The Northeast DC Update

Norman Jemal began his career in real estate in the early 1990’s. He serves as the Principal and Senior Vice President for Douglas Development Corporation and currently directs all of the leasing activity for the company and throughout his career has negotiated and leased over five million square feet with a cumulative value of over one billion dollars. As a principal with the company, Norman is involved in all aspects of the business including acquisitions and dispositions, development, finance and corporate strategic planning. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington, DC Economic Partnership, an organization that promotes business opportunities throughout the District and contributes to business retention and attraction activities, and on the Board of Trustees for Ford’s Theatre. He has also served on the Board of Directors for The Little Blue House, a family development center that serves as an oasis for low-income, poor and struggling families. As of 2015 Norman serves on the board of United Bank.

Mr. Hard is the senior executive for LCOR’s Bethesda, MD office, responsible for all Washington, DC metropolitan area development activity. Among his accomplishments are the development of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters in Alexandria, VA, the acquisition of the COMSAT campus in Clarksburg, MD, the development of North Bethesda Center at the White Flint Metrorail station in Maryland, and the Oyster School/Henry Adams House in the District of Columbia. Mr. Hard’s affiliation with LCOR dates to 1981 when he joined its predecessor The Linpro Company as a Partner. He subsequently was named Vice President of LCOR upon its founding in 1992, and an Executive Vice President and Principal in 1999. He is actively involved in a number of industry organizations serving on the Executive Committee of the Urban Land Institute’s Washington, DC District Council, Treasurer of Hospice Caring, Inc., and Chairman of the Real Estate Committee of the Montgomery College Foundation. A graduate of Lafayette College, he also was awarded an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.

A founding principal of Stonebridge, Douglas Firstenberg directs firmwide strategic planning, oversees landmark development projects, and plays a key role in major transaction negotiations. Under his leadership, Stonebridge has developed several of the region’s most innovative and successful urban mixed-use properties, including breakthrough transit-oriented developments and public/private initiatives. Mr. Firstenberg has more than thirty-five years of real estate industry experience, leading complex development projects totaling more than 10 million square feet and $4 billion in value. Mr. Firstenberg started his career with K.S. Sweet Associates, a Philadelphia-based real estate and investment firm where he was named partner. In 1993, he co-founded Stonebridge Associates in Washington, D.C., and led the transformation of the firm into an urban infill mixed-use developer. Mr. Firstenberg graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts and currently serves in leadership roles of several industry and charitable organizations.

Serving as the Director of Real Estate and Economic Development at Gallaudet University (www.gallaudet.edu), the only university in the world where all classes, programs and services are designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students. Leading initiatives to ensure 150 year-old Gallaudet’s long-term financial health and asset accumulation, while generating value to the institution’s academic mission and neighboring communities. Additionally, serving as the Director of the Gallaudet University Foundation, which we established to enhance the University's real estate expertise and focus, by providing adroit functional and decision-making capabilities. Current efforts include overseeing the planning for an eight acres, 1.5 million square foot mixed-use development along the campus’ 6th Street NE edge and developments supporting the University's $450 million Campus Master Plan.

Andy VanHorn has over 24 years of experience in all aspects of real estate investment, development, and innovation—and oversees all aspects of the company’s strategy and its growth, alongside the Dweck family. This includes highly innovative financing and capitalization efforts and creation of strategic partnerships that drive growth opportunities. Dweck Properties owns 7,000 multifamily residences plus mixed-use retail in key submarkets in the Washington Metro area. They are one of the largest apartment owners in National Landing, home to Amazon’s HQ2. Since joining Dweck, Andy has established a 1,500 unit development pipeline on existing Dweck properties and a Construction Management company which has completed $100MM in work in its initial three year of operations. Andy also recently co-founded Two Rivers Investments and raised Confluence Fund I, a general partners investment fund established to purchase value-add multi-family properties in the larger DC metro region. Prior to joining Dweck Properties, Andy was an Executive Vice President responsible for entitlement, community and governmental activities associated with JBG SMITH’s portfolio in National Landing, including the pursuit and ultimate planning efforts related to Amazon’s HQ and the associated infrastructure improvements. He led coordination of Virginia state investments and priorities in National Landing, and oversaw formation of the Virginia Tech partnership and the Innovation District around the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. He also led a development team that worked on over 11MM square feet of multifamily, retail and office projects in Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Washington, DC and Bethesda, MD. The project activities included land acquisition, entitlement efforts, design, permitting, negotiating construction contracts, leasing, financing and joint venturing. He is very active on public and private committees and boards, and serves as Executive Committee Member of the National Landing BID Board, and is a Board Member of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing. He also serves on the GMU Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship Board, the Virginia and National Board for NAIOP and is a member of the Investments Management Forum with NAIOP. Prior to his role with JBG SMITH, Andy was a Principal with The JBG Companies. The JBG Companies merged with Vornado DC, and formed JBG Smith, the largest publicly traded REIT in the Washington Metro region. Andy also worked in real estate private equity with Buvermo Properties, and for Charles E. Smith and Clark Construction. B.S. in Civil Engineering, Lehigh University; M.B.A., McDonough School of Business - Georgetown University.

