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Event Host

RXR Realty’s Starrett-Lehigh Building

RXR Realty’s Starrett-Lehigh Building

RXR Realty’s Starrett-Lehigh Building is a 2.3 million square foot asset located in West Chelsea. Home to well-known brands such as Ralph Lauren, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Johnson & Johnson, McGarry Bowen, Under Armour, OXO, and Martha Stewart, Starrett-Lehigh is the creative hub for New York City’s most innovative companies.

Currently, over 40,000 sf on the ground floor is being redeveloped into Manhattan’s next dynamic retail experience. The proposed program includes a food hall, multimedia event space, and inline opportunities on 26th and 27th street earmarked for restaurants, fitness, beauty, and dry goods. The retail will service the 5,000+ tenants in the building and constant flow of tourism traffic from the Highline and Gallery District, as well as the growing residential population.

Speakers and Panels

Keynote Interview with Conor Flynn

Conor Flynn
Keynote

Conor Flynn

CEO

Kimco Realty

Tony Lupo
Moderator

Tony Lupo

Partner

Arent Fox

Conor Flynn

CEO

Kimco Realty

Conor C. Flynn was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kimco

Realty Corporation and to the company’s Board of Directors in

January 2016 and continues to serve as the company’s President.

Mr. Flynn joined Kimco in 2003 as an asset manager and has

held a variety of senior leadership roles with the organization

including that of Chief Operating Officer, Chief Investment

Officer and President, Western Region. Mr. Flynn received a

B.A. degree from Yale University and a Master's degree in Real

Estate Development from Columbia University. Mr. Flynn is a

licensed real estate broker in California, and a member of

National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts

(NAREIT), Real Estate Roundtable, Urban Land Institute (ULI)

and International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

Tony Lupo

Moderator

Arent Fox

Anthony Lupo’s practice is primarily focused in the areas of entertainment, fashion, and technology. His diverse client base includes Discovery Channel, Pixar, and Oprah Winfrey Network in the area of entertainment; Diane von Furstenberg, Maison Margiela, Lacoste, Diesel, and Hugo Boss in the fashion area; and Google, PlayStation, and LG in the technology space. For fashion clients, Anthony often acts as their US general counsel. For the entertainment and technology companies, Anthony’s work is focused on intellectual property and advertising.

Anthony is considered to be a leader in the fashion, retail, and e-commerce space. He was named as one of the top three Retail and e-Commerce lawyers in the United States by Law360. Anthony has long been regarded as one of the premier intellectual property attorneys in the country.Chambers USA recognizes him as one of four Tier 1 lawyers for intellectual property, the Washington Business Journal regards him as the District’s number one IP attorney, and World Trademark Review 1000 noted Anthony as "top-tier counsel" in both the contentious and non-contentious work.The Washington Post reported that Anthony is making a “career out of breaking the mold of a typical DC regulatory lawyer,” while maintaining a “bustling entertainment practice that could rival that of a California firm.”

He serves as a member of the executive committee, co-chairs the Intellectual Property practice, and chairs the Fashion, Luxury Goods & Retail group.

Leasing Strategy in 2019

Mary Rottler

Mary Rottler

EVP, Leasing & Operations

Seritage

John Mears

John Mears

VP of Real Estate

Equinox

Mark Kostic

Mark Kostic

VP, Asset Management

Brookfield Properties

Peter Braus
Moderator

Peter Braus

Managing Principal

Lee & Associates

Mary Rottler

EVP, Leasing & Operations

Seritage

Mary Rottler is the Executive Vice President of Leasing and Operations of Seritage. Prior to joining Seritage, Ms. Rottler served as the Vice President of Real Estate at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (NYSE: WMT). In this capacity she was responsible for overseeing all facets of new store development in the eastern half of the United States and delivered approximately 350 new stores per year. Prior to that time she was the Vice President for Realty Supplier Management and Compliance. She joined Wal-Mart in 2001.

