Chicago Repositioning & Adaptive Reuse Summit

Adam Firsel is the founder and managing principal of Core Acquisitions. Adam started Core with the intention of creating a full service and fully integrated commercial real estate organization. With Adam’s storied career including investment banking, development, property management, and acquisitions, he brings a wide range of roles and diversity of experience to Core business and culture. Adam graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelors of Business Administration majoring in real estate and urban land economics. After college, Adam was a real estate investment banker with GMAC Commercial Mortgage in Denver, Colorado. In 2003, Adam moved back to his hometown of Chicago to become the Director of Finance & Development for Mid-America Development Partners. Adam then joined Crossroads Development Partners as a Principal and subsequently became the Director of Acquisitions for Next Realty. In 2011, Firsel formed Core Equities, LLC which focused on property management, leasing, receiverships, acquisitions, and development. In 2014, Adam renamed the company to Core Acquisitions, LLC when he partnered with Core’s other Principal, Bradley Joseph, to focus primarily on value-add acquisitions, property management, and development projects. Through a career that has allowed Adam to succeed in many roles, he has focused expertise in development & construction management, project analysis, and asset management among other skill sets. Adam has been involved with the complete life cycle of many complicated and successful projects in all property types including retail, office, hotel, mixed-use, apartments, and industrial. The transaction types have been note purchases, auctions, joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and traditional arms-length transactions. All said, Adam has been the managing principal on over 25 projects in the last 6 years, and in his career has been involved on the principal side in over one hundred projects totaling over two billion dollars of project cost and millions of square feet of real estate.

Steve Sise oversees the operations of properties within Golub’s commercial and residential portfolio with an intense focus on financial and operating performance. He ensures that the property management teams collaborate with leasing, acquisitions, development and accounting groups, as well as with Golub’s capital partners, to create and execute successful business plans. Prior to joining Golub, Steve was a member of Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler’s office and retail investment sales team, where he completed more than $250 million in transactions. With additional experience in acquisition, disposition and development underwriting for Duke Realty as well as national portfolio property and asset management for Grubb & Ellis, Steve leverages his diverse background and keen sense of real estate to further the strong performance of the company’s portfolio. He earned a BA degree from John Carroll University, and is a Board Member for BOMA Chicago as well as the Chicagoland Apartment Association. Steve is a licensed real estate broker with the State of Illinois. He joined Golub & Company in 2008.

Luke Lucas is Senior Manager of Engineering Business Development & Build Your Own Coverage (BYOC) for T-Mobile USA. His focus is on enterprise and in-building coverage, furthering the role of wireless in buildings as a 5th utility-like service. In his role, Lucas is involved with smart building and smart city technologies, 5G wireless and the relationship between enterprises installing infrastructure and the connection to T-Mobile signal source and backhaul. He has been with T-Mobile for more than two decades, previously in several regional and market development manager roles. Prior to joining T-Mobile, Lucas was a real estate manager for Pacific Bell Mobile Services’ wireless network in San Diego. Lucas is a graduate of Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and the practitioners Master of Real Estate Development from USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Andrew Volckens is an Associate Principal and the Managing Director of Huntsman Architectural Group's Chicago office. He has been instrumental in building the firm's Midwest presence, spearheading the opening of the firm's Chicago office in 2016. A registered Architect in Illinois, he has managed and designed an array of award-winning tenant and building repositioning projects for clients including Golub & Company, Artisan Partners, Vornado Realty, Tishman Speyer, Relativity, Tarkett, and Quantcast. As Managing Director, Andrew's focus on design and technical quality is as persistent as his dedication to his colleagues' development as emerging professionals. He received a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan.

Peter D. Verros focuses his practice on commercial and industrial property tax assessment appeals, property tax incentives and land use and zoning. He represents small business owners, real estate holding companies, real estate investment managers and multi-national Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Verros has particular interest in property tax litigation and extensive experience in complex valuation matters related to industrial and manufacturing facilities, anchor department stores, Big Box retail stores, hotel properties, shopping centers and office complexes. After graduating from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Mr. Verros joined the Cook County Treasurer’s Office as a staff attorney and later served as the Assistant General Counsel. During his tenure at the Treasurer’s Office, he worked closely with numerous county offices responsible for the valuation and collection of property taxes in Cook County. In addition to carrying out the firm’s mission to provide high quality legal services, Mr. Verros heads initiatives to improve the overall client experience and create value beyond property tax matters. Mr. Verros is a founding partner of Verros Berkshire.

David Baum is a leading figure in Chicago’s real estate development and brokerage communities. Since co-founding Baum Development, LLC (now Baum Revision) in 1989 and Baum Realty Group, Inc. in 1991, David has cultivated one business from a start-up company into an award-winning commercial and residential development firm and the other into Chicago’s leading boutique brokerage firm. David is often a featured speaker for real estate and business groups, Universities and forums and was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ “40 Under 40”. David is a contributor to Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Beige Book and is a member of ICSC, The Economic Club of Chicago and the U.S. Green Business Council.

Ralph Zucker is President of Somerset Development, one of the New York Metropolitan region’s foremost pioneers of New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Design development. Throughout his career, Zucker has worked hands-on in every facet of the building and development process, and has demonstrated a commitment to working with municipalities to create innovative communities based on the principles of New Urbanism. Zucker is perhaps best known for Bell Works, the two-million-square-foot redevelopment of the former Bell Labs property in Holmdel, N.J., where he and the Somerset Development team successfully transformed the iconic Saarinen-designed research facility into a “metroburb,” a term that Somerset coined to describe the suburban building’s revival into a blossoming, downtown-style ecosystem of technology, traditional office, retail, dining and hospitality. Today, Zucker and his team are in the midst of redeveloping The Ameritech Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, originally built as the former AT&T research facility, into Bell Works Chicagoland. The 1.65-million square foot building, which has already welcomed retail and office tenants, is quickly transforming into another successful metroburb. Under Zucker’s leadership, Somerset and its projects have earned numerous industry awards and recognition for their contributions to furthering responsible development practices, including the New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award for Wesmont Station, Somerset's 70-acre transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment located in Wood-Ridge, N.J., where Somerset partnered with NJ TRANSIT to build a brand new train station that provides access to Manhattan.

With thousands of beautiful spaces built for travel and life, Sonder is transforming the future of hospitality. Each Sonder is purposefully selected, designed and maintained - customized to reflect the vibe of its neighborhood. As Head of Real Estate in Chicago, Liz rapidly grows the supply of profitable Sonder locations by partnering with local developers and owners to establish hotels in full buildings or portions of buildings that look and feel like multifamily. Sonder is the anchor tenant for some of Chicago's most exciting adaptive reuse projects.

Dirk Lohan left his native Germany to begin his architectural studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology under the tutelage of his grandfather, Mies van der Rohe. He returned to Germany and finished his studies in architecture and planning at the Technische Universität (Diplom Ingenieur), in Munich in 1962. When Dirk Lohan subsequently returned to Chicago, he worked closely with Mies van der Rohe on such projects as the New National Gallery in Berlin, the IBM office building in Chicago, and the Toronto Dominion Center. Bell Works Chicagoland, the former AT&T headquarters and built as the Ameritech Center in 1990, was originally designed by Dirk Lohan. Wight & Company is redesigning the building’s shell and core, public spaces and individual tenant spaces in collaboration with the Somerset design team. This project offers an incredible opportunity to reimagine a magnificent building and location for the next generation. Over his lifetime, Dirk Lohan has produced an impressive portfolio of design solutions such as the McDonald’s Corporate Headquarters Campus, the Langham Hotel at IBM Tower, the 353 North Clark Street Tower and many other national and international projects of note. In addition, Dirk Lohan is well known for his projects along the Chicago lakefront including the John G. Shedd Oceanarium, the Soldier Field stadium expansion and renovation, and the Adler Planetarium Sky Pavilion. He believes that successful architecture must respond not only to economic constraints but also to the larger social and physical conditions. Dirk Lohan is passionate about design and, for each new opportunity, looks to understand the local culture and their aspirations in order to develop an innovative, modern, and timeless design aesthetic. His achievements in architecture have been recognized with many awards, including his appointment as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1983. In January 2016, his former firm, Lohan Anderson combined with the major, Chicago based architecture, engineering, and construction firm, Wight & Company. As the Principal of Wight & Company, Dirk Lohan brings to the firm not only a distinguished career of excellence, but also a rich family legacy of architectural innovation.

