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Speakers and Panels

Chris Freise

Chris Freise

Managing Partner & Co-founder

REDCO Development

Mari Yamato

Mari Yamato

VP, Acquisitions

BALLAST

Chris Freise

Managing Partner & Co-founder

REDCO Development

Chris Freise is Managing Partner & Co-Founder at REDCO Development. Prior to launching REDCO, Chris served as Managing Partner of Lift Partners, an operating platform that invested $300M+ dollars during its 4-year history on behalf of institutional investors Westbrook Partners, PCCP, Morgan Stanley and a confidential Ivy League endowment with a $50M discretionary fund. While at Lift, Chris lead all acquisition, development and construction efforts. Prior to that he served as a Transactions Director at LBA Realty working on a 11 million square foot portfolio in Northern California including acquisitions, development, leasing and dispositions. LBA Realty is a $6 billion fund advisor focused primarily on office and industrial value-add investments along the West Coast. Chris learned ground-up development working as Development Manager at Vulcan Real Estate in Seattle and worked on 3 million square feet of ground up development in Vulcan’s South Lake Union project including Amazon’s Corporate Headquarters and several high rise residential projects. He began his career working at RREEF as an analyst.

Chris holds a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and sits on the SF NAIOP Chapter Programs & Membership Committees and the Downtown San Jose PBID board. When not hanging with his daughter Finley and wife Marie, Chris is an active water enthusiast including surfing/kitesurfing and 49ers/Oakland A's fan.

Fireside Chat with Salesforce

Relina Bulchandani
Keynote

Relina Bulchandani

EVP, Real Estate & Workplace Services

Salesforce

Tara Shabahang
Moderator

Tara Shabahang

Partner

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Tara Shabahang

Moderator

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Tara Shabahang is a Partner in the Real Estate Transactions and Finance group at the San Francisco office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. She represents real estate developers, investors, property owners and operators in all aspects of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, joint ventures and leasing. Tara leads her firm’s borrower-side finance practice with expertise in mortgage and mezzanine debt, construction financing, secured and unsecured lines of credit and CMBS loan servicing. Her project coverage is national and spans a variety of asset classes, including office, multifamily, retail, industrial, hotel and mixed-use. With a particular focus on commercial real estate development, Tara is trusted by some of the Bay Area’s leading developers and investors to navigate large-scale development projects, from the evaluation and acquisition of a development site, through project entitlement and construction, until assets are operational and stabilized. Tara is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) as well as her firm’s DEI and Women’s Initiative committees. Tara was named to Legal 500’s 2025 Next Generation Partner list for Real Estate, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s 2025 list of Rising Stars. In addition, she has been named to Best Lawyers in America’s Ones to Watch list in Real Estate Law from 2022-2024. Tara holds a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from University of California, Davis.

The New San Francisco: How the CRE Market Is Rebuilding in Real Time

Exploring the trends, tenants, and projects driving San Francisco’s next chapter of growth

Oz Erickson

Oz Erickson

Founder & Chairman

Emerald Fund

Angela Kleiman

Angela Kleiman

Senior EVP & COO

Essex Property Trust

Nicholas Fogle

Nicholas Fogle

Principal

Ryan

Brent Saldaña
Moderator

Brent Saldaña

Partner

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Oz Erickson

Founder & Chairman

Emerald Fund

Oz Erickson founded Emerald Fund in 1979 and has been actively developing projects in the Bay Area since that time. Oz identifies new projects and is involved with the entitlements, financing, project design and sales and marketing. Oz has been recognized with many industry honors including the San Francisco Business Times’ Lifetime Achievement Award for Most Admired CEO in 2013. Oz received a BA degree from Harvard University and a MBA from Stanford University

Angela Kleiman

Senior EVP & COO

Essex Property Trust

Ms. Kleiman is responsible for overall Operations of the Company, which includes Portfolio, Asset and Property Management; Technology; Data Analytics and Research; Redevelopment and Resource Management; and Commercial Departments. Ms. Kleiman served as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2015 to 2020 and was responsible for the overall transaction management for the $16 billion merger with BRE Properties. She joined Essex in 2009 to manage the Private Equity platform and grew the business from $750 million to $3 billion in gross assets. Prior to joining Essex, Ms. Kleiman's real estate career focused primarily on institutional investment management and investment banking. As a Senior Equity Analyst and Vice President of Investor Relations at Security Capital, she was responsible for over $2 billion of the firm's REIT investments and all client communications. As a Vice President with J.P. Morgan Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking Group, she advised senior management and boards in strategic business platforms and capital markets transactions. Ms. Kleiman began her career in real estate development management in 1991. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management. She is a member of NAREIT and NMHC.