Mark Kostic

VP, Asset Management

Brookfield Properties

Responsible for the Asset Management of Brookfield Place New York, an 8 million sq. ft. mixed-use complex on the waterfront in Lower Manhattan that includes 7.7 million sq. ft. of office space and 300,000 sq. ft. of luxury retail as well as Manhattan West - a 7 million sq. ft. mixed-use development on the west side of Manhattan consisting of 6 million sq. ft. of office, 250,000 sq. ft. of retail and the Pendry Hotel.

Actively involved in identifying new partnerships with retailers, restaurant/hospitality offerings and other lifestyle amenities as well as PropTech solutions for Brookfield Place and the larger Brookfield portfolio. Played a key role in the $300 million transformation of the World Financial Center into Brookfield Place as well as the retail strategy at the 7 million sq. ft. Manhattan West and its Whole Foods and Peloton Studios anchor retail transactions.

Peter Braus

Moderator

Lee & Associates

Peter Braus is the Managing Principal and Cofounder of Lee & Associates NYC, where he oversees over sixty brokerage professionals, and is actively involved in every aspect of managing and running the business. Mr. Braus is also Vice-Chair of Lee & Associates’ National Board of Directors.

Mr. Braus has been involved in the ownership and brokerage of real estate for over 25 years, specializing in strategic repositioning of major retail assets on behalf of owners and developers. He joined Lee & Associates NYC in 2011 as an owner/investor.

In 2019, Mr. Braus won the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) Retail Deal of the Year Award.

Prior to Lee & Associates NYC, Mr. Braus was a retail leasing broker with Newmark Real Estate. He has been involved in a wide variety of brokerage transactions and currently represents numerous owners and tenants.

Investment, Acquisition, Development & Design Strategy

How Concept and Brand Identity Impact Retail Activity

Bruce Schanzer

Bruce Schanzer

President & CEO

Cedar Realty Trust

Joel Braun

Joel Braun

EVP & Chief Investment Officer

Acadia Realty Trust

Michael Bischoff

Michael Bischoff

Partner

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects

Joseph French Jr.

Joseph French Jr.

The French Retail Team

Marcus & Millichap

Michael Hefferon
Moderator

Michael Hefferon

Partner, Managing Director

B6 Real Estate Advisors

Joel Braun

EVP & Chief Investment Officer

Acadia Realty Trust

Mr. Braun has been the Chief Investment Officer of Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) since its founding in August, 1998 and has been an Executive Vice President of the Company since January, 2007. He is responsible for all of Acadia’s Merger and Acquisitions activity, as well as overseeing investment strategy for both the REIT as well as Acadia’s Private Investment Funds.

Acadia’s investments, which are primarily focused on retail properties, cover a wide range including direct acquisitions of high quality urban properties for the REIT, as well as ground up development, redevelopments, joint ventures and mezzanine loans/preferred equity for the Fund vehicles.

Prior to Acadia, Mr. Braun served as Vice President of Acquisitions for RD Capital, Inc., a private investment company owning shopping centers and multi-family properties throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

Mr. Braun holds a Bachelors Degree in business and psychology from Boston University and a Masters Degree in Planning from The Johns Hopkins University.

Michael Bischoff

Partner

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects

Michael W. Bischoff, a partner at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, has devoted his practice to the

creation of meaningful and lasting environments for institutional and corporate clients. He has served as

a lead designer for projects ranging from banking headquarters in Kansas City and Amsterdam to

academic research centers at Drexel University, Virginia Tech, and Princeton.

With broad leadership experience on significant large-scale projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the

Middle East as well as North America, Mr. Bischoff directs the firm’s ongoing efforts in India, including

One Lodha Place, Mumbai’s first Class A office tower, with high-end retail boutiques and restaurants at

its base, and the Goldman Sachs headquarters in Bangalore, a 21-acre, LEED Platinum–designed office

campus for 13,500 employees, whose wide array of community amenities includes conference facilities,

fitness centers, and casual dining and cafeterias.

