Being easily enticed by occasions that feature food, we joined CREW-DC's"dine around" evening earlier this month. Four of their leaders each hosted a dozen members for high end chow and networking at their respective favorite restaurants downtown. I joined former president Elaine Gray?sgang at Zengo, but also walked over to see current president Kathy Allgier?s at PS 7. Other dinners were hosted by Quadrangle?s Helen Haerle at Ten Penh and LandAmerica's Jeanne LaBelle atKinkead?s. It's amazing, you can have the most interesting human interactions at these places and don't even have to lug golf clubs.
At Zengo, in front row, from left: consultant Trish McHugh, Greta Perry Construction Management's Greta Perry, Capital Design's Susan Denner. Second row: Knoll?s Barbara Rathmell, SmithGroup's Elaine Gray, Studios? Jane Gustafson, Cafritz?s Margie Nesbitt, andNelson Architects? Susan Strohm. Back row (gotta? squint): M3Edge?s Cathy Bobrow and Woodmark?s Jennifer Tuten.
Elaine had lots of foresight and reserved the long chef?s table for our dinner. She broke the ice by asking everyone their first job out of college. Turns out hers was working at Joe Theismann?s restaurant serving drinks to lots of Redskins—for the record, to pay off college loans, so don't be sending her drink orders. I also learned about the people next to me: Greta?s work supervising architects and contractors on the Spy Museum and Woodys; and Jennifer?s love of construction from the time she was a kid growing up on Georgia's St. Simon?s Island.
At PS 7?s, there were so many past CREW presidents, they referred to themselves as All the Presidents? Women. Seated, left to right: Peterson Companies? Louise Zimmerman-White (past prez of CREW Virginia),McGinnis International's Linda Mortensen (past prez of CREW DC), Tiny Jewel Box?s Phyllis Fordham, Stark Meyers, Eisler Leatham?s Erica Leatham (past prez of CREW Suburban Maryland), Hickok Cole?s Holly Lennihan. Standing: Akridge's Jaime Calabrese, Pillsbury Winthrop?s Soha Mody, Jones Lang's Kathy Allgier, TKC Integration Services? Barbara Isaacs, and JLL?s Stephanie Hixson.
CREW News: Congrats to JLL?s Amy Bowser for winning for "Straightest Drive" at their all-women golf outing at Reston National. And to the CREW team for spelling "poco curante" right and winning theAcademy of Hope spelling bee, taking down teams from Akin Gump andWinston & Strawn. Next up: hosting its second annual joint program withULI on June 21, this one on retail trends with panelists Anthony Lanier of EastBanc and consultants John Asadoorian and Shyam Kannan.
A token report on the men: Some mixing of tech and real estate the other night at the Foxhall abode of Valhalla venture capitalist Scott Frederick, although we are parochial enough only to feature the real estate guys in this pub (hey, read our tech edition if those other types interest you): above, Tishman Speyer?s Andy Eichberg and Perseus? Lindsay Stroud.
We should have run this a while back, but figured something called a"Virtual Reality Tour" was timeless. Over 450 came to Marriott Westfields under the auspices of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce to hear about leasing and development in the NoVa market from experts like (above) Veatch Commercial Real Estate's Case Veatch and Grubb & Ellis? Andy Klaff.
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