Publisher's Section
Trailblazers in Building & Real Estate
The leaders reshaping New York’s landscape.
City & State presents the 2024 Trailblazers in Building & Real Estate. NYC Housing Development Corporation; Matt Stokes Photography; NYC SCA
New York City boasts one of the most iconic skylines in the world, one that’s endlessly evolving, with new supertall skyscrapers sprouting up year after year. Yet for all the buzz and hum of new development across the city, New York is also defined by its perennial housing shortages, with regulatory hurdles and investment in market rate units making it difficult to provide for everyone who wants to live in the thriving metropolis.
City & State’s inaugural Trailblazers in Building & Real Estate highlights key players in these twin sectors who are navigating New York’s unique landscape. The list features a range of stakeholders who are finding ways to create more space and make the city more affordable. It features major construction contractors and leading real estate developers, lawyers and consultants, architects and engineers. It includes executives at public authorities, nonprofits and for-profit companies who are expanding their footprints; builders of critical transportation infrastructure; and developers all across the state, from Westchester to Western New York – and, of course, advocates and lobbyists seeking to change city and state policies in order to spur more development.
Jason Alderman
At the start of 2023, Jason Alderman was promoted to city head of the New York office of Hines, an international real estate investment, development and property manager. Alderman, who succeeded Tommy Craig in the New York City-based post, drives new business generation and oversees major projects, including One Vanderbilt, One Madison and the environmentally sustainable 555 Greenwich development that was described by Fast Company as “New York’s most energy-efficient new office building.” He has also focused on multifamily developments, recently acquiring a major two-building property in Jersey City.
Sara Bayer
For nearly a decade, Sara Bayer has managed her architecture firm’s specialized and senior housing projects, as well as its sustainability practice. She served as project manager of Magnusson’s Crotona Park Seniors, an 84-unit senior affordable housing site, and oversaw the design and construction of a 93-unit senior building in Brooklyn, ensuring it met Passive House energy efficiency standards. She also led the firm’s RetrofitNY project to achieve net-zero energy use through sustainable renovations and won multiple awards from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Buildings of Excellence program.
David Beer
As New York City grapples with nearly 150,000 people crowding shelters and another 4,100 individuals sleeping on streets and subways, David Beer has pursued solutions for families struggling with housing instability. His nonprofit, Breaking Ground, provides transitional housing and street outreach for 10,000 New Yorkers, placing about 500 people in housing per year by converting underutilized hotels into supportive housing facilities. Beer’s latest acquisition was the $172 million purchase of a 435-unit former City University of New York dorm in East Harlem that will provide housing for low-income and formerly homeless New Yorkers.
Eric Benaim
A key figure in Queens real estate, Eric Benaim began his career with a live event production firm before shifting to luxury real estate in 2001. He sold 50 residences in the Long Island City area in 2006 and two years later founded Modern Spaces, a brokerage focusing on the Queens neighborhood. His growing firm, which now boasts a $4 billion portfolio, has four offices throughout New York and New Jersey and a staff of more than 100 people. He also serves on the board of Long Island City Partnership, a local economic development entity.
Melissa Billig
At the Manhattan law firm Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP, Melissa Billig co-chairs the Construction and Design Practice, which counts owners, developers, architects, engineers and others among its clients. Billig is an expert in construction contracts and disputes and has worked on such projects as the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion, the Governors Island Park and The Shed at Hudson Yards. She serves on the diversity committee of the Women Builders Council and co-chairs her firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee.
John Bredehorst
John Bredehorst has spent more than three decades at WSP, a global engineering, environment and professional services firm, where he is currently a senior vice president and managing director overseeing more than 300 staffers in New York and the Northeast. The WSP veteran brings deep experience with electrical and mechanical systems and was also involved with the landmark Local Law 97, which aims to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in New York City. Bredehorst also spoke at City & State’s 2024 Rebuilding New York Summit.
Kenny Burgos
Kenny Burgos was elected to the Assembly at the age of 26, but the Bronx Democrat only spent four years in Albany before abruptly leaving office in July. Now Burgos has a new challenge representing the state’s property owners as head of a new association resulting from the recent merger of two long-standing landlord groups. He won’t be able to lobby the state Legislature directly for two years, but Burgos is developing the organization’s long-term strategic plan while seeking to reduce the cost of property insurance, expand voucher availability and push for comprehensive property tax reform for his clients.
