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Financing South Florida's Development Pipeline

How unprecedented investment interest is impacting the market

Melissa Rose

Melissa Rose

Managing Director

JLL Capital Markets

Jordan Kornberg

Jordan Kornberg

Chief Investment Officer

Mast Capital

David Arditi

David Arditi

Principal

Aria Development Group

Ben Jacobson

Ben Jacobson

Partner

Forman Capital

Shahrokh Shah

Shahrokh Shah

Managing Director, Head of Engineering & Construction

BMO Harris Bank

Alexander Leon
Moderator

Alexander Leon

Partner

Bilzin Sumberg

Melissa Rose

Managing Director

JLL Capital Markets

Melissa is a Managing Director in the Miami office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. She

has over 15 years of experience in the real estate industry, securing debt and joint venture

equity financing for a broad range of property types with a focus on Office and Industrial.

Over the course of her career, she has closed more than $3 billion in capital through first

mortgages, mezzanine loans, bridge loans, acquisitions, and joint venture equity for a

variety of asset types throughout the U.S.

Prior to joining JLL, Melissa spent three years as a Managing Director at Ackman-Ziff.

Before that, she held acquisitions and in-house capital markets roles at Maxwelle Real

Estate Group in Aventura, Florida, and Eretz Group in New York City.

Melissa also serves as Director of Programming for the CREW Network Miami Chapter,

and has a seat on the Real Property Development Advisory Board at the University of

Miami School of Law. She earned a B.S. from University of Miami.

Jordan Kornberg

Chief Investment Officer

Mast Capital

Mr. Kornberg is a seasoned real estate professional with over $2 billion of single asset and portfolio transaction experience. Prior to joining Mast, Mr. Kornberg was a Managing Director at Northwood Investors, a privately-held global real estate investment firm, where he was responsible for evaluating real estate equity and debt investment opportunities. During his approximately 10 years at Northwood, he executed acquisitions, obtained financing, oversaw capital projects, and improved operating performance across the firm’s hospitality portfolio. Prior to Northwood, Mr. Kornberg worked in the Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Investment Banking group at Deutsche Bank and focused on corporate advisory assignments, capital markets transactions, and mergers and acquisitions primarily within the hospitality and gaming sectors.

Mr. Kornberg is an active member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) Investment Roundtable. Mr. Kornberg received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, Magna Cum Laude, from Duke University.

Shahrokh Shah

Managing Director, Head of Engineering & Construction

BMO Harris Bank

Shahrokh Shah is Managing Director of the Engineering & Construction group at BMO Harris Bank. Based in Chicago, Shahrokh is responsible for leading a team that specializes in providing financing to companies involved in all segments of the Engineering and Construction Industry. His in-depth industry knowledge, developed from established relationships throughout all industry segments, has led to a solutions oriented approach.

Shahrokh is well versed in the needs of the Industry and is extremely familiar with the intricacies required to facilitate both Corporate and Investment Banking solutions. Due to his knowledge and expertise on the Industry, Shahrokh is a frequent speaker for both industry and financial groups of national scope. Shahrokh is also on the Board of Directors of The Beavers, a California based Heavy Engineering Construction Association.

Prior to his current role, Shahrokh was involved in the structuring and arranging of project finance transactions and mergers and acquisitions for BMO’s Global Project Finance Group. Those transactions involved companies across a variety of industries, including pipelines, oil & gas, mining and power.

Prior to joining BMO Financial Group in 1986, Shahrokh spent four years with ExxonMobil in the project engineering and business analysis areas. Shahrokh has an MBA from Queen’s University and a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Toronto. He is a registered Professional Engineer.

Alexander Leon

Moderator

Bilzin Sumberg

Alexander G. Leon is a Partner in the firm's Construction Group. Board certified in Construction Law by the Florida Bar, Alex's practice focuses on representing local and international owners and developers in the design, construction and development of a wide array of projects, including apartments, luxury high-rise condominiums, hotels, industrial, commercial/retail and affordable housing. He assists clients with project administration to identify and achieve early resolution of potential disputes. He handles the negotiation and preparation of construction agreements, professional design agreements, and developer agreements.

When disputes arise from design and construction agreements, including construction defect and delay claims, surety bonds, insurance coverage, construction liens and warranty claims, Alex represents clients in mediation, arbitration, and litigation of claims.

The Headwinds and Tailwinds of Construction and Development

Whats pushing and pulling the CRE market: a dive into population growth, supply chain delays, construction costs, labor shortages

Dev Motwani

Dev Motwani

President

Merrimac Ventures

Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez

Director of Real Estate Development

AHS Residential

Zach Young

Zach Young

President

Kast Construction

Andrew Burnett

Andrew Burnett

CEO

RSP Architects

Daniel Odess
Moderator

Daniel Odess

Founder & President

GlobalPro

Dev Motwani

President

Merrimac Ventures

Dev Motwani serves as President of Merrimac Ventures, a Fort Lauderdale based real estate firm that focuses on value-add investment and development opportunities. Property types owned and operated include hotels, condos, retail, office and rental apartments primarily in South Florida but also throughout the United States.

Dev is also Founder and Managing Partner of Ramesh Properties, a distressed real estate investment fund focused on opportunistic investments in residential and commercial development sites throughout South Florida. He currently oversees nearly $750 million in development projects. Current projects include the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, The Gale Boutique Hotel and Residences, as well as Las Olas Riverfront, all in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Dev is Founder and Managing Partner of Chieftain Residential, a yield-oriented distressed residential fund purchasing single-family homes and residential land, primarily in the Southeast US and Texas. The fund aims to balance current income opportunities through the rental markets for its single family home inventory, while also targeting capital appreciation in single family homes and land as the US Residential Market continues to rebound.

