Top Connecticut Developments & Emerging Design + Build Trends

Active Projects & Building Innovation to Meet Market Demands

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  Caroline Simmons

  Caroline B. Simmons is honored to be the Mayor of Stamford. She was elected in 2021 with the goal of making Stamford a more equitable, inclusive, affordable, vibrant city where everyone can thrive. Her top priorities include investing in the City's infrastructure, advancing economic prosperity, and making government more responsive to enhance quality of life for residents. In 2014, Caroline Simmons was elected to represent Stamford's 144th house district. She was appointed to be the chair of the Commerce Committee in her second term and successfully introduced, led debate, and helped pass over 16 bipartisan business bills on the House Floor. She is a passionate advocate for women and minority owned businesses and has helped pass legislation to provide more grants and access to capital to entrepreneurs and startups and to support small business and job growth across Connecticut. During her time in the legislature, she was also a member of the Higher Education and Employment and Human Services committees. Previously, Caroline worked at Yale University at Elevate: A Policy Lab to Elevate Mental Health and Disrupt Poverty, which is based out of the Yale School of Medicine. While there, she focused on maternal mental health policies to support families. Prior to that, she worked at the Women’s Business Development Council in Stamford where she helped provide entrepreneurial, financial, and professional development training programs for women across Connecticut. Caroline also worked at the Department of Homeland Security for four and a half years, serving as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary, a Policy Analyst in the Office of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, and as a Director of Special Projects in the Counterterrorism Coordinator’s Office at Homeland Security. In these roles, Caroline provided support for DHS’s domestic and international counterterrorism programs and helped support DHS’s programs and budget for its homeland security team in Kabul, Afghanistan. Caroline lives in Stamford with her husband, Art Linares, and her three sons, Teddy, Jack and William.

  Stamford

  Mayor

  Caroline Simmons

  Mayor

  Stamford

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  Grant Jaber

  Managing Director, Multifamily

  Hines

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  Marion Jones

  Marion Jones is a Principal and Executive Managing Director of U.S. Capital Markets at Avison Young, based in the firm’s Manhattan office. In her role, Marion spearheads the firm’s capital markets strategy, driving strategic growth, expanding market share, and positioning Avison Young for continued success in both domestic and global markets. Through her dynamic leadership, she is committed to deepening the firm’s capital markets footprint across the U.S., enhancing client relationships, and fostering a collaborative environment that ensures client-focused solutions. Marion’s emphasis on cross-functional communication and teamwork empowers her to deliver exceptional results grounded in a comprehensive understanding of market trends, data-driven technology, and industry connectivity. With over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate—spanning debt and equity, sales, market expansion, and team-building—Marion has closed more than $9 billion in transactions. Her strategic expertise is recognized across both middle-market and institutional sectors, where she has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor, known for her ability to drive impactful market positioning and solve complex challenges with innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. Marion’s leadership is characterized by a commitment to advancing our clients’ objectives, as well as championing the growth and development of her team. As a member of Avison Young’s U.S. Executive Committee, Marion works closely with the U.S. Capital Markets Executive Committee to ensure strategic alignment and foster a unified vision for the firm’s success. Her credentials also include licenses as a broker in New York and Connecticut. Marion’s previous leadership experience as Managing Director of Capital Markets at JLL, as well as her roles at Ackman-Ziff, Eastern Consolidated, and CBRE, further solidify her as a highly regarded thought leader and key influencer in the commercial real estate industry. She is an active member of Urban Land Institute and WX (Women Executive in NY Real Estate). She has taught at the graduate level at Fordham University’s Real Estate Institute and been recognized with several industry awards. Marion is deeply involved in her community of Westport CT, serving on the Affordable Housing Advisory Board of Homes with Hope, a local affordable housing non-profit as well as volunteering in her local parish and at the Westport Public Library.

  Avison Young

  Principal and Executive Managing Director

  Marion Jones

  Principal and Executive Managing Director

  Avison Young

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  Joseph Diiorio

  Business Manager

  Turner Construction

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  Seelan Pather

  Principal

  Benfield Architecture

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  Lisa Feinberg

  Lisa L. Feinberg is co-leader of Carmody’s Real Estate & Land Use team and practices primarily in the area of land use law with a focus on representing developers, institutions, property owners and tenants in connection with obtaining municipal and state permits for large scale development projects and real estate transactions. Lisa has advised on many significant development projects in Stamford and the surrounding Fairfield County communities. She has developed strong relationships in the community that enable her to efficiently guide her clients through the land use approval process. Lisa’s clients credit her responsiveness, attention to detail and reliable follow-up in connection with complicated development projects.

  Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey

  Co-Leader, Real Estate & Land Use Team

  Moderator

  Lisa Feinberg

  Co-Leader, Real Estate & Land Use Team

  Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey

Office Outlook: Leasing & Asset Management

Identifying the Best Path Forward for Office

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  Joseph Zuber

  Joe joined Rubenstein Partners in 2021. Joe has over 25 years of real estate investment, development, asset management, and restructuring experience across all major property classes, with deep experience both in New York City and globally. In 2015, Mr. Zuber was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Amstar Group LLC, a privately owned real estate organization based in Denver, Colorado with ~$2.5 billion of AUM. Joe successfully led the restructuring of Amstar, including streamlining its operations, enhancing its liquidity, and repositioning the organization for growth before returning home to New York in late 2016. Joe was the Managing Principal of Black Walnut Capital LLC, a real estate private equity entity that invests in longer duration real estate investments on behalf of institutions and ultra-high net worth families. Joe was previously the President and Chief Operating Officer of O’Connor Capital Partners and a partner in the firm. Joe was responsible for O’Connor’s multi-billion dollar real estate funds business, including direct responsibility for its investment management platform. Mr. Zuber led the firm’s investment strategy, including the day-to-day management of 18 investing professionals, and the strategic oversight of the firm’s portfolio of 40 plus real estate investments with total capitalization in excess of $4.1 billion. Previously, Mr. Zuber served as the Chief Investment Officer of The City Investment Fund, LP (CIF), a fully integrated real estate investment manager designed to pursue opportunistic real estate investments within New York City. Established in 2004 by Fisher Brothers and Morgan Stanley, CIF committed to 31 investments with a total capitalization of ~$4.0 billion during his tenure. Mr. Zuber was also an Executive Director of The Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (“MSREF”), where he was responsible for sourcing and executing U.S. investment opportunities and led MSREF’s investing activities in New York City. Joe received an MBA from The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a B.Arch. degree from Cornell University.

  Rubenstein Partners

  Managing Director, New York & Northeast Region

  Joseph Zuber

  Managing Director, New York & Northeast Region

  Rubenstein Partners

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  David Genovese

  CEO

  Baywater Properties

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  Peter Duncan

  The controlling partner of the firm, President & CEO Peter Duncan has spent over 30 years at George Comfort & Sons. Over the years, he has been involved in and overseen every facet of this top-tier commercial real estate business, from acquisitions to financing, repositioning, management and leasing. Since taking over leadership of GCS in the early 1990’s, Peter has been responsible for acquiring and redeveloping many of the company-owned properties, totaling over $3 billion in value. He is also integrally involved in the leasing and renovation of all GCS assets. Mr. Duncan received a B.A. from Trinity College and is a licensed commercial broker in the State of New York and New Jersey and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). Mr. Duncan also serves as a board member of Trinity College, The Realty Foundation of New York, Phipps Houses and the Madison Square Park Conservancy.

  George Comfort & Sons

  President and CEO

  Peter Duncan

  President and CEO

  George Comfort & Sons

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  Dennis Julio

  Dennis is the Head of Global Real Estate for Nestle, whose team oversees transaction management and strategy for a global portfolio of over 3,000 commercial, industrial and retail properties. He has over 34 years of experience in real estate, design, project management, and construction management, including 14 years at Nestle. He held previous leadership and management positions at Waterworks, Gap, and The Shaw Group/International Technology (now McDermott International). He received a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering | Construction Management from Penn State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. He is also a Licensed Professional Engineer in California. He resides in New Haven, Connecticut.