James H. Norris has served since 1998 as the village manager of the Village of Hoffman Estates, Ill. Previously, Norris served as the city manager of Gladstone, Mo., the assistant village manager of Schaumburg, Ill., Palatine, Ill. and interned for the Village of Western Springs, Ill. He is a member of the International City/County Management Association, a member and past president of the Illinois City/County Management Association and a member and past president of the Chicago Metropolitan Manager’s Association. Norris serves as the chairman of the Executive Board of the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency, chair of the Northwest Central Dispatch Joint Emergency Management Agency, vice chair of the Executive Committee of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, and is on the board and is a past chair of the Northwest Central Dispatch Agency. Mr. Norris has a B.A. in history from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and received his M.P.A. from NIU. With almost 4 decades of economic development experience Norris has negotiated and recommended the utilization of many forms of public private partnerships including Tax Increment Financing, Special Service Areas, Sales Tax rebates, General Revenue rebates, Cook County 6B and Cook County 7B as well as the creation and rebate of certain Home Rule taxes to help facilitate development.

Larry Woodard is an experienced attorney who focuses his practice on real estate law. He represents Fortune 500 companies, developers, regional and national banks, institutional investors, special servicers, institutions of higher education, units of local government, REITs, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, landlords, tenants, condominium associations, property managers, receivers and real estate brokers in the development, management, financing, construction, leasing, zoning, acquisition and disposal of their real estate interests, across all asset classes. Clients engage Larry to handle complex matters, involving multiple parties, properties and sources of capital, encompassing multiple states or countries. As complementary components to his real estate practice, Larry has significant experience structuring investment entities, joint ventures and syndications, loan workouts and foreclosures, as well as tactical oversight of litigation strategy for mechanics lien, construction defect and real estate litigation. Larry has been on all sides of the deal, handling every stage of the life span of a real estate development: from concept and capital stack, to land use and economic incentives, through due diligence, financing and acquisition, during construction or redevelopment, to lease-up and disposition.

Ramzi Hassan is the President of Edwards Realty Company, a leading Commercial Development and Property Management firm based in Orland Park, IL. Hassan has completed over $250M in retail and mixed-use projects since 2003, finding significant opportunity and upside in distressed assets. Hassan’s keen sense of how community drives commerce, combined with his involvement in the music and fashion industry have helped inform his real estate strategy. Edwards Realty Company owns and manages more than one million square feet of commercial real estate property in the midwest. The firm is actively investing in new mixed-use properties in key growth markets. Hassan earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance with a concentration in Real Estate from DePaul University. He is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and President-Elect of the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce and a Member of the Economic Development Committee (EDC) in the Village of Burr Ridge. Ramzi holds his managing broker license in Illinois, Missouri and Michigan.

Ray has drawn 20 years of management experience assisting corporate, institutional and private partnerships in enhancing value and utilizing assets more effectively and efficiently in order to achieve overall business objectives. A self-motivated professional with a diverse background in commercial real estate, Ray focuses on asset management, acquisitions and construction. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in the redevelopment of over 5 million square feet of value-added redevelopment in the Midwest.

As Managing Principal of Wright Heerema Architects, Roger Heerema has a proven track record of designing highly successful buildings and interiors throughout Chicagoland and across the country. His portfolio of award-winning work includes redevelopment projects, ground-up buildings, build-to-suits, and master plans. He has worked closely with investors, developers and property managers for over 30 years with a long-lasting goal of designing outstanding work spaces that excite and impress tenants. Roger received his Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois. He has provided leadership to the WHA project team since joining the firm in 1996 and continues to implement a comprehensive architectural and design approach that integrates functionality and client needs. He is active in professional affiliations and supports various local non-profit organizations including the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Christine Torres began her career in commercial real estate as a tenant rep broker for Colliers International and MB Real Estate. There, she saw tenants’ connectivity requirements become increasingly sophisticated and leasing teams struggling to effectively communicate how their buildings stacked up in response. As Head of Chicago for WiredScore, Christine leads the adoption of Wired Certification in the Chicago market to solve this issue for tenants and property owners.

acqueline heads the Midwest Region for View Inc., the maker and market leader of a new generation of smart windows that let in natural light and views, and enhance mental and physical wellbeing. Since joining View in 2014, Jacqueline’s relationships with investors, pension funds, fund managers, developers and corporate clients has facilitated the incorporation of View Dynamic Glass in assets totaling 5M SF. Notable projects include 49 South Van Ness in San Francisco (Related CA/SOM), a new 1M SF Google campus in Sunnyvale (VITAL), and Fulton Market Tower (Trammel Crow) in Chicago. Jacqueline holds bachelor's degrees from University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.