Elizabeth Canela
Elizabeth Canela left a successful career as Forest City Ratner’s on-the-ground project manager for some of the city’s most dynamic developments to join Totem in 2019. Canela has helped the startup with ambitious plans to rezone a large swath near Broadway Junction for 664 units of permanently affordable housing. This year, Canela helped launch Ailanthus, a new firm co-founded by Ofer Cohen and Totem's Tucker Reed and Vivian Liao, to create 10,000 units of housing in Brooklyn over the next five years.
Joseph Chan
Since his days working under Dan Doctoroff in the Bloomberg administration, Joseph Chan has been revitalizing New York City institutions, from Moynihan Train Hall to the Javits Center. Chan, a senior policy adviser to Doctoroff, went on to become founding president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, which has spurred growth in Downtown Brooklyn. Chan now oversees real estate, design, construction and property management for the 24-branch YMCA of Greater New York, including the design and construction of two new branches in the Bronx.
Ravi Chandran
Ravi Chandran brings a wealth of government experience to his role as a vice president at AI Engineers, where he oversees construction services for the firm. Chandran joined the firm as associate vice president in 2019, following more than a decade as a division chief and construction administrator in the Connecticut Department of Transportation, which builds and maintains the state’s major transportation infrastructure. The multistate transportation infrastructure firm AI Engineers, which has two offices in New York, is named AI after its founder and CEO Abul Islam – not artificial intelligence.
David Cheikin
David Cheikin has managed more transactions than the average New York Mets offseason since he joined Fisher Brothers in June 2023. The former Columbia Property Trust and Brookfield Properties executive oversees the family-run real estate firm’s commercial and residential real estate portfolio and leasing activities – including a 765,000-square-foot 20-year deal with the law firm Paul Weiss that was the country’s largest office lease last year. Then, shortly after selling an undeveloped site in Long Island City for $57.5 million in March, Fisher Brothers announced it had leased 60,000 square feet at 299 Park Ave.
Edwin L. Christian
Edwin Christian is a stalwart of the labor movement in New York City, having spent over four decades as a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local
14-14B. He has served as business manager of the construction workers union since 2004 and as an international IUOE trustee since 2021. Christian is also a leader on workforce development, serving on the New York City Workforce Development Board, and he serves on the board of the New York City Central Labor Council, an influential labor umbrella organization.
Paul Ciminelli
Paul Ciminelli has spent close to four decades building his Buffalo-based Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. into an operation with offices in Florida, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and a business presence in eight states. Among its significant achievements have been completing the 350,000-square-foot Conventus medical office building in Buffalo and providing property management work for KeyBank. Paul Ciminelli this year elevated his son, Kyle Ciminelli, to the role of president, positioning him as his eventual successor.
Robert Cornegy Jr.
After spending a productive two terms in the New York City Council, Robert Cornegy Jr. is still aiming to reach new heights – and that’s saying something for someone who once set a record as the tallest politician in the world at 6 feet, 10 inches. The former Housing and Buildings Committee chair has kept busy with his 610 Collective consulting firm, a certified minority-owned business enterprise, since its launch in 2022, working with clients in affordable housing and real estate – including the developers angling to win a license for a casino in Coney Island.
Rebecca G. Crimmins
Since joining the Institute for Community Living in 2021, Rebecca G. Crimmins has built out a pipeline of real estate development projects, including redeveloping ICL-owned sites and developing strategic partnerships to expand affordable and supportive housing opportunities with nonprofit and for-profit partners. The former New York City Council land use analyst is also behind the Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation, a regional effort to encourage collaboration among 14 affordable housing and open space nonprofits to conserve critical landscapes and address the housing crisis.
Elizabeth Crowley
Former New York City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley has sought several other elected offices over the years, campaigning at various points to be a U.S. representative, a state senator and Queens borough president. Yet she has shifted gears recently, assuming the leadership of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, a trade association representing New York’s construction industry, last year, following the departure of Louis Coletti. She has also kept herself directly engaged in politics as a co-founder of The New Majority NYC, which aims to elect more women in the city.
Kenneth Crystal
Kenneth Crystal has guided a range of companies – automotive manufacturers, high-end fashion companies, global banks – seeking real estate in New York City. In the past few years, the Phillips Lytle partner helped one bank acquire a soon-to-be-built office tower in midtown Manhattan for $600 million and represented another financial institution in selling its Manhattan headquarters and managing leaseback of the space for retail banking. Another high-profile effort involves assisting Empire State Development during its decadelong redevelopment of Harlem’s historic Victoria Theater into a mixed-use hotel, residential and performance space complex that reopened in March.
Lisa Damiani
After years of economic stagnation, this year Buffalo was named one of the nation’s hottest housing markets, and Lisa Damiani wants to ensure the area’s landlords benefit. She formed the Western New York Property Owners Association in 2020 to ensure landlords outside of downstate New York had a voice shaping state housing policy in Albany. Her group opposed extending a pandemic-era moratorium on evictions and the state’s “good cause” eviction law. Damiani also runs Tola Strategies, which provides strategic government and public relations services, and serves on the board of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Michelle de la Uz
For over two decades, Michelle de la Uz has been a prominent advocate for affordable housing. She runs the Fifth Avenue Committee, a community development organization in Brooklyn, and also co-chairs the New York Housing Conference, a policy and advocacy group pushing for more affordable housing in the state. Her Fifth Avenue Committee provides an array of programs and services, from adult education and workforce development to homebuying assistance and tenant organizing – and also developed a 100% affordable housing project over a new and expanded public library in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Michael Dehmler
Marrying his deep experience in law and construction, Michael Dehmler is an attorney at the regional firm Barclay Damon and the managing member of CSD Housing, which guides nonprofit organizations in developing affordable housing. Dehmler, who founded CSD Housing and oversees its operations and initiatives, was previously the president of Christa Construction. He recently helped complete a housing project in New York City with 117 units, much of it made up of supportive apartments for formerly homeless individuals with mental health challenges.
Jerrod Delaine
Jerrod Delaine is dedicated to creating affordable housing and teaching the next generation about housing policy. He started his real estate career in the Southeast and has since served as director of development at Carthage Real Estate Advisors and taught at the Pratt Institute and New York University. In 2022, he launched The Delaine Companies, which has worked to enable financing for the construction and preservation of affordable housing for certified minority business enterprises.. The company has also advised the New York Housing Conference, pushed for the mayor’s City of Yes zoning regulations and worked to boost Black home ownership.
Steven Durels
When COVID-19 emptied out offices for months, Steven Durels bet that New Yorkers would be enticed by a 1.4 million-square-foot high rise built atop a 19th century building in the Flatiron District. Durels was proven right when SL Green’s new $2.3 billion skyscraper One Madison opened last fall and welcomed IBM’s new flagship this month. Durels led SL Green’s acquisition of a Park Avenue office tower while finance and legal tenants have continued to rent out the office landlord’s Manhattan properties at 450 Park Ave., 461 Fifth Ave.and 711 Third Ave.
Frederick Elghanayan
Perhaps no developer is more responsible for remaking Long Island City than Frederick Elghanayan’s TF Cornerstone. Elghanayan and his brothers grew their $3 billion empire by focusing on developing properties in “emerging neighborhoods,” including, in the 1990s, the Financial District. TF Cornerstone opened a 798-unit residential tower at 595 Dean St. in April 2023, then finished a 1.4 million-square-foot luxury complex with 1,386 new homes at Hunters Point South and purchased two development sites in Greenpoint a year later.
Mike Fazio
When the New York State Builders Association needed someone to succeed Scott Snyder, they didn’t have to look far. Mike Fazio, a former state representative and political action committee chair for the trade association, took the reins of the organization two years ago after a three-decade career running the Staten Island-based Woodrow Estates. Under Fazio’s leadership, NYSBA joined a lawsuit opposing a new state law that would prohibit natural gas connections and gas stoves in new buildings and raised money for the New York Build PAC, which disbursed $2.8 million nationally in the 2022 election cycle.
Rella Fogliano
As New York has lagged in building new homes, Rella Fogliano has sought to meet demand by bringing thousands of affordable housing units to Westchester County. MacQuesten Development’s most significant accomplishments include replacing New Rochelle’s aging Hartley Houses towers with Heritage Homes, a 228-unit project with clusters of townhouses, and developing an 11-story, $30 million affordable housing complex in Mount Vernon. Fogliano is also behind 22 South West, a 17-story, 189-unit building in Mount Vernon, and is planning a 160-unit affordable project in Yonkers and a senior-focused 74-unit building facility in Ossining.