  Nestle

  Head of Global Real Estate

  Dennis Julio

  Head of Global Real Estate

  Nestle

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  Adam Klimek

  Adam Klimek is an Executive Director specializing in tenant and landlord representation in Fairfield County started with the company in 2003 as an accountant in the Boston office. He met his goal of transitioning into a broker in one year where he started his brokerage career in Fairfield County in 2004. Since joining, Adam has done hundreds of transactions including representing some of the worlds most prestigious companies as well as local start ups, non profits, and landlords. He has represented Design Within Reach, Citizens Bank, Newman's Own, Northwestern Mutual, Gemspring Capital, Morgan Stanley, Bridgewater Associates, Indeed.com, Maplewood Senior Living, McKinsey & Company, Greenfield Partners, Divvies, Westport Day School, Yale New Haven Hospital, CSC Sugar, Cotiviti, Avolon Aerospace, Cenveo, CT Humane Society, The United Way, HIG Capital, MOAB Oil and many more. Additionally, Adam represents over 3 MM SF of Class A office space for landlords including Building & Land Technology, Rubenstein Partners, Clarion, RFR Realty, Fletcher Inc., Summit Development, The Grossman Companies, George Comfort & Sons, Marcus Partners, Davis Companies, Faros Properties, and Greenfield Partners. Adam graduated from the University of Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business and majored in Finance. Adam currently resides in Weston, CT with his wife and two children.

  Cushman & Wakefield

  Executive Director

  Adam Klimek

  Executive Director

  Cushman & Wakefield

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  Robert Rahilly

  Robert "Bob" Rahilly assists clients, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to startup ventures, with commercial real estate matters, including the financing, acquisition, leasing and sale of real property. He represents lenders and borrowers in all aspects of commercial real estate financing transactions, including CMBS transactions and construction financing. In addition, Bob advises landlords and tenants on long term ground leases, build-to-suit leases and space leases for all asset classes, including office, industrial, retail and healthcare.

  Day Pitney

  Partner

  Moderator

  Robert Rahilly

  Partner

  Day Pitney

Multifamily Demand: Assessing Demand & Top Towns

Stamford, Norwalk, New Haven & More

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  Scott Zwilling

  Principal

  Spirit Investment Partners

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  Jake Pine

  Jake has been involved in over $500M of development encompassing over 1,000 residential units and 550,000 SF of commercial space spanning Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Jake has experience in different asset classes including mixed income multi-family, R&D/life sciences, and commercial. Jake holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Cum Laude, from the Sykes College of Business at The University of Tampa.

  LMXD

  Senior Director

  Jake Pine

  Senior Director

  LMXD

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  Frank Caico

  Executive Vice President of Development

  Spinnaker Real Estate Partners

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  David Parisier

  Mr. Parisier is the key principal and founder of Paredim, a premier owner operator of multi-family residential properties in the Northeastern United States, concentrated in the major markets of Connecticut and NY. He is responsible for directing all aspects of the firm’s strategic development, acquisition, redevelopment and management activities in over $1 billion in transactions since inception. Mr. Parisier brings over 35 years of experience to managing Paredim having executed over $1.5 billion in transactions with several public and private institutional investors including Mack Cali Realty Corporation and S.L. Green Realty. Mr. Parisier has a BA in Government from Clark University and an MBA in Finance from The Leonard N. Stern School of Business and New York University. He is active in numerous charities and Chairman Emeritus of the Young Professional’s division of the Children’s Hearing Institute

  Paredim Partners

  Founder & Managing Director

  David Parisier

  Founder & Managing Director

  Paredim Partners

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  Eric Apfel

  Eric Apfel joined CBRE in 2016 as a member of the New York Institutional Group, which focuses on generating investment sales business in the Metropolitan New York region, primarily in the eastern United States. Mr. Apfel’s responsibilities include marketing, underwriting, valuation, due diligence management for institutional clients with a focus on multifamily assets, facilitating all aspects of the disposition process. Since joining CBRE, Mr. Apfel has successfully completed over $4.5 billion in assignments across 56 transactions comprising over 17,000 units.

  CBRE

  First Vice President

  Eric Apfel

  First Vice President

  CBRE

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  Tim Onderko

  Timothy Onderko is a Principal/Vice President at Langan, one of the nation's premier land development engineering & consulting firms. With over 20 years of experience leading complex development projects across New England, Tim has managed the design and permitting on thousands of multi-family residential units, nearly 20 million square-feet of warehouse and e-commerce logistics space, and is leading Langan’s multi-discipline efforts on Yale’s +$1 Billion investment into their Science Hill area of campus.

  Langan

  Principal/Vice President

  Moderator

  Tim Onderko

  Principal/Vice President

  Langan