Nicholas Fogle

Principal

Ryan

Nicholas Fogle serves as a Principal in Ryan’s Real Property

Tax practice, based in the Ffirm’s San Francisco office. He

advises clients on complex California property tax matters,

delivering innovative solutions that address valuation,

compliance, audit defense, and legislative-driven change. Nick

partners closely with commercial property owners and

tenants to manage property tax exposure across evolving

regulatory and assessment environments, providing clarity

and confidence in high-stakes jurisdictions.

Nicholas Fogle

Principal, Real Property Tax

Property Tax

San Francisco

With extensive experience leading West Coast property tax

operations, Nick brings a practical, market-driven perspective

shaped by years of advising institutional owners, occupiers,

and investors. He is known for combining deep technical

property tax knowledge with a strong understanding of

commercialreal estate fundamentals to achieve measurable

savings. In addition to his client work, Nick is actively engaged

in professional education and public policy,regularly speaking

for Ryan clients and internal programs, as well as forthe

California Assessors’ Association and the California State

Board of Equalization, and contributing to statewide property

tax reform initiatives.

Education and Qualifications

Bachelor of Science Degree, Real Estate and Urban Land

Economics, Wisconsin School of Business

Experience and Achievements

Principal, Real Property Tax, Ryan, San Francisco office

Advises clients on California property tax strategy,

valuation, and dispute resolution

Delivers innovative solutions across complex and high-

value property portfolios

West Region Leader, national property tax management firm

California Market Leader, national property tax management

firm

Head of San Francisco Office, national property tax

management firm

Commercial Real Estate Broker, Cornish & Carey Commercial

Member, California Alliance of Taxpayer Advocates

Contributor, California State Board of Equalization Property

Tax Relief Task Force

Brent Saldaña

Moderator

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Brent Saldaña advises investors, developers, owners and operators, and others in the real estate industry

in diverse, sophisticated real estate and corporate transactions. His clients span from individual investors

and family-owned real estate enterprises, to established developers, to sponsors launching real estate

funds, and his experience touches on multiple asset types and classes, including multifamily, office,

hospitality, industrial, R&D campuses, and vineyards, among others. He serves as chair of Farella Braun

+ Martel’s Real Estate Group.

Brent has extensive experience in acquisitions and dispositions, construction and permanent financings,

multi-tiered joint ventures and entity formations, development projects, leasing, and asset and property

management arrangements. He advises clients in many unusual deals requiring creative structures,

including unique land swap transactions and challenging tenant workouts. Brent also works closely with

members of Farella’s Family Wealth Group in structuring real estate holdings and succession planning

for families looking to preserve generational wealth.

Brent’s practice has a particular focus on complex real estate projects in the San Francisco Bay Area that

require negotiating mutually beneficial solutions among multiple stakeholders to protect his clients’

interests. His work involves thoughtful consideration of interrelated agreements, excellent project

management skills, and a continual appreciation of the big picture. He brings an infectious enthusiasm

for placemaking, the built environment, and all things real estate.

Representative work includes:

 Representing the interest of a major investor in a hotel property in Oakland, CA, and

representing the seller of a hotel in Oakland.

 Representing the owner in the refinancing and sale of Cavallo Point Lodge in Marin County.

 Representing the developer in adaptive reuse projects in the East Bay involving the exercise of

purchase rights in leases with the municipality, structuring of joint ventures, obtaining

construction financing, and negotiation of reciprocal utility easements with adjacent owners.

 Representing a multifamily owner and operator in the restructuring of a dozen of its limited

partnerships and tenancy in common holdings along the West Coast.

 Representing the seller in the sale of a Peninsula office building re-entitled for multifamily

construction. This sale, involving seven separate owners, required intricate seller financing,

facilitated by the appointment of an administrative agent.

 Representing a sponsor in the formation of a single-family residential investment fund targeting

assets in the Southwest.

 Representing owners and operators of collective retail experiences, including representation of a

flower market operator and food hall operator.

 Advising an office/retail unit owner in the foreclosure of an assessment lien under a reciprocal

easement agreement against an adjoining unit owner.

 Negotiating a $175MM credit facility, including lines of credit, secured by personal property

assets for a Bay Area-based construction company.

 Advising clients on Subdivision Map Act, Tenant Protection Act, Commercial Tenant Protection

Act and other California statutory law issues.

 Negotiating financing for the developer of a mixed-use project in India Basin in San Francisco.

 Assisting an East Bay developer with build-to-suit leases, including a build-to-suit lease for a

220,000-square-foot office building for a life sciences company.

 Representing winery and vineyard owners and operators in water infrastructure and water rights

easements.

 Advising a senior living owner and operator in sale negotiations with a developer of an adjacent

mixed-use project in San Jose in which the senior living owner obtained future easement and

other rights in an intricate set of sale and easement agreements.

Brent is a 2025 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. Prior to joining a law firm, Brent

worked in development and marketing at The San Francisco Foundation and as in-house counsel for a

CDFI fund (nonprofit lender) lending to businesses in New York and in disaster recovery zones.

Brent earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his B.A. with honors

from Tufts University. He is admitted to practice in California and New York.

AI Boom Taking Over Office

How Tech Is Rewriting Demand

Laurent Dhollande

Laurent Dhollande

CEO

Pacific Workplaces

Greg Kuhlman

Greg Kuhlman

VP, Leasing

Related Ross

Marcus Guillard

Marcus Guillard

Co-Founder

LMNL Studio

Tony Natsis
Moderator

Tony Natsis

Partner

Allen Matkins

Laurent Dhollande

CEO

Pacific Workplaces

Laurent co-founded Pacific Workplaces (PAC) in 2003, an operator of coworking locations. Since then, he

has grown the portfolio to 16 locations, mostly in Northern California. Prior to that, he held various

positions at Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard,  with director-level responsibilities including

Corporate Real Estate and Corporate Development. He worked in management consulting and

investment banking early in his career. He holds an MBA from the Haas School at UC Berkeley.

Greg Kuhlman

VP, Leasing

Related Ross

Greg Kuhlman is a Senior Vice President at Related Ross where he oversees the commercial leasing efforts for its South Florida real estate developments.

Prior to joining Related, Greg worked at Cushman & Wakefield where he was a graduate of their Professional Real Estate Program, a member of the Agency Consulting Group and served as a Senior Director under the Chairman of Global Brokerage. He has been recognized by the Commercial Observer on their annual 30 Under 30: The Best and Brightest of NYC Real Estate list and has been awarded Cushman & Wakefield’s Rising Star for the New York Tri-State region.

Greg is a graduate of the Earl N. Phillips School of Business at High Point University. Greg has recently relocated to South Florida after spending his entire career in New York City.

Marcus Guillard

Co-Founder

LMNL Studio

Marcus Guillard is a Co-Founder of LMNL Studio, a multidisciplinary design collective of strategists, storytellers, architects, technologists, designers and fabricators that shepherds projects seamlessly from brand to build. As Partner, Spatial Design, he leads the studio's work in immersive environments and installations, connecting brand story to physical place. Across a twenty-year career, Mr. Guillard has designed and realized complex spatial visions reflecting the highest level of quality. He has worked alongside architects including Gensler and Rapt Studio for clientele such as Google, Apple and SFMOMA, building a portfolio of best-in-class environments and experiences. Mr. Guillard began his career as a photographer in New York, working alongside fashion and culture luminaries Gilles Bensimon, Steven Meisel and Annie Leibovitz. He is also Co-Founder and Creative Director of One Hat One Hand, a design and build studio that fabricates custom environments, architectural elements and large-scale art installations for brands, architects and public spaces.

Tony Natsis

Moderator

Allen Matkins

A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times.

A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School.

In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration.

One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.

From Vacant to Vibrant

How SF’s Retail and Entertainment Corridors Are Coming Back to Life

Alex Pugh
Moderator

Alex Pugh

Partner

Lubin Olson

Alex Pugh

Moderator

Lubin Olson

Alexander J. Pugh is a Partner in Lubin Olson's Real Estate, Business, Finance and Workouts, and Construction Law Practice Groups. Mr. Pugh represents clients in a wide range of real estate and business transactions, including debt and equity financing, real estate acquisitions and sales, real estate construction and development, commercial and industrial leasing and ground leases, workouts, mortgage loan repurchase transactions, and UCC and mortgage foreclosures. He represents private equity funds, hedge funds, corporate and individual developers and owners of office, multi-family, retail, hotel, industrial, recreational and high end residential real estate, mortgage and mezzanine lenders, and other public and privately-held companies investing in or using real estate. Mr. Pugh also has particular expertise in matters relating to California broker licensing. Before joining Lubin Olson, Mr. Pugh practiced in the real estate and finance group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in San Francisco. Mr. Pugh lives with his wife, son and daughter in San Francisco. Mr. Pugh was honored by Thompson Reuters as a Northern California Super Lawyer “Rising Star” in 2016 and 2017.

Why You Should Attend This San Francisco State of the Market Event

What You'll Learn: 

  • What major mixed-use projects, office redevelopments, and neighborhood activations will have the greatest impact on San Francisco in 2026?

  • How are developers and operators creating vibrant, community-focused environments that attract residents, retain employees, and energize retail corridors?

  • How are office landlords and developers adapting design, delivery, and portfolio strategy to respond to AI-driven growth, changing workplace expectations, and evolving tenant needs?

  • What does it take to find success in San Francisco’s rapidly evolving commercial real estate market today?

  • Which neighborhoods and asset classes are showing the strongest momentum, and why are they leading the market?

  • How are hospitality, food and beverage, and experiential retail concepts evolving to activate streets and increase foot traffic?

  • What strategies are working to successfully fill vacant storefronts and underutilized spaces?

  • How are entertainment, nightlife, and cultural amenities shaping more vibrant and competitive commercial corridors?

  • Which trends in office and retail leasing are driving the most activity and creating opportunity across San Francisco?

  • How are developers balancing affordability, sustainability, and innovation while responding to the city’s shifting CRE dynamics?

How You'll Do More Business: Join us to gain insight into the transformative projects, tenant trends, and neighborhood recoveries redefining San Francisco as the market moves from correction toward momentum. According to JLL, office leasing exceeded 8.5 million square feet in 2025, with AI and tech firms driving nearly half of all large deals and citywide vacancy falling to 34.4%. Retail is showing a strong rebound, with positive net absorption of 231,756 square feet year-to-date and submarkets like Waterfront/North Beach, Union Square, and Van Ness/Chinatown leading the recovery. Learn where demand is strongest, which tenants and concepts are shaping growth, and how developers and landlords are adapting strategies to meet evolving expectations, giving you actionable intelligence to position your business for San Francisco’s next chapter of CRE activity.

Why You Should Attend: Bisnow events convene the most influential leaders in commercial real estate and healthcare to identify opportunities, build meaningful connections, and drive business growth. With the largest audience of commercial real estate professionals in the world, Bisnow delivers unmatched access to the people, projects, and insights shaping the market. Join us for a focused look at the San Francisco market and the strategies defining its next phase of growth.

Who You'll Network With At This Discussion: Owners, Developers, Investors, Financial Institutions, Government Officials, Architects, Construction, Designers, Brokers, & Lawyers.

For information on sponsorship, pricing and availability at this event, contact avery.warren@bisnow.com. For questions, recommendations, comments or press inquiries please email our event producer, Emily Cox at emily.cox@bisnow.com. 

San Francisco News and Projects

Agenda

Time Activity
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
Networking, Breakfast & Coffee
4:00 PM
4:45 PM
Finding Capital in Today's Market

How investors, lenders, and developers are navigating financing, valuations, and dealmaking in San Francisco

4:45 PM
5:30 PM
The New San Francisco: How the CRE Market Is Rebuilding in Real Time

Exploring the trends, tenants, and projects driving San Francisco’s next chapter of growth

5:30 PM
6:00 PM
Networking Break
6:00 PM
6:30 PM
Fireside Chat with Salesforce
6:30 PM
7:15 PM
AI Boom Taking Over Office

How Tech Is Rewriting Demand

7:15 PM
7:45 PM
More Networking!

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