Bank.
Bertasi has also served in management roles at United Systems Integrators (USI) – which included time as founder and CEO of its property administration/management software product Sequentra, and as a partner at Trammel Crow.
He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Dartmouth College’s Amos Tuck School of Business, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Political Economy from Dartmouth College.