Prior to his current role Dev worked at Credit Suisse in New York City, where he first structured OTC Equity Derivative trades for the firm's largest corporate clients and then for the firm's largest hedge fund clients. Before that he worked in the White House and on the 2000 Gore/Lieberman Presidential Campaign.

Dev plays an active role in the South Florida Community, through his involvement with numerous charities and business organizations, currently serving on the board of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, Fort Lauderdale's Economic Development Advisory Board, and the Downtown Council. He was recently appointed to the Orange Bowl Host Committee.

He previously served on the boards of the Riverwalk Trust, Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, and Broward County's Small Business Advisory Board. Dev has served as Co-Chair for the Bonnet House's Annual Impressions Fundraiser, the Ghost Light Society's Annual Soiree, and the Jeb Bush Classic Beach Bash benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year the Motwani family co-founded the Laughing Out Loud fundraiser benefitting the Scleroderma Foundation, which raised over $170,000 for the charity.

Dev graduated from Duke University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics and Public Policy and from Columbia University's Masters of Science in Real Estate Development Program. He has also studied at the London School of Economics.

Juan Fernandez

Director of Real Estate Development

AHS Residential

Juan G. Fernandez is the Director of Real Estate Development at AHS Residential. In his role,

Juan oversees the company’s development activities across the U.S. including land acquisition,

due diligence, project entitlements, design coordination, and owner’s representation, leading

finally to project close-out and turnover to the Property Management team at AHS Residential.

A practicing attorney, Juan joined AHS Residential in 2016 as In-house Counsel, where his role

was to negotiate with subcontractors, analyzing contracts and handling acquisitions. In 2018, he

transitioned to Manager of Acquisitions, leading to Director of Acquisitions in 2020. His

exceptional work in acquisitions and expansions in new markets led to his promotion to Director

of Real Estate Development in 2021. Prior to joining AHS Residential, Juan spent much of his

career at other construction and real estate companies, before starting his own private real estate

law practice.

Juan graduated from Florida International University (FIU) with a degree in Construction

Management in 2010 and earned his law degree from the same university in 2014. Juan is a

member of the Florida Bar, Associated Builders and Contractors South Florida Chapter and Latin

Builders Association (LBA).

Daniel Odess

Moderator

GlobalPro

With over a decade of construction and insurance experience, Daniel has managed

nearly $1 billion dollars worth of new construction, commercial and residential

remodeling. In addition, Daniel has placed hundreds of insurance policies, serves as an expert witness in thousands of insurance disputes, and assisted community

associations, business owners and homeowners recover from a wide variety of property and business income losses. He maintains a strong commitment to the community and serves on the BB&T Local Advisory Board and as Vice-Chairman of Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Why This Matters

What You'll Learn: 

  • An unprecedented amount of investment interest has made its way into South Florida over the past year, how is new investment impacting the construction and development market?

  • While there is strong demand from borrowers, banks and private investors have been cautious about construction loans since the onset of the pandemic. What requirements are developers needing to meet in order to gain financing?

  • Large demographic growth has been a driver of increased construction across South Florida. Where has this pushed new development?

  • How have supply chain delays impacted the current and future pipeline? Are developers being deterred from new projects due to these delays?

  • How have zoning and planning boards across various municipalities impacted future developments?

  • How has the decrease in immigrant labor affected the development pipelines? How are construction companies offsetting the dwindling number of skilled workers, and what incentives are they providing to retain employees?
     

How You'll Do More Business: Come learn why construction and developments in South Florida are rapidly increasing. We will discuss what is driving this growth, what is hindering potential new developments, and the financial drivers behind the increasing investment interest in the area.

Why You Should Attend: Network with top developers, property managers, brokers, owners, and more.

What Does Your Ticket Get You: Bisnow events bring together the biggest power players in the industry to identify opportunities, build your network and expand your business. With the largest audience of commercial real estate professionals in the world, no one knows how to help your business more than us. 

For questions, recommendations, comments, or press inquiries please email our South Florida Event Producer, Virginia Baker, at virginia.baker@bisnow.com 

Agenda

Time Activity
12:30 PM
1:30 PM
Breakfast and Pre-event Networking
1:30 PM
2:15 PM
Financing South Florida's Development Pipeline

- How is new investment impacting the construction and development market?
- What requirements do developers need to meet in order to gain financing?
- Which neighborhoods in the South Florida region are being targeted by investors for development?

2:15 PM
3:00 PM
The Headwinds and Tailwinds of Construction and Development

- How have supply chain delays impacted the current and future development pipeline? Are developers being deterred from new projects due to these delays?
- How have zoning and planning boards across various municipalities impacted future developments?
- How has the decrease in immigrant labor affected the development pipelines?
- How are construction companies offsetting the dwindling number of skilled workers, and what incentives are they providing to retain employees?

3:00 PM
3:30 PM
Post-event Networking

Our commitment to your safety

We hosted more than 72,000 attendees live, in-person around the globe in 2021. Our commitment to safety is no different in 2022. Our events follow all local Covid-19 regulations and protocols. In the interest of the safety of all our guests, we recommend taking a rapid or PCR test for proof of negative results before attending any gathering. 

We will update attendees should any regulations be updated before this event is held. We look forward to hosting you soon to do what we do best: network, connect, and engage to do more business.