Somera Road Inc. announced that Andrew Donchez has joined the firm as a Vice President – Head of Development to lead the new division.
Donchez will oversee the ground-up development and construction of all asset types, with a particular focus on multifamily apartments. He will lead Somera Road’s portfolio of development projects in the key growth markets and source new development opportunities throughout the country.
To start, the Donchez-led team will be focused on new apartment projects in Nashville and Pittsburgh.
Donchez, a 15-year veteran in the ground-up development and construction business, joins Somera Road from Mill Creek Residential Trust where he was Vice President of Development in the Northeast, overseeing development activities for projects throughout New York and New Jersey. Prior to Mill Creek, Donchez worked at RXR Realty. Before that, he was a senior project manager for the New York division of Toll Brothers.
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Standard Communities has announced that John Fischer has joined the firm as Managing Director of Asset Management.
Fischer is a multifamily housing industry veteran, having served in multi-disciplinary managerial capacities with other large multi-family owners and investors including Aimco, Highridge Costa, TruAmerica Multifamily and Compass Acquisition Partners.
Fischer earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Claremont McKenna College. He will be based in Standard’s Los Angeles office.
He is the most recent of the nine new hires made by Standard in 2020, including five in the last two months.
Standard has over 50 employees in seven offices nationwide, with additional hires in the pipeline, as its portfolio of nearly 9,000 affordable housing units continues to grow.
In addition to Fischer, Kyle Considine joined the firm in New York as Acquisitions Analyst.
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Jonathan H. Brinsden, chief executive officer of Houston-based real estate investment and development firm, Midway, has been appointed as ULI Americas Chairman.
Brinsden, who succeeds Jack Chandler, founder of Majesteka Investment Holdings, will serve on a voluntary basis for a two-year term starting on July 1, 2020 and will also join the ULI Global Board of Directors.
Brinsden brings extensive ULI leadership experience to his new role having previously served as a Global Board Director, Governing Trustee, ULI Foundation Governor and as chair of ULI Houston.
He is active in a number of civic leadership and charitable organizations, a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Bauer Graduate Real Estate Program and a frequent guest lecturer at Texas A&M University and Rice University.
Brinsden has outlined that his priority will be diversity in ULI and the wider real estate industry.
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Katz & Associates announced that John Heretakis has joined the firm as an Associate in the New York office, focused on investment sales along the East Coast and tenant and landlord leasing in Long Island, Manhattan and the Boroughs.
Heretakis previously held a position at a Sovereign Realty Group LLC focused on net lease properties. He has been working in commercial real estate for the past five years, primarily on Long Island and also with some projects in New Jersey.
He started interning as a CRE Research Analyst when he was a senior in high school where he researched net leases and took real estate courses, and then he got his license and started brokering the day he turned 18.
Heretakis holds a BS in Finance from Adelphi University.
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Angel Commercial announced that Eva Kornreich, has joined the firm as a vice president.
Kornreich previously served as a senior associate with Avison Young, focused on leasing and sales in the Healthcare, industrial and office real estate markets in Fairfield and New Haven Counties.
Kornreich is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a BA in Economics and Tulane University with an MHA.
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Svigals + Partners has announced new leadership in its interior design studio as it also celebrates the career and contributions of Lynn Brotman, NCIDQ, IIDA.
Brotman is retiring from her career as an interior designer to pursue personal interests and “plenty of family time.”
The firm has announced that Katherine Berger, NCIDQ, WELL AP, an associate, will assume the role of Director of Interior Design.
After 17 years as the head of Lynn Brotman Interior Design, Brotman merged her firm with Svigals + Partners in 2017, and joined the leadership as associate principal.
Brotman had collaborated with Svigals + Partners on a number of high-profile works prior to the merger, including Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn. and lead the charge on significant projects such as the Yale Child Study Center and Yale-New Haven Hospital’s Strategic Business Office.
A graduate of the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University in Boston, Katherine Berger’s diverse portfolio includes work in the healthcare, education, biotech, and corporate sectors, with over a decade of high-profile work in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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Cyrus Izzo, the co-president of Syska Hennessy, has been elected chair of the Metropolitan Region of the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York) for 2020-2021.
Izzo has been active in ACEC New York for 27 years and has held a number of leadership positions within the organization, including vice chair and director.
ACEC New York represents nearly 300 member firms that engage in every discipline of engineering related to the built environment, including civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, and geotechnical.
Izzo, who became co-president of Syska in 2007, holds a BSEE from Manhattan College and is a licensed professional engineer in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
He is a member of Syska’s board of directors, responsible for long-term growth and corporate governance of the privately held firm, which was founded in 1928.
