East Bay State of the Market

In addition to 15 years of experience in real estate development, Mr. Babsin is an attorney and CPA. Mr. Babsin holds a BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a Master in City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.

Alan E. Dones is a licensed contractor, a long-time entrepreneur, an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity in employment and contracting, and an accomplished musician/producer. Dones is principal of ADCo, LLC and managing partner and co-founder of SUDA, LLC, a firm specializing in large-scale, innovative, public agency projects and mixed-use development. SUDA has completed several landmark projects in Oakland, CA and is currently pioneering international development projects in Africa. In 1988, Alan Dones co-founded and served as CEO of Rondeau Bay Construction, Inc. (RBC), an engineering and construction firm based in Oakland, CA. Under his leadership, RBC grew to include offices in five major US cities and completed over $70 million of construction projects. Alan is active in a number of local and national organizations. He has worked with agencies throughout the United States to revise and enhance their small business and W/MBE policies. Currently, he is a member of the City of Oakland’s Workforce Investment Board; member of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation; and member the East Bay Conversion and Reinvestment Commission. Formerly, Dones served as president of the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors; vice-chairman of the Oakland City Charter Review Committee; board member of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce; delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business; and member of the Legislative Committee for the Engineering and Utility Contractor’s Association. As a member of the Military Conversion and Reinvestment Commission, Mr. Dones was instrumental in promoting legislation and drafting revisions to the language of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that enhanced the ability of Women and Minority owned firms to compete for DOD and conversion related contracts. Mr. Dones has authored several articles on minority business issues in local and National publications. He has co-authored a measure on the 1996 ballot in Oakland, California to amend Oakland’s City Charter mandating Affirmative Action programs, combating disparities in City employment and contracting. This initiative had national significance in that it is one of the first voter responses to counter the impact of the controversial anti-affirmative action California Civil Right Initiative (CCRI). Alan Dones is executive producer and co-founder of Strategic Media Alliance, LLC (SMI) ― an international production company based in Oakland, CA. His musical credits are many. Alan co-authored the 1981 hit single, “Be Yourself” with world-renowned bassist, Nathan East. The song appeared on singer Debra Laws’ first solo album, “Very Special” and rose to the top-ten mark on Billboard’s R&B charts [listen]. In 1981, Dones co-authored, “Go For It”, performed by Bill Summers & Summers’ Heat and featured on their classic Jam the Box album. Alan has produced, written and performed with many of the Bay Area’s top artists, including Rodney Franklin, Ray Obeido, Larry Batiste, Jennifer Johns, Hannibal Means, Patricia Banks, Harvey Scales, David Daniel, and The Nemonics. He performed for more than a year in the award-winning and highly acclaimed San Francisco musical review, “Soul, Style & Sass.”

Mr. Kirchofer serves as Senior Vice President of Development for AvalonBay, with responsibility for all of the company’s development activity in Northern California. The company is a leading developer, owner, and manager of multifamily and mixed-use developments in the region. Mr. Kirchofer joined the company in 2013. Prior to joining AvalonBay, Mr. Kirchofer led complex residential and mixed-use projects in the Bay Area for one of the Bay Area’s top nonprofit affordable housing developers, MidPen Housing. Mr. Kirchofer is a former member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, and a member of the SPUR Housing Policy Board. Mr. Kirchofer received a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.

Alicia Guerra has developed a multi-disciplinary practice focused on local, state, and federal land use entitlement and permitting and environmental review for a broad sector of private industry, developers, and public agencies. Ms. Guerra’s practice often involves complex and controversial projects at all levels of the administrative process including due diligence, land use entitlements, development agreements, disposition and development agreements, permitting advice, and counsel for water resources, environmental compliance, and wetlands natural resources. She has handled all aspects of these substantive areas, from advising private and public sector clients regarding the applicability of the law, to guiding clients through a permitting or entitlement process at the local, state or federal level.

Joe is a founder of srmErnst and has over 20-years of real estate experience in development, investment, asset management and finance. Joe joined SRM Associates in 1999 and was the principal in charge of all new development since 2005. Prior to SRM, Joe was a Vice President in Structured Finance with Norwest Bank Minneapolis (prior to acquisition of Wells Fargo) structuring private mortgage and asset-backed securities transactions. Joe was also a Vice President with Cargill Financial Services focused on developing a conduit for acquisition and securitization of subprime residential mortgages, and a Vice President with Piper Jaffray as a structured finance analyst involved in the acquisition, restructuring and fund management of a $1 billion portfolio of distressed residential loans and under-performing CMBS deals. Joe graduated magna cum laude from the University of Saint Thomas receiving his B.A. in Finance and Computer Science. He is a Portfolio Advisor with Inner City Advisors, an Oakland based non-profit small business and jobs advocacy group.

As a Principal, Kelly works in tandem with the Construction Management team in managing the daily operations of all development projects. She also assists the Chief Financial Officer, Lino Campanile, in overseeing the fiscal activity of the entire suite of Westlake companies – Westlake Realty, Westlake Urban and Westlake International. On a day-to-day basis she acts as a bridge between the Development and Finance teams. Prior to joining Westlake, Kelly worked in the digital advertising and media industry in New York City. Previously an Account Executive for the advertising technology company, Ogury, she was responsible for managing her own book of business and working with a variety of top brands across multiple verticals to accomplish their advertising and marketing goals. Prior to Ogury, Kelly worked for Digital Trends, a technology news and reviews site, and at MEC buying and planning digital media campaigns and major digital sponsorships for AT&T Wireless. Kelly earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard College.

Brent Saldaña is dedicated to achieving solutions that meet his clients’ goals in a variety of real estate transactions and projects, including acquisitions and sales, development, leasing, financing, management, and ownership transactions. He particularly enjoys complex projects where protecting his clients requires negotiating mutually beneficial solutions among many stakeholders, thoughtful consideration of interrelated agreements, superb project management skills, and a continuing appreciation of the big picture. Brent also has a soft spot for ground-up development work and major renovation projects. Whether he is structuring real estate investment vehicles, negotiating build-to-suit leases, reviewing construction documents, or closing a financing, Brent strives to continue Farella’s legacy of delivering practical, smart guidance in a package of outstanding client service. Recent real estate projects include: Negotiating financing for the developer of a mixed-use project in India Basin. Assisting an East Bay developer to acquire the site for a 220,000-square-foot office building for a life sciences company and to negotiate joint venture agreements with limited partners, a build-to-suit lease with the tenant, construction agreements with the contractor, and other project documents. Strategizing with landlords to respond to COVID-related tenant issues. Counseling a real estate investor in the sales and acquisitions of fee and ground lease interests in South Bay/Peninsula properties. Prior to joining a law firm, Brent worked in development and marketing at The San Francisco Foundation and as in-house counsel for a nonprofit lender to businesses in disaster recovery zones.