Tim Foley
In 2020, Tim Foley joined the Building & Realty Institute, a trade association for home builders, developers, remodelers and real estate players in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley, first as executive director and then, since 2021, as CEO. Foley, who previously served as communications director for Assembly Member Amy Paulin and as a union official, has supported housing development and championed a pro-building approach to spur construction in the suburbs. His association is part of the Welcome Home Westchester campaign aimed at moving forward the conversation around the housing shortage.
George Fontas
After sharpening his government affairs skills at Capalino for just over a decade, George Fontas tapped into his network of nonprofits, trade associations and technology clients and launched his own practice in 2017. Last year, he repped Homeowners for an Affordable New York, a pro-developer group with financial support from the Real Estate Board of New York and the Rent Stabilization Association of New York City, lobbying the New York City mayor’s office against state legislation that would make it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants. Fontas also sits on the board of Plus Pool, which aims to install a floating pool in the East River.
Lisa Gomez
Tackling two challenges facing policymakers – affordable housing and sustainability – L+M Development Partners has marked several milestones and cemented its place as a leader in sustainably built affordable housing under Lisa Gomez. Gomez, an expert in real estate finance with invaluable experience in government as well, was named CEO of the firm in 2022, and has since seen it develop several community-scale and multifamily geothermal projects in affordable housing. She is also a member of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Advisory Committee on Affordable, Equitable and Sustainable Housing and chair of the state Dormitory Authority.
Kirk Goodrich
Kirk Goodrich got his start in real estate working as an intern for the New York City Housing Authority, where he learned how housing was financed. Three decades later, the East Flatbush native launched Black Developers Network Triboro to help Black developers enter the commercial real estate industry. In 2022, Goodrich’s Monadnock Development joined several partners to acquire 10 properties with 1,036 units of affordable housing. Then, last year, Goodrich spearheaded a $256 million financing deal to build two residential towers with 322 affordable units, a grocery store and a health care center in the neighborhood where he grew up.
William Goodrich
As Western New York has undergone a building boom, William Goodrich’s LeChase Construction Services has been in a great position to capitalize on new development opportunities. The Rochester construction manager helped reconstruct the State University of New York at Fredonia’s 28,000-square-foot Center Point Lounge Complex, and won the university’s 2008 “Contractor of the Year” award for his diligence. More recently, Goodrich broke ground on Niagara University’s Kiernan Recreation Center and has been working on a patient care tower at the University of Rochester. This year, Goodrich celebrated LeChase’s 80th anniversary in business.
Katherine Gray
Katherine Gray has spent nearly eight years as development director at Gilbane Development Co., the real estate development, financing and ownership arm of the global construction giant Gilbane. Among Gray’s responsibilities is overseeing the company’s affordable housing development efforts, including Gilbane’s work on the New York City Housing Authority’s Manhattanville redevelopment project. This summer, Gilbane Development Co. also partnered with Xenolith Partners and Newman Architects on a mixed-use housing and retail development in New Haven, Connecticut.
Lawrence Hammond
Affordable housing isn’t easy to build, but Lawrence Hammond has long been a key leader in New York City’s plans to finance and construct hundreds of thousands of new homes. For nearly a decade, Hammond has originated loans for affordable housing projects in disinvested communities, and in 2020 he helped create the Access initiative to provide Community Preservation Corp.’s technical assistance and financial resources for developers of color. The Access initiative provides funding, education and other resources, and over the past year leveraged more than $155 million to finance housing projects with emerging developers of color.
Marc Herbst
Earlier this year, Marc Herbst was confirmed as a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, adding yet another avenue for the construction industry leader to weigh in on key public policy matters in New York. Herbst’s main job is advocating for heavy construction contractors in Nassau and Suffolk counties as the longtime executive director of the 170-member Long Island Contractors’ Association. The former state lawmaker is also the president of the New York Roadway and Infrastructure Coalition and a director of the Midway Crossing Local Development Corp.
Judy Herbstman
Since Judy Herbstman joined Settlement Housing Fund in 2017, she has ushered in a remarkable expansion of the nonprofit housing developer’s portfolio. The Settlement Housing Fund, which since 1969 has provided over 9,000 apartments to 25,000 New Yorkers, plans to add 1,500 new units to its existing portfolio of 3,100 affordable apartments. Herbstman led a partnership with New York City and the Community Preservation Corp. two years ago to acquire and rehabilitate 228 units across five largely rent-stabilized Bronx buildings in a $144 million deal.