Additionally, he serves on the boards of the New York Building Congress, 7×24 Exchange International, and ACE Mentor Program of New York.
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Thompson & Knight LLP announced partner Keith Brandofino, counsel Maximiliano Rinaldi, and counsel David V. Mignardi have joined the firm’s New York office in the Real Estate and Banking Group.
Together, the real estate litigation attorneys have more than 50 years of expertise on a range of legal matters.
Keith Brandofino joins the firm from Kilpatrick Townsend in New York. Throughout his 19 years of practice, Brandofino has worked on various real estate and banking matters involving loan servicing and commercial mortgage-backed securities.
Brandofino has won numerous significant cases throughout his career, including representing a lender in the recovery of a $189 million loan secured by eight hotels in six different states.
Brandofino also served as an adjunct professor at New York University where he taught at the Schack Institute of Real Estate Graduate Program.
Maximiliano Rinaldi has 28 years of experience as a litigation attorney. He also joins Thompson & Knight from Kilpatrick Townsend in New York. Prior to that, he was a
founding partner of a general practice law firm where he worked for more than 14 years.
His specific expertise includes representing creditors in matters related to non-performing commercial loans and leases.
Rinaldi is an adjunct professor at New York University. He earned his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law and his B.S. in Accounting from St. John’s University, College of Business Administration.
David Mignardi, also from Kilpatrick Townsend in New York, is an accomplished real estate finance and capital markets litigation attorney, with a particular expertise in litigation and loan servicing matters dealing with commercial mortgage-backed securities.
He also has considerable appellate experience as well as experience in the regulated consumer finance industry.
Mignardi earned his law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with a concentration in Corporate Law, and his B.S., magna cum laude, in Economics from Manhattan College.
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LCOR Incorporate announced the hiring of Nicholas Pasquenza as Director of Development & Construction and Kevin Murray as Senior Project Manager.
Nicholas Pasquenza is responsible for development and construction in the Northeast from Philadelphia to Boston.
Over the course of his career, Pasquenza has held several leadership roles in ground-up development and redevelopment/repositioning.
He previously served as vice president of construction, Eastern US with Landsea Homes. Before that, he was the vice president of construction with Midwood Investment & Development.
Pasquenza is an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, where he teaches courses in construction management with the school’s Master’s degree program.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from Boston College’s Wallace E. Carroll Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Lafayette College in Easton, PA.
Kevin Murray previously served as vice president of development with Landsea Homes and his experience extends internationally to South Africa, where he served as an Architectural Technician with DSA Architects International, and in a similar role with Grace Design.
Murray holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Construction Management from The University of Texas at Tyler, along with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Interior Architecture from Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England.
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MBH Architects announced that Helen Herrick has joined the firm‘s New York office as Studio Director.
Herrick will lead the MBH New York team with a focus on helping the office grow.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Herrick has cultivated a portfolio that includes projects of all scales and in sectors, including corporate, healthcare, education, retail, and hospitality spaces. She managed large-scale and geographically dispersed teams in her previous roles.
Most recenlty, she ran Helen Herrick Design Strategy and before that was globla head fo store design for Capital One. Earlier in ehr career, she served as director of store design with Ann Taylor, Inc. and was a design consultant for L’Oreal
Herrick is a graduate of the University of Washington where she earned a BA in ArchitecturE and a Masters in Urban Planning.
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David Golab has been named vice president of business development for building systems in New York City at WSP USA.
Golab will work closely with the firm’s New York staff and regional leadership to develop and implement tactical action plans and client relation management plans and lead key external marketing and client initiatives.
Prior to joining WSP, Golab served as director of business development for Superstructures, a firm that specializes in the restoration of building exteriors, facades, roofs, windows and parking structures.
Golab is a graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture.
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David M. Slaugenhoup has been promoted to vice president within RT Specialty, LLC’s Environmental and Construction Professional (RT ECP) Practice.
Since joining the team in 2013, Slaugenhoup has worked with customers nationwide to strategically manage the daily liability issues, exposures and risks confronting the evolving construction, manufacturing and commercial real estate industries.
Prior to RT ECP, Slaugenhoup spent more than a decade as an environmental industry consultant. This included serving as the Remedial Investigation Leader/Vapor Intrusion Manager at Kleinfelder.
In addition, Slaugenhoup also led the efforts to successfully become the first to obtain site-specific groundwater screening levels from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) using the NJ-specific Johnson & Ettinger model.
Slaugenhoup holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Resource Management (ERM) from Pennsylvania State University as well as Construction Risk Insurance Specialist (CRIS) and Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) designations.