Adam Davis brings more than 15 years of experience in commercial real estate development and finance. Since joining Foulger-Pratt in 2004, Mr. Davis has been responsible for retail development and acquisitions. Before he joined Foulger-Pratt Development, Mr. Davis worked in commercial real estate finance in Utah. Mr. Davis holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Johns Hopkins University.

Michael oversees the acquisition, management, and capitalization of MidCity’s portfolio, which features over 9,000 units of market rate and government assisted multifamily properties primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic region. Michael has been pivotal in the repositioning of several key assets, most significantly the redevelopment of the Brookland Manor Apartments and Brentwood Village Shopping Center into RIA, a 20-acre mixed-income, mixed-use project in the heart of Washington, DC. Among Michael’s philanthropic activities, he presently serves on the Board of the Agnes and Eugene Ford Foundation, where he oversees social impact investments in resident services and community-based organizations that enrich the communities in which MidCity owns assets. Michael holds a B.A. from Washington and Lee University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.

Bo Menkiti is the Founder and CEO of the Menkiti Group, a real estate company dedicated to transforming lives and communities through real estate. The Menkiti Group is focused on strengthening neighborhoods through the strategic development, management, and disposition of real estate in urban markets. Mr. Menkiti also serves as CEO and is the Founding Partner of Keller Williams Capital Properties, a residential real estate brokerage managed by the Menkiti Group. Mr. Menkiti’s work has been featured in David Bornstein’s book on social entrepreneurs “How to Change the World,” and in Stephen Goldsmith’s “The Power of Social Innovation.” Mr. Menkiti has been recognized nationally by Ebony and Inc. Magazine as one of the coolest young entrepreneurs in America, and was awarded The National Association of Realtors Prestigious “30 under 30” award in 2006. Mr. Menkiti was also honored as a Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal and named to the paper’s 2014 Power 100, a list of the most influential business leaders in the Washington metropolitan area. He was also recently honored by the National Association of Realtors as the District of Columbia Realtor of the Year in 2014 and as Keller Williams Realty International’s 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year. Under Mr. Menkiti’s leadership, the Menkiti Group and Keller Williams Capital Properties have been recognized by Inc. Magazine as being among the fastest growing private companies in the nation and by the Initiative for Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Fortune Magazine as two of the fastest growing inner city businesses in America. Prior to forming the Menkiti Group and Keller Williams Capital Properties, Mr. Menkiti served as Chief Operating Officer of College Summit, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the college enrollment rate of low-income students. In this capacity, Mr. Menkiti oversaw the organization’s successful growth into a multi-site national organization. Mr. Menkiti served as the 2013 President of the District of Columbia Association of Realtors and is a board member of City First Bank of DC and Dance Place. Mr. Menkiti also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Small Business Policy Project and on the board of DC Water, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority. In 2015, Mr. Menkiti was inducted on the board of the Myer Foundation, the Federal City Council, and was elected as the Executive Board Member of Prolanthropy. Earlier this year, Mr. Menkiti launched the Capital Properties Menkiti Group Foundation, an organization that focuses its resources on serving the diverse social needs existing in the National Capital Area. Mr. Menkiti is a graduate of Harvard University. He lives in the District with his wife and three young sons.

Christopher Doerr, managing director, joined Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales group in November 2015. Mr. Doerr will be responsible for the origination and execution of investment sales and equity capital raise for multifamily assets in the Mid-Atlantic and will be based out of the Bethesda, Maryland office. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Mr. Doerr served as a senior managing director for five years at Cushman & Wakefield where he worked with the owners of institutional real estate providing disposition services for multifamily properties and land in the Washington, D.C. area as well as joint venture structuring, recapitalization, and equity placement. Before Cushman & Wakefield, Mr. Doerr was vice president of multifamily investments for Grubb & Ellis. Mr. Doerr holds a juris doctorate/MBA from the University of Richmond and a BBA from James Madison University. Beyond the Company, Mr. Doerr is a member of the DC Real Estate Group, Urban Land Institute, National Multi-Housing Council, and the Virginia Bar Association.

Ross Draber is the chief operating officer of United Bank, a subsidiary of United Bankshares, Inc., a $19.3 billion bank holding company. He is responsible for the performance and profitability of the Bank, directing commercial and consumer banking sales and service operations throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area. Draber oversees the region’s market presidents and works alongside them to drive growth and develop business strategy and execution plans. Draber has played an integral role in United Bank’s expansion since assuming the role in 2015. During that time, United Bank has grown to over 70 branches in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. It has the number one deposit market share among community banks in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area. Draber is highly involved with the merger and acquisition team and was instrumental in the Bank’s successful acquisitions of Cardinal Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries George Mason Mortgage, LLC and Cardinal Wealth Services, Inc. (2017); Bank of Georgetown (2016); and Virginia Commerce Bank (2014). Draber previously served as a senior vice president of treasury and corporate finance. In this role, he managed the capital adequacy and regulatory risk of United Bankshares, Inc., serving on the Asset Liability Committee (ALCO) and stress test development team. He oversaw the mergers and acquisitions analysis and supervised commercial loan pricing and term sheet structuring within United Bank. Prior to that, Draber held several positions in treasury and credit administration. Draber is a CFA® charterholder and a 2017 Washington Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree. He graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration.