7th Annual Bisnow Chicago State of the Market

Judy Frydland serves as the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings for the City of Chicago. The Department of Buildings is a 285‐person department with an annual budget of $37 million. The DOB enhances safety and quality of life for residents and visitors of the City of Chicago through permitting, inspections, trade licensing, and enforcement of the Chicago Building Code. Since Commissioner Frydland’s appointment in 2015, the Department has implemented several reforms that have streamlined the permit process for all building projects, from single-family home renovations to large-scale developments, making it quicker and more efficient to obtain a permit than ever before. In 2017, the Buildings Department issued a record 48,408 permits. Under her leadership, the Department is modernizing City code to align with national and international standards. In fall 2017, Chicago became one of the first major cities to align with the National Electrical Code. The updated code improves safety requirements, advances sustainability, brings additional energy efficiency to Chicago’s booming building industry and can lower costs on electric bills for residents and businesses. Prior to joining the Department of Buildings, Ms. Frydland spent 25 years in the Chicago Law Department working with various city departments, community groups and other stakeholders on the enforcement of building code, municipal health and business license regulations. In her role as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Building and Licensing Enforcement, Ms. Frydland enforced the city’s vacant building ordinance and implemented strategies aimed to preserve the city’s housing stock, closed down and revoked licenses for problem businesses engaging in criminal activity, actively preserved occupied residential buildings through circuit court litigation and city programs, aggressively prosecuted illegal signs and dangerous and hazardous rooftop water tanks, as well as enforced the Life Safety Evaluation (LSE) requirements for pre-1975 high-rise buildings. Commissioner Frydland is the recipient of the 2018 “Labor Person of the Year” award from IBEW Local 134 and the 2018 “Building Industry Woman of the Year in Construction” award from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago. Ms. Frydland graduated from I.I.T. Chicago Kent College of Law, was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1990 and is a current member of the Chicago Bar Association. Ms. Frydland earned her law degree while working as a social worker and assistant administrator in a nursing home. Ms. Frydland also has a Master’s Degree in Community Health Care Planning and Administration.

Mr. Schwartz co-founded Waterton with Peter Vilim in 1995 and serves as CEO and Chairman. Mr. Schwartz is responsible for strategic decisions and leadership of the firm’s business activities and operations, and participates on the Management and Investment Committees. Prior to co-founding Waterton in 1995, Mr. Schwartz was a vice president of acquisitions for Equity Residential Properties Trust (EQR-NYSE) and from 1985 through 1989 was with AMLI Realty Co. Mr. Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He is a member of the executive committee, a senior officer and chairman of the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC). He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and is previous chairman of the ULI Multifamily Blue Council and a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA). Mr. Schwartz is a member of the Advisory Council for the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Chicago, and serves on the Strategic Advancement Committee for the US Holocaust Museum and Memorial in Washington D.C.

Under Smietana’s supervision, HSA’s diversified management portfolio has consistently ranked in the top 10 in Chicago and grown to include more than 16 million square feet of office, industrial, retail and corporate facilities in 14 states. Smietana has completed more than 75 commercial developments comprising more than 20 million square feet and valued at $2 billion. His diverse development experience, which began in 1978, includes industrial, retail, hotel, suburban and urban office, senior housing and medical office. He has been responsible for all phases of real estate, including land acquisitions, entitlements, design development, financing, construction management operations, property and asset management, and brokerage.

Carolyn McMullen, senior vice president, is responsible for multifamily and healthcare loan originations for the FHA Finance group. Ms. McMullen is based out of Walker & Dunlop’s Chicago office. Over the course of her career, Ms. McMullen has originated, structured, and closed more than $1 billion in volume. Her experience includes tax exempt bond and tax credit transactions as well as loans structured with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, and bridge lenders. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Ms. McMullen was a regional manager at Prudential Huntoon Paige where she was responsible for staffing and managing the Midwest mortgage banking office, specializing in FHA mortgage banking originations and originating loans. Before joining Prudential Huntoon Paige, Ms. McMullen was a director at GMAC Commercial Mortgage and responsible for mortgage banking and investment banking originations. Ms. McMullen also worked nearly ten years for Red Capital (formerly Banc One Capital Corporation). Ms. McMullen received a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College, a Ph.D. and master’s degree from Princeton University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

Alec LeFort is the Regional Director for the East Coast. As one of VTS's founding employees, Alec has been integral in growing and scaling the sales organization, while adding many of the firm's largest customers to the client roster such as TIAA-CREF, Tishman Speyer, Equity Office, Boston Properties, and many more. While helping to oversee VTS's east coast sales operations his team has grown from 2 to 15 (company now has 170 employees total), including outside and inside sales, account management, and customer support, while also becoming VTS highest revenue generating region. Alec is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (CAS '10) majoring in International Relations. VTS, a New York­-based software company, is the leading leasing and asset management platform built to provide real­-time leasing and asset management data to the top landlords and brokerage firms in the world. VTS allows brokers and owners to manage deal activity, identify trends and quantify portfolio performance from their desktop or mobile device. With over 3 billion square feet under management, VTS has been the driving force behind the industry’s shift towards real­-time data and has quickly become the standard in the marketplace.

Jason Burian is a partner in CohnReznick’s Chicago office and a member of the Firm’s Assurance Practice. He also leads the Commercial Real Estate Industry Practice in the Firm's Chicago office. Jason has 12 years of experience in public accounting, providing clients with audits, compilations, compliance, due diligence, agreed-upon procedures, and other accounting services. His clients include real estate operating companies, real estate syndicators, real estate investment funds, and real estate developers. Jason specializes in the audits of commercial real estate entities, developments benefitting from the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), and employee benefit plans. He is responsible for many aspects of client engagements including planning, determining audit scope, identifying audit issues, selecting audit procedures to be applied, supervising staff, coordinating all fieldwork, establishing budgets, reviewing workpapers , facilitating client communications, and preparing financial statements or reports. In addition to Jason’s client responsibilities, he develops programs and techniques specifically tailored to auditing commercial real estate entities for the Firm. He also takes an active role in developing staff, recruiting, scheduling initiatives, and leading the Chicago office’s efforts for the Firm’s volunteer and charity outreach.

Eugene "Gene" J.M. Leone is a Partner in the Global M&A Practice Group and a member of the Real Estate Industry Group, based in the Chicago and New York offices. Gene represents some of the most recognizable names in real estate and has a track record of leading, structuring and executing complicated deal transactions for a broad universe of investors, including private equity, entrepreneurs and public companies. His practice focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate, including joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, financings and workouts. A highly rated lawyer and sought-after speaker, Gene is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the Real Estate Roundtable and frequently speaks on a variety of real estate topics at conferences around the country.