Future of University City

Bart I. Mellits is Chair of Ballard Spahr’s Real Estate Department and oversees more than 110 attorneys in all of the firm's offices. With more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Mellits represents developers, owners, and institutions in a wide range of real estate projects and transactions. His experience encompasses development, joint ventures, sales, acquisitions, leasing, and loan transactions, as well as real estate workouts. He also counsels a variety of Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit clients on real estate issues affecting their businesses. Mr. Mellits has led legal efforts on real estate-related projects for public and private universities, national lending institutions and national retailers, in addition to national, regional, and local developers. He has worked on a broad range of projects, including research parks, hospitals and medical office buildings, shopping centers and malls, corporate headquarters, industrial and warehouse facilities, multifamily residential properties, and hotels. Mr. Mellits has represented landlords and tenants nationwide in build-to-suit leases, as well as leases for large-scale retail, office, industrial, warehouse, hotel, research, development and laboratory, and mixed-use properties, as well as bondable and other types of financing leases. He has structured a variety of portfolio sales, acquisitions, and financings with REITs, private equity firms, and other institutions. Mr. Mellits is a member of the firm’s Elected Board as well as its Expanded Board.

Keith A. Orris, Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations and Economic Development, is responsible for leading development and implementation of Drexel University’s economic development strategy. Keith is responsible for broadening and deepening relationships with corporate partners, ensuring that Drexel leverages relationships across all dimensions of possible interaction, from research partnerships to co-op opportunities to philanthropy and more. He is helping to propel Drexel forward as one of the most impactful universities in the Philadelphia region and across the tri-state area. Under Keith’s leadership, Drexel continues to work with businesses, entrepreneurs and government leaders to become a nexus for research, technology transfer and economic development. His focus is also the Innovation Neighborhood, Drexel’s research-based live/learn/work development at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, and he serves as liaison with Amtrak, SEPTA and PennDOT. Most recently, Keith was senior vice president for community and government affairs for Lancaster General Health in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was responsible for campus master planning and strategic capital projects as well as real estate management of the health system’s ambulatory and scattered site properties. He co-chaired a physician alignment initiative focused on building broader business relationships with medical practices in the region. In addition, Keith was responsible for community and government affairs for LGH involving local, state and federal entities. Prior to joining Lancaster General Health in 2011, Keith was vice president for administrative services and business, government and community relations for Franklin & Marshall College. He was responsible for the College’s operations including master planning, capital projects, facilities and operations, real estate management, auxiliary services and the Department of Public Safety. He performed development activities involving complex real estate projects requiring property assemblage and public funding. He managed the 75-acre, $75 million Northwest Gateway Project involving the acquisition, remediation and development of the Armstrong and Norfolk Southern properties in northwest Lancaster. Keith also developed strategic relationships for the College and managed government relations at the local, state and federal levels. Previously, Keith held management positions in Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh’s administration, and was a corporate officer for Health Images Inc., a publicly traded company that specialized in developing and operating outpatient diagnostic imaging centers. He also held senior positions in marketing and management with central Pennsylvania construction and material manufacturing firms. Keith is a member of the boards of the University City Science Center and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation and active in the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania. He is past president of the James Street Improvement District Board and the Lancaster County Pennsylvania Dutch Country & Visitors Bureau, and a past board member of EDC Finance Corporation, the Economic Development Committee of Lancaster County and Albright Care Services.

Anne Papageorge is the Senior Vice President for Facilities and Real Estate Services at the University of Pennsylvania. Anne joined the University in October 2006 and has responsibility for Planning; Design and Construction; Facilities Operations, Maintenance, and Utilities; and Real Estate Operations and Development. She oversees a department of approximately 1,000 staff, $200 M in operating expenses and a capital budget averaging approximately $350 M per year, the Penn Connects campus development plan, and the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee responsible for developing and implementing the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan for the university. Anne is a licensed landscape architect and was previously the Senior Vice President and Memorial Design Director for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., managing the planning, design and construction of the nearly $1 billion project encompassing the World Trade Center Memorial, Memorial Museum, Visitor’s Center and related facilities. Prior to joining the LMDC in 2004, she worked in design and construction for the City of New York, where she served as first deputy commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, managing a staff of 1,200 and overseeing 750 projects valued at $4.4 billion. Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry School of Landscape Architecture and an M.B.A. from the City University of New York Baruch College. She serves on the executive boards for Longwood Gardens, the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, the University City Science Center, and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation; she also serves on the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Executive Leadership Team.