A native Californian, Mr. Bischoff has also played a central role in many of the firm’s West Coast

projects, beginning with the Orange County campus of Capital Group Companies in Irvine. He has served

as a lead designer and partner-in-charge for numerous California projects, including headquarters and

investment office buildings at Newport Center and several large office campuses in Silicon Valley.

Among these is the recently completed Santa Clara Square, whose corporate tenants attract staff with

the project’s high-tech office space and newly popular amenities, such as coffee and retail bars within

dining pavilions and indoor and outdoor fitness options.

Mr. Bischoff’s designs for two projects on the boards—the Landmark in Irvine and Vanir Tower in

Sacramento—bring together mixed-use developments of hotel, residential, retail, and office space with

vibrant street life and public spaces intended to attract and retain users. He is also currently leading the

design for an expansion of UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles.

In addition to his professional practice, Mr. Bischoff maintains an active role within the academic

community and has served as a design critic at Harvard, Princeton, Parsons School of Design, and the

City College of New York.

Joseph French Jr.

The French Retail Team

Marcus & Millichap

Joseph French has over 30 years of development, asset and property management, leasing and investment sales experience. He has been involved in sales of more than 100 properties totaling over 10 million square feet worth over $1 Billion. He has worked in a variety of market cycles including the dramatic downturn in the 90s, during which he handled transactions with the Revolution Trust Company.

Mr. French had been published in Shopping Centers Today, GlobeSt.com, Retail Traffic, CCIM Magazine, National Real Estate Investor and has been a featured speaker at numerous industry conferences. He was named 2008 Broker All-Star by GlobeSt.com and consistently ranked among SVN Top 10 Brokers. He holds the coveted CCIM designation and is a licensed real estate broker in the states of New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Prior to joining Marcus & Millichap, Mr. French served as the National Director of Retail & Managing Director for Sperry Van Ness as well as the Northeast Regional Director for the Asset Recovery Team (SVN-ART) where he played a key leadership role. Prior to Sperry Van Ness, Mr. French served as a Senior Vice President for The Hutensky Group managing investment sales and leasing departments. Previously he founded his own firm active in development, re-development and leasing of urban retail projects. Mr. French also held senior positions at the renowned commercial real estate firms Landau & Heyan, Brandenberg Realty, and CS Brown Associates.

Michael Hefferon

Moderator

B6 Real Estate Advisors

Michael Hefferon is a Partner and Managing Director at B6 Real Estate Advisors, where he oversees the investment sales territory in Lower Manhattan focusing on building sales and retail condos in Hudson Square, SoHo, NoLIta, TriBeCa, WTC, and Battery Park City.

Michael was one of the first Partners at B6 to help lead strategic growth in New York City. Before taking on a territory of his own, he was instrumental in building the B6 team recruiting 30+ sales people to fill half of the territories and guiding them to obtain in excess of 80 exclusive listings with an aggregate value of $750M within the first 9 months.

Prior to B6, Michael was a Managing Director for Cushman & Wakefield’s Manhattan and Bronx Investment Sales team. Leading the team, he was responsible for the growth, operational and financial performance and helped to ensure there was no attrition of salespeople through Cushman & Wakefield’s merger with DTZ.

He began his career at Massey Knakal Realty Services in Retail Leasing at the inception of the new service line which launched in 2011. He spent time as a salesperson covering SoHo and NoLIta before being promoted to Assistant Manager overseeing all Brokerage Operations in the Manhattan office.

In May 2010, Michael graduated from the Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University in Queens, NY with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. While attending St. John’s, Michael was a Dean’s List honoree, a member of the Phi Eta Sigma and the Sigma Iota Epsilon National Honor Societies. Today he is on their Board of Directors for the business school’s Alumni Association currently serving as 2nd Vice President.

