Downtown Austin: Things Are Changin'

Mr. Dillard oversees all of Cielo’s development activity from site selection and entitlements through completion. He is also responsible for deal sourcing and co-heads the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to forming Cielo, he was a vice president and head of the Austin office for Direct Development, a leading commercial real estate company specializing in retail development. At Direct he participated in the development and acquisition of approximately 15 projects that totaled 3.2 million square feet. Mr. Dillard obtained both his MBA and BA from the University of Texas and is an active member of the Associate Council for REFIC. Mr. Dillard also serves as Alderman for City of Rollingwood.

Seth has been with Lincoln Property Company in Austin since 2013. As Senior Vice President, Seth is responsible for assuming a market leadership role in sourcing and executing office and retail development opportunities in Austin and surrounding markets. In addition to development, Seth is also responsible for the leasing and marketing efforts for Lincoln’s Austin office portfolio, which involves lease negotiations and asset valuations for both LPC and third-party clients. Some of the clients Seth has served during his time with Lincoln have been Goldman Sachs, Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation, Greenfield Partners, Lionstone Group, and the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois. Before joining Lincoln, Seth worked for four years as a broker and leasing agent for McAllister and Associates in Austin. Prior to that, Seth played professional baseball in the San Diego Padres organization from 2005-2009. Seth attended the University of Texas and received a BA in Corporate Communications in 2005. While at Texas, Seth was a two-time NCAA national champion for the men’s baseball team, where he earned 1st team All-America honors and was voted Team Captain by his teammates in 2005. In addition to his responsibilities with Lincoln, Seth currently serves on the board for Opportunity Austin 4.0, in conjunction with the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He is also currently serving on the board of The First Tee of Greater Austin. He has served on the board for CASA of Travis County and is a founding member of Community for CASA. Seth is currently a member of the Real Estate Council of Austin, Urban Land Institute, CBA of Austin, ICSC, and the T Association for the University of Texas. Seth is also a proud husband to Emily and father to his three sons, Wyatt, Beau and Jack.

As Vice President of Development for Aspen Heights, Ryan Fetgatter oversees and manages all aspects of student housing and multifamily development, including market research and selection, site acquisition, entitlement, design, and preconstruction.  Since joining Aspen Heights in 2010, Ryan has led the development of 29 different projects which include 16,000+ student housing beds and 900+ multi-family units totaling over $1.5 billion in cost. Notable projects include RISE, The Independent, and Aspen West Campus, all high-rise residential towers in Austin, Texas. Prior to joining Aspen Heights, Ryan was with The Opus Group in Washington, DC, working on over 750,000 square feet of urban and suburban office development.  Ryan graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2006.

Since 2021 Peter Mullan has served as Chief of Architecture and Urban Design for Austin Transit Partnership, the new local government corporation charged with implementing Project Connect, Austin’s multi-billion-dollar transit expansion, in collaboration with CapMetro, the City of Austin, and the entire Austin community. Peter brings decades of experience working in public space design and community engagement to the extraordinary opportunity for Project Connect to reinforce and enhance Austin's diverse and human-centered urban fabric. In 2022, Peter received the Taniguchi Award for Public Architecture from AIA Austin and the Austin Foundation for Architecture. From 2015 to 2021, Peter was the CEO of the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, building an innovative public park system around a restored Waller Creek, in partnership with the City of Austin, including the transformed Waterloo Park and new Moody Amphitheater which opened in 2021. Waterloo Greenway combines access to art and culture with an immersive natural experience in the heart of the city, to create a newly inclusive public space on the east side of downtown Austin. From 2004 to 2015 Peter was the Director of Planning and Design and Executive Vice President at Friends of the High Line, the non-profit organization responsible for creating and operating the High Line, in partnership with the City of New York. Peter is a graduate of Princeton University and the Yale School of Architecture, where he was the recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi medal for Leadership. A converted lifelong New Yorker, Peter admires Austin’s uniquely vibrant and welcoming community, which he enjoys with his wife Melanie, daughter Josie, and dog Mimi.