Mr. Celoni is a Vice President and Philadelphia Office Director for Pennoni Associates. Mark is responsible for client service and business development efforts as well as the management, growth and success of the Philadelphia office. A licensed engineer, Mark has managed some of the region’s largest multi-disciplinary projects for the firm including Citizen’s Bank Park, Cira Centre, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Comcast Center, PPL Park, Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, Pennsylvania Convention Center Expansion, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia South Campus and the Navy Yard Green Infrastructure projects.

Joe Reagan brings nearly 30 years of commercial real estate experience to his current role leading the development and execution for Wexford Science + Technology. As the Senior Vice President of Development for Wexford, Joe is chartered with developing and executing projects focused on the growing Core Innovation District in West Philadelphia, known as uCity Square. With 15 years of institutional real estate, design and construction experience in Philadelphia, Joe has a strong track record of results by developing nearly 3.5 million square feet of laboratory, office and retail space in the fast changing uCity Square. Some of Joe’s key projects in uCity Square include: Development of the University City Innovation Corridor, a 2.8 million SF mixed-use expansion of the Science Center 3675 Market, a 340,000 RSF lab/office building currently under construction and anchored by the Science Center and Cambridge Innovation Center Construction and lease up of 3737 Market, a 330,000 RSF lab/office building anchored by the Penn Musculoskeletal Institute 3711 Market, a 154,000 SF lab/office building and a 500 space parking deck project in uCity Square Before joining Wexford, Joe was Assistant Vice President of Real Estate and Architecture for the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS), where he oversaw 5 million square feet of owned and leased facilities and directed the Health System design and construction department with an annual capital budget in excess of $100 million. He led the real estate development of UPHS’ network of primary and specialty care facilities. Prior to leaving UPHS, Joe led the design effort for the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, a new 600,000 square foot ambulatory care facility that included underground parking for 1,000 cars. Joe also led the conceptual design of an adjacent 500,000 square foot research facility for the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Joe graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Architecture from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He is also a registered architect in Pennsylvania and New York.

Lauren Gilchrist is the Executive Vice President and Market Leader of the Greater Philadelphia Region. Gilchrist oversees Newmark Real Estate’s (Newmark’s) full suite of service offerings, managing strategic planning, revenue growth and profitability, recruitment and business development in the company’s Philadelphia, Wayne, Southern New Jersey and Delaware offices. Based in the Philadelphia CBD office, Gilchrist holds appointments to the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Facilities Management Corporation/Philadelphia Gas Works, Philadelphia Orchestra, Old City Community Fund, M&T Bank Advisory Board and the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of NAIOP—where she served as Chapter President from 2019 to 2020. In addition, Gilchrist has been recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 honoree and a Woman of Distinction, and a Philly Power Woman by Bisnow. Prior to joining Newmark, Gilchrist was the Managing Director of Research at Longfellow Real Estate Partners, where she directed research strategy, content creation and thought leadership, and provided market research to drive project underwriting and execution. Previously, Gilchrist also held roles as Senior Vice President of Research at JLL, Manager of Research & Analysis at the Center City District and Program Manager at the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness.

As CEO, Michael Pestronk heads all property development and operational activities of the company. Post Brothers Apartments was founded in early 2007 and since that time Mr. Pestronk has focused exclusively on creating a best-in-class enterprise with a current portfolio of in excess of 1,100 class-A apartments throughout Philadelphia, with a total capitalization of approximately $165,000,000. Michael has 12 years of experience in the multi-family real estate industry, having previously worked for NWJ Companies and Historic Landmarks for Living, as well as being a principal of Iron Stone Real Estate Group, where he was collectively responsible for the repositioning, operations and capitalization of over $300,000,000 of real estate. During this time his responsibilities encompassed all aspects of apartment ownership including acquisitions, financing, development, construction, management, and leasing. During 2004-5 he was fully engaged in the property and asset management leadership of Historic Landmarks and was instrumental in the operational turnaround of a large portfolio of urban Class A apartments, where he increased NOI without capital spending, and facilitating a $200mm recapitalization of the portfolio. Michael takes great pride in his focus on identifying the right product to build, building simultaneously with high quality and cost effectiveness, and rapidly renting all of our units at top of the market rents.

Tim Downey is the founder and CEO of Southern Land Company. He serves as the visionary and driving force behind the concepts and designs that distinguish Southern Land Company’s communities. Tim’s entrepreneurship began in college when he created a property maintenance business. This experience inspired Tim’s three-decade career in developing neighborhoods and vibrant commercial districts that adhere to traditional design principles and generate community interaction. Modeled after Walt Disney Imagineering’s desire to inspire creativity, innovation and interaction in the company and across projects, Tim’s vertically integrated business model enables direct communication between architecture, horticulture, construction and planning professionals. The result has been a growing portfolio of communities that are redefining their markets.