Michael is an avid traveler and snowboarder. He resides in Hoboken, New Jersey with his rescue pit bull, Dakota, and spends his summers down at the New Jersey Shore.

AFFILIATIONS

NY State Licensed Associate Broker

Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

Tobin College of Business Alumni Association, Board Member, 2nd Vice President

Massey Knakal’s Steven Spinola Award

Eagle Scout

Activating Retail: Placemaking, Clicks-to-Bricks & Branding Strategy in 2019

Nicholas Stone

Nicholas Stone

Founder & CEO

Bluestone Lane

Karen Bellantoni

Karen Bellantoni

Vice Chairman

Newmark

Nathan Elliott

Nathan Elliott

Founder

Frontrunner Technologies

Jesse MacDougall

Jesse MacDougall

Principal

ICRAVE

Whitney Arcaro
Moderator

Whitney Arcaro

Chief Revenue Officer, Residential

RXR

Nicholas Stone

Founder & CEO

Bluestone Lane

Nicholas “Nick” James Stone is a native of Melbourne Australia who moved to New York City in 2010. He is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bluestone Lane, an Australian-influenced lifestyle and hospitality brand based in New York, NY.

Nick envisioned Bluestone Lane whilst attending Business School in New York, with the idea of providing a premium coffee/cafe experience that is readily found in his former hometown of Melbourne Australia (but not readily available in New York). Since opening its first location in July 2013, Bluestone Lane has become the fastest-growing premium coffee and café brand in New York City, having opened 30 locations and a flagship coffee roastery and production facility within its first 5 years of operations (including listing in RBI’s 25 Fastest Growing Fast Casuals and Best 20 Brands under 20 Units).

Bluestone Lane it set to have more than 35 locations by the end of 2018, across 6 United States core-markets, including New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Bluestone Lane has more than 400 staff.

Nick joined Bluestone Lane as its full-time Chief Executive Officer in June 2016, having spent 10 years as a Corporate Finance Director with ANZ Banking Group Limited and UBS Investment Bank, advising and financing some of the world’s largest multinational corporations in the United States, Europe and in Asia Pacific.

Prior to banking, Nick was a professional Australian Rules Football (AFL) player for 6 seasons, having been selected in the 1999 AFL National Draft from Wesley College, Australia (High School). Nick played for the Collingwood Football Club, Hawthorn Football Club and St Kilda Football Club.

In July 2018, Bluestone Lane announced it had closed a strategic funding with RSE Ventures, a private investment firm founded by Stephen M. Ross and Matt Higgins, which specializes in incubating, operating and growing consumer brands, with a focus on food, technology, sports and media. RSE’s strategic resources will help bolster Bluestone Lane's presence as a premium lifestyle brand and to fuel its global expansion, as the company plans to double its unit count over the next two years across 10 cities.

Nick is married to fellow Australian, International Model and Biomedical Scientist, Alexandra Stone (nee Knight). Together in 2016 they founded allergen-free bakery and nutrition company, Husk Bakeshop. Husk Bakeshop is a premium, millennial focused and branded exclusive allergen-free company. Husk Bakeshop’s products are sold through exclusive partners including Bluestone Lane, The Wing, NY Pilates, Soho House, with an early 2019 launch planned with WeWork, Snack Nation, Thrive Market and several boutique grocery operators.

Karen Bellantoni

Vice Chairman

Newmark

Karen Bellantoni is a Vice Chairman with Newmark, specializing in tenant and landlord representation in New York City and urban markets across the country. Bellantoni brings over three decades of retail real estate and merchandising experience to her profession.

