Innovation in Construction & Development

Bart Blatstein is the CEO of the privately held development company Tower Developments. Under his guise, Tower Investments has become well known for its aggressive and creative urban investments in major projects, as well as its expertise in all aspects of planning, design, construction, financing and leasing. Most recently, Bart set his development focus on the redevelopment of Northern Liberties and established the neighborhood as the place in Philadelphia, to live, work and play. His redevelopment efforts have created jobs, business opportunities, tax revenues and the impetus for more investment in the Philadelphia. In his more than 30 years in the real estate industry, Bart Blatstein has earned the reputation as one of the region’s most respected and successful developers. Tower transformed vast tracts of post-industrial properties along Columbus Boulevard into flourishing retail, entertainment, and office development, including Riverview Plaza, Columbus Crossing and Dickinson Square. In Manayunk, his company developed the largest contiguous commercial site along the Schuylkill riverfront. Mr. Blatstein is also very active in array of business, civic and charitable groups. He was a founding member of the Waterfront Developers Council, and is the past President of the Jewish Publishing Group board and serves on the Board of Trustees of Community College of Philadelphia, President’s Advisory Board and Board of Visitors of Temple University, Northeast Treatment Centers, Federation of Jewish Agencies as Real Estate Division chairman and Israel Bonds and the Technical Assistance Center for Emerging Contractors. In every sense of the word, Mr. Blatstein is a Philadelphian, with passion and vision for the City, its neighborhoods, and its bright future. And most important, Mr. Blatstein has earned the reputation for “getting the job done.”

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.

As Senior Vice President of Development, Sarina spearheads all of Post Brothers’ development projects and brings a wealth of experience in complex project planning, contractor negotiations, and every facet of project management. Sarina’s work on Post Brothers’ best-in-class residential portfolio includes the $250 million renovation of historic Presidential City, which was the largest redevelopment project in Philadelphia. Under Sarina’s leadership, Presidential City was transformed from an under-utilized, semi-suburban complex into the city’s largest luxury residential community, complete with a brand new, resort-style amenity center - Sora Pool Club. Other projects worth noting include The Atlantic at the Avenue of the Arts, Rittenhouse Hill and The Piazza in Northern Liberties. Prior to joining Post Brothers, Sarina received her Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from Drexel University. She managed over $400 million in projects for SgRA Architecture, including the Le Meridien Hotel and the Parc Rittenhouse, and before that spent 12 years as with KMA Architects and PZS Architects. Sarina was recognized nationally as one of Connect Media’s Most Influential Women in Real Estate 2018, and has received the State Policy Network Helen S. Krieble Unsung Hero for Freedom Award. Several of the Post Brothers projects she played key roles on have gained both regional and national industry recognition for their quality and economic development value. Sarina is a Founding member of the ABC Philadelphia Regional Council, board member of the Association of Builders and Contractors of Eastern PA, serves on the Board of Directors of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia and is also currently the Vice Chair of the Government Affairs Committee at the BIA. These are just some of the positions Sarina holds across multiple industry organizations.

In 2007, at the age of 26, Mike Stillwell resigned from his career as a foreman to pursue his aspirations to create a thriving construction & development company. He had a vision to simplify the process for residential construction in urban neighborhoods. While beginning contracting work in Point Breeze, he crossed paths with another young entrepreneur who had a similar vision as himself, Sean Schellenger. Their instant bond, trust, and shared business goals quickly blossomed into a partnership. In 2008, at the height of the recession, the Streamline brand was created. Mike, self-driven, competitive, & opportunistic, took the lead on creating efficient workflow processes & procedures for the development & construction side of the business, setting the duo up for future rapid growth. In 2010, the 1st Streamline office was opened on Washington Ave. The company began as a General Contractor for the 1st years. Mike learned the obstacles & opportunities that came with urban development. He realized that in order to become a leading company & stay at the forefront of their industry, continuous utilization of technology was going to be crucial. In 2011, Streamline invested in Salesforce to begin building out their project management and CRM procedures. Streamline received the 1st company awards: Philadelphia 100, PBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies, and SmartCEO circle of excellence, in 2013. That following year, Streamline began construction on their first condominium development as the developer. Mike was now leading 10 employees between development, construction, & accounting. In 2015, Streamline partnered with an investor group to receive their first fund & was now an urban residential developer– a huge accomplishment and milestone in the company’s history. Mike was now COO, focused on making the teams vision to become the leading urban developer, happen. At this time the company had grown to 16 employees with a revenue of $7.9MM & continued to put significant investments into technology to support the vision. Custom systems were developed to identify hundreds of off-market opportunities for acquisitions, in a short period of time, daily. Standard operating procedures, scripts, and training were established to truly set Streamline apart from the competition in how the company data mines & acquires off-market lots. Over the next 2 years, Mike led the operations with a focus on the customer experience. A 2nd office opened in Feb 2018 for a sales team. Mike managed a team to establish new positions to enhance the consumer experience, giving the client an expert to walk them through the process, every step of the way. One of the biggest differentiators for the company is the use of Virtual Reality. Urban development does not have the luxury of hosting a Model Home to sell homes during pre-construction. Mike & Sean put significant time and dollars into building out a new experience for the consumer to be able to visualize their home in a virtual realm before it’s built, preparing to launch The Streamline Experience in the beginning of 2019. Tragically, on July 12, 2018, Mike’s business partner, Sean Schellenger, was murdered in Rittenhouse Square. To say the loss of Sean was absolutely devastating for Mike is an understatement. The partners had worked together every day for the past 10 years to build what was now a thriving company in Philly. Overnight, the company was now on Mike’s shoulders. To ensure stabilization for the company’s lenders, investors, & employees, Mike put together a Strategic Planning team with an advisory board to set a clear path for the next 3 years of the company. He had key members on the board such as the CFO of Toll Brothers & a retired CEO from the biopharmaceutical industry. Despite the emotions that came with the unexpected loss of his business partner, Mike powerfully began to make the shift into the role of CEO for his company. He spent the next 3 months working feverishly with his leadership team & advisors to create an in-depth action plan, to ensure the vision and goals of Streamline stayed on course. In 2019, his company delivered nearly 200 homes within Philadelphia, a revenue of $45MM and 70 employees. The company placed #11 in the 2018 Philadelphia 100, & launched their Virtual Reality technology into the Sales Office to complete 2018. Today, the company has begun their expansion to an additional urban market, Chicago.

Jack Boarman founded the multi-discipline and award-winning firm, BKV Group, in 1978 and over the last 40+ years has expanded the company to be national student housing leader with over 190 design professionals working on projects throughout the United States. Jack is a Senior Practice Leader of Housing at BKV Group, focusing his work on the development of residential environments that utilize trend-setting ideas with a creative effort that translates client’s vision into a reality. Jack embraces a vision of growth and quality, which he incorporates in each of his designs. Jack is a renowned student housing expert, and speaks frequently at national and regional events and conferences including Interface, NMHC, Bisnow, and more. Recent and notable student housing projects Jack has designed include WaHu Student Apartments and The Marshall, both in Minneapolis, MN; Georgia Heights Apartments in Athens, GA; The Standard at New Brunswick in New Brunswick, NJ; The Standard at Raleigh in Raleigh, NC; and, The Standard at Auburn in Auburn, Alabama.

Ernie is a licensed / registered professional engineer in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan and Wisconsin. He was born in Rochester, NY; happily married to his wife, Peggy, the father of Martha and Roy, and grandfather of Luke. Ernie received his B.S. degree in Biology/Geology from the University of Rochester and his M.S. degree in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ernie lives in Center City, Philadelphia overlooking the City’s Art Museum. His professional contributions have covered a range of environmental and geotechnical projects from multi-site due diligence to remedial action, and building foundations, to bridges, dams, and tunnels. Ernie is a Senior Principal with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA) and is President of its New York State Affiliate. Ernie started his career with GZA in its Buffalo, New York office in 1986, starting as a Project Engineer, then eventually named the Office Manager in 1995. He relocated to GZA’s Metro Philadelphia Office in 2009 after managing the Buffalo Office for over 10-years. He initially manage GZA’s Metro Philadelphia operations (offices in Fort Washington, PA and Hammonton, NJ) and worked to expand its geotechnical practice in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Ernie sat on GZA’s Board of Directors from 2013 – 2016 and served as the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Operational Officer from 2012 through 2016. In February 2016, he relocated the GZA Fort Washington, PA office to its current location in Center City Philadelphia (1515 Market Street, Suite 945) and transitioned the office management. GZA is a Massachusetts based corporation with over 700 staff in 31 offices within the Northeast quadrant of the United States. GZA’s holding company is GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies, a Delaware Corporation. The Company focuses on five core service areas – geotechnical, environmental, water, ecology, and construction support.