New Jersey Multifamily Conference

Mr. Wolfe is the Managing Partner in the Property Tax Department at Skoloff & Wolfe, PC, where he focuses his practice on representing taxpayers in significant real estate tax appeals and property tax related matters. He has extensive experience in all types of property tax appeals, including hotel, multi-family, retail, office, and industrial properties. Mr. Wolfe frequently counsels clients on the property tax implications of the development, acquisition, and disposition of significant assets. He also counsels clients with respect to property tax exemptions and PILOT agreements. Mr. Wolfe serves on the Board of the National Association of Property Tax Attorneys (NAPTA) and as the Co-Chair of the Real Property Tax Practice Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Mr. Wolfe has been featured or quoted in a wide variety of local and national publications, including Forbes.com, GlobeSt.com, Marketwatch.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Law.com, Law360.com, The New York Law Journal, and Commerce Magazine. Mr. Wolfe has a track record of obtaining significant assessment reductions on behalf of his clients. Examples of those assessment reductions include: • Reduced hotel assessment from $188 million to $131million; • Reduced multi-family assessment from $116 million to $67 million; • Reduced office assessment from $115.5 million to $90million; • Reduced supermarket anchored center from $66.9 million to $46 million; • Reduced nursing home assessment from $36 million to $10.1million; • Reduced big box retail assessment from $21.3 million to $13.4 million; • Reduced office assessment from $27.8 million to $6.5million. Mr. Wolfe began his career as an associate at the law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell in New York. While at Davis Polk, he focused his practice on regulatory investigations, securities litigation and banking disputes. Mr. Wolfe is a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and is the Co-Chair of the ABA’s Diversity & Inclusion 360 Presidential Commission. As a young lawyer, Mr. Wolfe served as the Chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division, the ABA’s largest entity with more than 130,000 members. Mr. Wolfe received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and graduated from Cornell University with distinction in all subjects.

Tom is a Senior Director in the New Jersey office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. Mr. Didio has been in the commercial real estate industry for nearly 10 years, including 2 years as Vice President with CBRE Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance’s New Jersey office, 4 years in an underwriting / origination role with Freddie Mac Multifamily and 4 years with a NY private equity family office specializing in sourcing, underwriting, structuring and financing commercial real estate transactions. During his career, Mr. Didio has executed in excess of 100 transactions totaling more than $2.0 billion in volume throughout the United States, with a strong focus on the NY/NJ/CT Tri-State area. Mr. Didio obtained his Masters of Science in Real Estate Finance from New York University shortly after his undergraduate studies at Tufts University.

Chris J. Murphy focuses his practice on real estate development. A partner in the firm, Chris leads both the Land Use, Zoning and Redevelopment, and Tax Credits and Incentives practice groups. As the leader of the firm’s statewide Land Use, Zoning and Redevelopment practice, Chris has been involved in transformational development projects throughout New Jersey, and regularly represents institutional developers in connection with obtaining approvals for industrial, mixed-use, multifamily, retail, and commercial projects before local, county, and state boards and agencies. In addition, Chris leads the firm’s Tax Credits and Incentives practice, where he has helped clients procure close to a billion dollars in tax credits and incentives offered through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and other state and local government agencies. Chris is the co-author of the Financial Incentives Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Transactions in New Jersey (2019, 4th Edition), published by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, a division of the New Jersey State Bar Association. His insight on the topic of real estate development has been featured in both regional and national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Real Estate NJ, ROI-NJ, and NJBIZ. Chris received his law degree from Rutgers Law School, and a master’s degree from the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations. He received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Kean University. An avid competitor, Chris competed professionally in both ice hockey and boxing prior to starting his career as an attorney.

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.

Kevin Griffin is the VP of JRM’s BLDGS arm, where he is responsible for the successful execution of all JRM’s large-scale projects. With over 20 years of professional experience in the industry, Kevin has managed projects totaling more than $2 billion and 3.5 million square feet throughout the Tri-State Area, including residential, commercial, hospitality, retail, and mixed-use projects. Kevin’s experience includes budgeting, pre-construction planning, value engineering, coordination and management, contract negotiations, logistics planning, budget/schedule development and execution, supplier and subcontractor selection, management, and compliance.

Mr. Minno is President and a Principal in MINNO & WASKO Architects and Planners. Mr.Minno specializes in private sector, large mixed-use redevelopment including TOD’s and projects that have significant residential components. Many of his projects reflect client relationships that span more than fifteen years, including Roseland Properties, RXR, The Bozzuto Group and Mill Creek Residential. MINNO & WASKO currently are working on sustainable, redevelopment projects in the following cities: Jersey City, Hoboken, Stamford, Morristown, Somerville, Park Ridge, Asbury Park, Bayonne and Harrison. Most of these commissions were obtained by partnering with project developers and competing for RFP based sites. Mr. Minno has deep experience in obtaining regulatory approvals for large scale development and becomes involved in the architectural design of a project at the early stages of a concept. MINNO & WASKO offer their clients, quality design, cost-effective detailing and timely services. The firm has a staff of over 85 professionals, who are experienced in all forms of residential and light-frame commercial construction with offices in Lambertville and Newark, New Jersey. Mr. Minno has his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School. He is active in many professional groups including the Urban Land Institute and The Congress for New Urbanism. He has volunteered his professional services to Habitat for Humanity.

Mike, chair of Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla's Redevelopment practice area and co-chair of our Real Estate practice area, focuses his practice area on real estate transactions and approvals with an emphasis on redevelopment, planned residential development, affordable housing, and mixed use development. Mike represents and counsels companies and developers in every phase of real estate acquisitions, financing and development including redevelopment agreements and long and short term financial agreements and other state, regional and local agency financing programs available in connection with various types of development. His experience includes both inner city and suburban redevelopment projects and commercial and residential projects including mixed use projects, transit villages, affordable housing and planned communities. He has experience with long term tax exemptions and state economic incentive programs. He appears on land use matters before municipal and county planning boards and state agencies. Mike also represents lenders and banks on both mortgage and asset backed loans. He has closed hundreds of commercial real estate and financing transactions.

Annisia Cialone serves as the Director of the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce (HEDC) for The City of Jersey City. The Department includes the Divisions of Economic Development, City Planning, Construction Code, Zoning, Community Development, Affordable Housing, Housing Preservation, and Commerce. Prior to her appointment as the Director of HEDC, she served as the Director of the Division of City Planning. Prior to joining the City of Jersey City in March of 2017, she was a Senior Associate at Perkins Eastman. She has expertise in the management and design of large-scale urban design and strategic master planning projects for both public and private clients. Annisia holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Dr. Jonathan Sternesky has been with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) since November 2018. As Director of Policy and External Affairs, Jonathan’s responsibilities include providing data and policy analysis to inform policymakers, developing new programs to further the Agency’s mission, and ensuring public and stakeholder knowledge of Agency accomplishments and programs. During his tenure at NJHMFA, the Agency has seen historic investments in affordable housing production, the creation of a permanent funding source for special needs housing, and the passage of landmark legislation. Prior to this role, Jonathan worked for the Township of East Brunswick, as their Economic Development Officer, and prior to that, as Legislative Director to a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, where he developed and assisted in the advancement of legislation addressing issues in criminal justice, healthcare, housing and higher education. In addition to his work in developing and implementing public policy, Dr. Sternesky is an adjunct professor at his local community college and serves on his hometown’s Zoning Board of Adjustment. He has a B.A. from Kean University, an MPA from Seton Hall University, and a Doctorate in Public Administration from West Chester University.