Michael Hershman
Michael Hershman has big plans for the largest undeveloped tract of land in Manhattan. The CEO of the Soloviev Group, whose real estate empire includes 700,000 acres of land across the country as well as thriving agribusinesses in Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado, Long Island vineyards and a West 57th Street skyscraper, has been leading a bid for a new casino on the former Con Edison site in East Midtown. Soloviev’s proposal with Mohegan includes a democracy museum and a 1,200-room hotel – plus 1,325 apartments, nearly half of them affordable.
Robert Hickman
After years of delays, the $16 billion project to build a new commuter rail tunnel and rehabilitate an existing tunnel is finally underway, and Robert Hickman has had a front-row seat as what observers are calling “America’s most critical infrastructure project” picks up speed. Hickman was part of the bistate Gateway Development Commission team that secured a record $6.9 billion federal grant and recently awarded its first major tunneling contract. Hickman, a former transportation counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, has also helped the commission transition into a full-fledged public authority.
Rey Hollingsworth Falu
Rey Hollingsworth Falu of White Plains-based Hollingsworth Real Estate Group is president-elect for the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. Hollingsworth Falu has long been active at the intersection of business and policy, serving on the New York State Association of Realtors’ Legislative Steering Committee while meeting with such notable politicians as state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Rep. Mike Lawler. He has advocated on issues including municipal transfer taxes and home savings accounts.
Karim Hutson
Throughout his career, Karim Hutson has focused on innovative approaches to how cities build and preserve affordable housing. As president and CEO of Genesis Companies, the multifamily development firm he founded in 2004, Hutson has been a driving force behind the creation of sustainable communities and affordable housing in the New York region. His Black-owned firm has expanded beyond its Harlem roots – where it’s working on two Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, or PACT, conversions for the New York City Housing Authority – and now has more than 70 staffers.
Ninve James
The Real Estate Board of New York is known as an influential advocacy organization for the industry, but it does a lot more than that. For example, members have access to REBNY’s Residential Listing Service – and the invaluable data resource was recently made more accessible thanks to a major digital platform transition led by Ninve James. After stints as a vice president for Realtor.com and a senior manager for Trulia, four years ago James joined REBNY, where she supports more than 11,000 residential brokers across New York City.
Timothy Jones
In the two decades that Timothy Jones has led the Robert Martin Company LLC, the Westchester County developer has amassed $4 billion in transactions and expanded its portfolio with a focus on industrial and waterfront sites. In 2019, Robert Martin paid $487.5 million to reacquire 3.2 million square feet of a commercial real estate portfolio it had previously sold to Mack-Cali. Then, three years later, Jones led a $455 million refinancing of 45 properties across three industrial parks totaling 2.6 million square feet. Jones secured 586,000 square feet of new leases and renewals last year alone.
Gregory A. Kelly
At the helm of STV since 2020, Gregory A. Kelly has bolstered its reputation as a leading infrastructure-oriented professional services firm. In the past year, the firm helped New York City School Bus Umbrella Services secure $29.5 million through the federal Clean School Bus Program; was selected by the New York City Housing Authority to provide construction management services for a design-build project at St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem; and was recognized for its work on Grand Central Madison. Kelly, the chair of the New York Building Congress, also relocated STV’s headquarters to the Empire State Building.
Valerie Kelly
Whether it’s in our nation’s capital or in the country’s financial capital, Valerie Kelly of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is making a name for herself in the commercial real estate business. Kelly, whose focus is on large commercial leases for landlords and tenants, has won multiple awards for her work in Washington, D.C., and is also a player in New York, where she has worked with the likes of RXR Realty and Tishman Speyer and helped on leases for the Hospital for Special Surgery, Fiserv and Ernst & Young.
Soohyung Kim
Soohyung Kim dreams of opening a casino in the Bronx. The Bally’s Corp. executive generated goodwill recently when the company assumed the lease of the Ferry Point public golf course from The Trump Organization and replaced the “Trump Links” logo. Kim has proposed building a 3.1-million-square-foot casino complex on 17 acres next to the East Bronx course, creating 3,500 jobs. But the state Gaming Commission postponed awarding casino licenses until the end of 2025. Kim’s hedge fund, Standard General, bought out Bally’s in July in a $4.6 billion deal, putting him in a position to expand.
Ann Korchak
Small property owners in New York are often directly affected by the outcomes of contentious battles in Albany and New York City over housing policy, and they have a staunch advocate in Ann Korchak and her growing Small Property Owners of New York organization, which represents owners of small rent-stabilized properties and residences for one to four families. Korchak has drawn attention to the impact of tenant protection legislation on small property owners and most recently helped weaken the “good cause” eviction legislation that passed this year.
Dara Kovel
Beacon Communities is based in Massachusetts, but Dara Kovel has helped the affordable housing developer expand into upstate and Western New York. Nine years after Kovel joined Beacon from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the nonprofit owns 160 properties that total 20,000 units of housing in a dozen states. In December, the team broke ground on a $22 million supportive housing project outside Albany for homeless individuals and at-risk veterans. This summer, Kovel celebrated the rehabilitation of 212 affordable units in Ulster County and proposed a $29 million affordable housing project on Buffalo’s East Side.
Nina Kubota
New York City schools have been experiencing lots of changes, from the enrollment declines of the pandemic to an influx of migrant children. But the puzzle of which neighborhoods need new or refurbished school facilities is one that Nina Kubota is equipped to solve. Kubota broke ground on a 572-seat school and opened five new school additions in the Bronx three years ago, and launched a 547-seat elementary school on Staten Island in 2023. In 2022, she announced one of her most ambitious plans: demolishing a five-story Long Island City office in order to build a 547-seat elementary school.
Laura Lazarus
With more than three decades of experience in affordable housing, Laura Lazarus has long been a champion in the fight against housing insecurity. Her innovative nonprofit, Anthos Home, partners with nonprofits, housing providers and government agencies – including the New York City Administration for Children’s Services – to help New Yorkers in shelter or at risk of homelessness quickly move into affordable housing using housing vouchers and to keep those families housed. Lazarus has previously worked at Telesis Corp., Lantern Community Services, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Charlie Loskant
An engineer by training, Charlie Loskant joined Gotham Organization seven years ago to help the 112-year-old family-run development firm keep its construction projects on schedule and manage its portfolio of properties. Loskant’s Gotham team helped Covenant House develop a 12-story shelter with 120 residences on Manhattan’s West Side, winning a residential architecture design award. Gotham and its partners also secured $270 million in financing to help the Christian Cultural Center build a 386-unit multifamily property in East New York, Brooklyn, the first step in a $1 billion redevelopment plan that will create 1,975 units of affordable housing.
Freda Manuel
With Amtrak serving as a key partner on the Gateway Program, Freda Manuel is bringing her experience in both public and private real estate to help the major infrastructure project get on track. Manuel, who has done professional work on public-private partnership developments and at public benefit initiatives, oversees Amtrak’s real estate strategy, planning and acquisition for the $16 billion project, a series of rail infrastructure projects – most notably the Hudson rail tunnel project, which will increase commuter rail capacity and boost the economy along the Northeast Corridor.
John Marino
John Marino has done a little bit of everything at Marino PR over the past two decades, serving as chief operating officer, managing director and now president, running the firm’s day-to-day operations. He has worked with a number of corporate clients, including Cushman & Wakefield, Walmart and McDonald’s, and spearheaded the public relations campaign for John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4 redevelopment. Marino also helped Starwood Capital Group expedite its rezoning proposal for 775 new rental apartments at the former United Hospital property in Port Chester and cultivated local interest in Chelsea Market.
Renato Matos
Whenever a church needs a new lease, a transfer of air rights or a property sale, faith leaders call Renato Matos, the Capell Barnett Matalon & Schoenfeld LLP managing partner who helps denominational governing bodies with their real estate assets. This year, Matos helped Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church in Fort Greene sell its property to Watermark Capital Group for $15 million. He also created the annual Interchurch Center Conference, an education program to help religious organizations plan long-term property management strategies. He has also worked with Lutheran denominations, the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Presbytery of Long Island.
Jonathan Meyers
With experience in the private sector and in government, Jonathan Meyers brings a balanced perspective to public-private development and policy challenges. The HR&A Advisors veteran guides public and private sector clients on the financing and implementation of complex real estate projects. Earlier in his career, Meyers helped make the case for the transformation of the High Line, and then spent a decade as chief operating officer at the Trust for Governors Island before returning to HR&A. He’s now advising stakeholders on complicated office-to-residential conversions and supporting energy efficiency efforts.
Ruth Moreira
The New York City Housing Development Corp. was created in 1971 by the state Legislature to finance affordable housing outside of the city budget – and it continues to support the creation of multifamily housing to this day. Ruth Moreira helped launch the New York City Minority Business Enterprise Guaranty Facility, a $50 million initiative projected to leverage up to $500 million of construction financing for affordable housing development – and saw it close on its first construction loan guarantee, for an mixed-use affordable housing development in Rego Park, in June.
Regina Myer
Regina Myer is leading the charge to expand and improve commercial and residential space in Downtown Brooklyn. Myer, who has led the nonprofit Downtown Brooklyn Partnership since 2016, has also helped spur the development of thousands of affordable housing units during her tenure. In May, her organization teamed up with the city on Abolitionist Place, a 1.15-acre park. Myer previously spent nearly a decade leading the transformation of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Charles John O’Byrne
Related Companies is thankful they have Charles John O’Byrne’s resume and Rolodex in their government affairs practice. The former secretary to the governor, Archdiocese of New York general counsel and Howard Dean campaign alum helped put together a land use deal to turn Willets Point into a 25,000-seat professional soccer stadium, which the New York City Council recently approved. O’Byrne is also on the management team of energyRe, an energy startup led by Related executives that raised $1.2 billion in capital last December for transmission lines and renewable energy.
John O’Hare
Since he was elected managing director of the Building Contractors Association in 2017, John O’Hare has represented more than 180 unionized construction contractors in New York and advocated for builders large and small. O’Hare, who previously spent nearly two decades as BCA’s assistant managing director, also negotiates collective bargaining agreements with a number of unions. He serves as chair of the Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan New York, which represents both unionized carpenters and the contractors that employ them.
Stephen Powers
A little over three years ago, Stephen Powers and Lindsay Ornstein launched Open Impact Real Estate, a Manhattan-based brokerage firm geared toward serving nonprofit and mission-driven organizations. Powers, who was previously at Denham Wolf Real Estate Services and Transwestern, recently forged a strategic partnership with JLL, making Open Impact Real Estate the Chicago-headquartered real estate services firm’s certified women-owned business enterprise partner in the tristate region and a national affiliate. Open Impact Real Estate recently completed a major lease with Central Queens Academy Charter School.
Sheila Pozon
Sheila Pozon is special counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, a law firm with a top New York City land use practice. Pozon represents private developers and property owners, nonprofit institutions, lenders and investors – and government entities as well. For example, she represented the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the $10 billion redevelopment of the Midtown bus terminal, including dealing with the New York City Planning Commission. She also assisted the Archdiocese of New York in land use approvals for its New York City properties.
David Quart
After a decade in the New York City economic development and housing agencies where he advanced housing plans and inclusionary zoning policies, David Quart joined VHB in 2018 to expand its New York real estate practice. The civil engineering firm is helping to convert 116 acres of vacant land in Far Rockaway into a thriving neighborhood with 1,650 new homes and commercial space. Last year, VHB and Arcadis won a $700 million contract to repair the New York City transit system’s bus, rail and power facilities. The firm is also supporting the current administration’s City of Yes housing initiative.
Matt Quigley
It’s not easy to change a family-owned manufacturing business after 70 years, but Matt Quigley and his cousins closed their Long Island City-based plastics factory two years ago to focus on real estate. The Plaxall company once thermoformed dessert trays, formfitting packaging for perfume bottles and containers that dispose of medical waste, and even contributed components to the Manhattan Project, before making personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Quigley saw an opportunity to market the factory space to commercial tenants while managing 1 million square feet of space in a rapidly booming market.
Michelle Quinn
For over two decades, Michelle Quinn has been counsel to cooperative and condominium boards, businesses and individuals regarding litigation in real estate law involving issues with shareholders, unit owners and tenants. Her focus is on various legal processes, from administrative agency hearings to summary proceedings, and she has substantial experience with Mitchell-Lama program cooperatives, redevelopment companies and New York state rent regulations. She is also an expert on New York’s new “good cause” eviction law.
Prisca Salazar-Rodriguez
Prisca Salazar-Rodriguez, who was named partner at the topflight lobbying firm Bolton-St. Johns in 2022, is a driving force in making affordable housing available for New Yorkers and ensuring that spaces are developed with the local communities in mind. She has played a key role in the transformation of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center into a mixed-use campus in Hunts Point as well as the development of La Central, an innovative new rental community in the South Bronx consisting of 496 affordable units.
John Santos
32BJ SEIU stands out not just for its representation of more than 175,000 property service workers in New York and other Northeastern states but for its advocacy for worker protections more broadly, from the fight for a $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers to increased transparency around hospital pricing. John Santos, the No. 2 behind President Manny Pastreich, helped win new contracts for 20,000 commercial cleaners, 32,000 building service workers and 18,000 security officers and continues to drive organizing efforts.
Meenakshi Srinivasan
Meenakshi Srinivasan is a go-to adviser for New York City real estate developers, with experience in planning, land use, zoning and landmarks. Srinivasan served as chair and commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; chair and commissioner of the city Board of Standards and Appeals; and as deputy director of the Manhattan office of the Department of City Planning. She took on her current role heading up the land use government relations practice at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies earlier this year.
Michelle Stoddart
Michelle Stoddart has Resorts World ahead of the pack to win one of three downstate casino licenses the state is expected to award next year. Stoddart was a member of the team that officially opened the Ozone Park racino in 2011 and has since handled public affairs and community relations duties. Stoddart’s relationships with local businesses and 200 New York nonprofit organizations helped make Resorts World’s $5 billion bid to redevelop its Southeast Queens racino – with a 350,000-square-foot gambling floor and a 1,600-room hotel – a safe bet.
Heather Sunser
Shortly after Heather Sunser was promoted to partner at Hiscock & Barclay in 2015, the Syracuse-based firm merged with Buffalo-based Damon Morey, creating one of the largest law firms in Western New York. Sunser is an expert in the use of low-income housing tax credits and other government incentives. Her firm recently completed a 117-unit housing project in New York City with supportive apartments for formerly homeless individuals with mental health challenges and finished the construction of an upstate project with 60 affordable rental units.
Roberto Vila
Roberto Vila’s career is all about planes, trains and automobiles. A native of Lima, Peru, Vila got his professional start working on the design team for the first Lima Metro Line. He has since focused on airports, train stations and stadiums in New York and the Northeast United States, most recently leading Stantec’s efforts on the $4.2 billion John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 6 and the Newark Liberty International Airport AirTrain in New Jersey. He has also worked on New York Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal projects.
Jed Walentas
When Jed Walentas took over the Real Estate Board of New York chair from Douglas Durst in January, it signaled a torch-passing moment affirming the Walentas family’s development of the Brooklyn waterfront. Walentas has plenty more projects in the pipeline. After purchasing Williamsburg’s defunct Domino Sugar factory site in 2012, Walentas finished converting its brick centerpiece into state-of-the-art offices last fall and announced four new leases in April. Two months later, he celebrated the grand opening of One Domino Square, the third residential tower on the site, which includes 160 condos with prices starting at $1.25 million and 399 luxury rentals.
Kenneth Walker
Kenneth Walker joined Per Scholas nearly two decades ago, starting out as senior vice president of operations at the Bronx-based tech training organization before ascending to his current roles overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion and serving as an adviser to the CEO. He has helped guide the growth of the organization’s campus real estate portfolio and its expansion across two dozen U.S. cities, and helped launch a Diverse by Design initiative to discover and share best practices. He has also forged partnerships with CBRE, Avison Young and JLL during Per Scholas’ expansion.
Jacqui Williams
Some lobbyists can offer a few different strategies to help clients solve their problems – but only Jacqui Williams has 99 Solutions. Williams, the owner of the government relations and consulting firm 99 Solutions, is well known for her lobbying work in the real estate industry. Williams, who also has been a longtime ally of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, has worked recently with such clients as Tishman Speyer and and the influential Real Estate Board of New York as well as Crown Castle, the Greater New York Hospital Association and the New York Racing Association.
Paul Wolf
Denham Wolf’s Paul Wolf has compiled a star-studded resume of deals involving actors, religious figures and thought leaders. In 2015, Wolf helped the Screen Actors Guild design and break ground on a performance space to quadruple its educational programming. Last year, he helped a buyer acquire The Wing’s former East Village headquarters for almost $19 million, and helped The Joyce Theater Foundation secure financing to purchase the former Boys’ Club building on East 10th Street for a rehearsal and administrative space. In August, Wolf helped the Archdiocese of New York sell a parish property to an affordable housing developer.
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