Gary Barnett, one of New York's most prolific skyscraper builders, has a new right-hand man.
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Innovo Property Group founder Andrew Chung is joining Extell Development as president and co-CEO, Barnett's development firm announced Tuesday. Chung starts immediately.
Chung will lead the company alongside Barnett, who remains chairman and CEO. Chung will oversee the company’s strategic direction, development pipeline, capital relationships and long-term growth initiatives, according to a press release.
“Andrew is a highly respected leader with a rare combination of development expertise and institutional investment experience,” Barnett said in a statement.
Prior to founding Innovo in 2015, Chung spent more than a decade at the Carlyle Group, where he was a partner and senior member of the private equity firm's U.S. real estate fund. He also served as the head of the firm’s New York office.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Andrew over the years and have long admired what he built at Innovo, as well as his track record at Carlyle,” Barnett said. “I’m confident his strategic perspective will be invaluable as we continue to grow and enter Extell’s next chapter.”
Extell is most known for its Billionaires’ Row supertalls, including Central Park Tower and One57, but it has been extraordinarily active over the past year. Last year, the firm lined up $1.2B of preferred equity to fund nine separate projects, Bisnow first reported.
With his recent project, Barnett has moved away from luxury condo development to focus on cash-flowing assets.
That includes The Torch hotel at 740 Eighth Ave., a supertall with a planned drop-style ride about 1,000 feet above Times Square, for which Extell has teed up $1.3B in financing. Extell also just put the finishing touches on the first ground-up medical office tower in Manhattan in decades and is moving forward with a mixed-use project for the former Walt Disney Co. campus and an office tower at 570 Fifth Ave. with an Ikea flagship at its base.
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