As a tenant representative, Bellantoni is responsible for implementing the national and regional strategic plans and rollouts for an impressive list of retailers, including Elyse Walker, A.L.C., The Westside/everafter, The Frye Company, J.Crew, Madewell, UGG, Hoka One One, Apple and lululemon. Throughout the country, Bellantoni has executed transactions on behalf of Intermix, Elie Tahari and L’Oréal brands Kiehl’s, The Body Shop and NYX Professional Makeup. In New York City, Bellantoni represented J.Crew in numerous Manhattan locations for their various concepts. She recently completed two Elyse Walker deals, including their first East Coast location; four additional Madison Avenue transactions; several Hoka One One locations; and secured a flagship location on 5th Avenue for UGG.

Bellantoni has represented numerous owners throughout Manhattan. Among her notable assignments are consulting with Related Companies on the Time Warner Center; she represented Crown in leasing 15 Little West 12th Street to Amyris for their new flagship; representing TF Cornerstone in leasing 90 and 100 Gansevoort Street to Allouche Gallery, By Killian, Christian Louboutin Men’s and Intermix; successfully leasing 40 Mercer Street on behalf of Hines and Andre Balazs to Bose, Dermalogica, Vivienne Tam and Wachovia; representing Taconic Investment Partners and ING Clarion in leasing 401 W. 14th Street; merchandising and leasing Chelsea Market on behalf of Jamestown Properties; and arranging a 16,153-square-foot lease with Anthropologie. She also served as an advisor to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey for the World Trade Center redevelopment.

In addition, Bellantoni has actively leased space on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, to AllBirds, Warby Parker, Aesop and Herman Miller.

Professional Affiliations

Bellantoni is a licensed real estate salesperson in the State of New York. She is also a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

Education

Bellantoni earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Ohio University.

Nathan Elliott

Founder

Frontrunner Technologies

Nathan Elliott is the CEO for the new tech economy. A futurist with a passion for history, he brings unrivaled energy and insight to each company he creates.

Having launched several successful startups in the market research (Insightwest) and media spaces (Insight Interactive), Nathan has been quick to position himself as a thought leader.

As a public intellectual, writer, and speaker, Nathan knows how to market both himself and his businesses. He provides frequent media commentary for the Canadian-based CBC and Financial Post, along with mainstream tech journals in the US. His recent work in the commercial real estate space specific to smart cities and big data has been pronounced.

After his lightbulb moment two years ago, Nathan and the FrontRunner team set forth on a mission to illuminate the world. His vision mapped the FrontRunner course to disrupt the media, real estate and technology spaces in one fell swoop.

In 2016, Nathan was named to CBC’s Top 40 Under 40. In 2018, he was named a Toronto City Mogul. The Huddle Up Foundation, a charity he founded, has gifted thousands of winter coats to deserving kids since 2013.

Jesse MacDougall

Principal

ICRAVE

Jesse MacDougall is a principal at ICRAVE, a leading hospitality design firm, known for their unique design solutions for healthcare, food halls and urban transit hubs - as well as leading hotels and restaurants around the world. With 15 years of experience in architecture, interiors and branding, Jesse has gleaned a unique set of insights on the role of strategy and design in the world. He has a been a creative shepherd for an array of projects - from the Sir Adam Hotel in Amsterdam to the boutique Serafina Hotel in Puerto Rico, to the branding efforts behind the hotel conversion of the Battery Maritime Building in NYC.

Jesse’s work has shaped the travel experiences in airports, delivered human-centric healthcare design at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and contemplated the future of College Campus's with the Compass Group. On the development side, he is working closely with Blackstone/Equity Office, The Rockefeller Group, and RXR. Most notably, he is spearheading an effort with RXR to convert 60,000 SQ FT of street-level warehouse space at the historic Starrett Lehigh building into a commercial hub for the neighborhood.

His work has been featured in Wallpaper*, Hospitality Design, Sleeper Magazine, Boutique Design, Interior Design and Design Milk and is a frequent speaker on hospitality and retail. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University.

Whitney Arcaro

Moderator

RXR

As the Chief Revenue Officer, Residential Ms. Arcaro is responsible for the

overall revenue strategy and its implementation for RXR’s extensive

residential portfolio, across multiple regions in the United States. She

oversees an integrated workstream across Operations, Development,

Marketing, Sales/Leasing, and Portfolio Management to enhance the product,

create brand premium, and drive revenue streams above competitive assets

in each market.

Ms. Arcaro joined RXR in 2017, serving as Executive Vice President – Head

of Marketing and Retail Leasing for the company. She was responsible for

overseeing the marketing and communications of RXR’s 25.6 million square

feet of commercial assets in Manhattan and the surrounding region, as well as

the concepts, design strategy, marketing and strategic branding initiatives for

more than 6,200 multi-family units in planning across the region at the time.

As the Head of Retail Leasing, Ms. Arcaro oversaw the strategy and

implementation for the 1.1 million square feet of retail space across RXR’s

New York City and Tri-state portfolio.

Prior to joining RXR, Ms. Arcaro served as Managing Director of Business

Development for SHVO, a luxury real estate company, where she was integral

to key elements of the business, comprising capital raising, EB5 financing,

hotel partner relations, retail activity and sales/marketing efforts. Ms. Arcaro

was senior member in the company’s strategic growth initiatives, effectuating

a $3.5 billion investment and development pipeline in a 24-month period.

Previously, Ms. Arcaro served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at

Vornado Realty Trust, one of the largest publicly traded REITs in the U.S. with

over 100 million square feet across multiple markets during her time there. At

Vornado, Ms. Arcaro was responsible for creating and implementing

marketing strategies including office, retail, residential, and hotel properties,

new developments and major asset repositions. Ms. Arcaro oversaw

Vornado’s major branding initiatives. Among her accomplishments includes

building an interdisciplinary, multi award-winning marketing program for

Vornado’s corporate, New York, and street retail platforms, which included

innovations in digital marketing and technologies, as well as industry-leading

sales centers and product positioning. She oversaw the marketing and

communications plan of the company’s nationally recognized sustainability

program, and also created a successful public holiday tradition in partnership

with the San Francisco 49ers in California.

Before Vornado, Ms. Arcaro was a commercial real estate broker working on

tenant representation, landlord agency, consulting services and investment

opportunities for multinationals and institutional organizations.

Ms. Arcaro has been listed as one of New York’s Real Estate Power Women

in each year since 2018. She is a member of the Leadership Committee of the

American Lung Association. Ms. Arcaro has produced award-winning feature

length and short films featured at SXSW and Sundance Film Festivals,

including a critically and politically hailed feature on conditions of Veterans,

which garnered over 12 awards and coverage in the Washington Post,

International Herald Tribune, and the New York Times.

Summary

1) How are major retail giants adjusting their identities to survive today's e-commerce world?

2) What facets of the brick-and-mortal retail shopping experience will always attract customers?

3) How do major developers navigate the tenant market in a the world of brand recognition?

4) Will the "experience consumer" continue to drive construction development when millennials inevitably grow older?

5) Are pop-up stores and experiential retail here to stay?  

Venue

The Starrett-Lehigh Building
601 W 26 St.
NY, NY 10001

Floor: Ground Floor

Entrance: Please enter from West 27th Street



Parking garage on 550 W 25th Street Head southeast on W 26th St toward 11th Ave then turn right onto 11th Ave and then turn left onto W 25th St. The destination will be on the right.

Rates:
Up to 1 hour: $21.00
Up to 2 hours: $29.00
Up to 12 hours: $37.00

Agenda

Time Activity
11:30 AM
12:30 PM
Breakfast & Networking
12:30 PM
1:15 PM
Activating Retail: Placemaking, Clicks-to-Bricks & Branding Strategy in 2019
1:15 PM
2:00 PM
Investment, Acquisitions, Development & Design Strategy
2:00 PM
2:45 PM
Leasing in 2019: What Tenants Want
2:45 PM
3:15 PM
Keynote Interview with Conor Flynn
3:15 PM
3:45 PM
Post Event Speed Networking