The GC Perspective

How Construction Firms are Grappling with Rising Construction Costs

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  Lee Delong

  Lee DeLong is a Division President with Clark Construction Group focused on delivering complex commercial office, mixed-use, and multi-family projects in the Washington, DC metro area. With a passion for transit-oriented development, Lee oversees a number of such projects, including Metropolitan Park, Parcels 6, 7, & 8, the first phase of Amazon's Arlington Headquarters, as well as The Wilson and The Elm at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, MD, and Reston Gateway in Reston, VA. Most recently, Lee led the successful delivery of 1.1 million square feet of new construction at The Boro development in Tysons, VA. A United States Army veteran with more than 20 years of industry experience, Lee holds his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia and is a graduate of The Executive Program at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

  Clark Construction

  Division President

  Lee Delong

  Division President

  Clark Construction

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  LuAnn Bennett

  Ms. Bennett leads Bennett Group with over 30 years of experience in the real estate world. A seasoned businesswoman, she began her career in real estate in her late husband’s office where she assisted in growing the business from a small real estate ownership and property management firm to a substantial real estate development firm and office building owner and operator. More recently she managed the movement of the firm into the real estate service area, building upon many years of experience as a developer, owner and operator of both commercial and residential buildings to provide quality real estate services. Ms. Bennett is a LEED accredited professional and works primarily in areas of sustainable construction, business development, management, financial and legal services. In 2008, she was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine to serve on the Climate Change Commission for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Ms. Bennett currently serves on the following boards: The Virginia Health Care Foundation, Charity Works Advisory Board and National Children's Museum.

  Bennett Group

  President

  LuAnn Bennett

  President

  Bennett Group

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  Victor Bonomi

  Victor Bonomi is the Owner and President of Tech 24 Construction and Brevic Development.  Tech 24 Construction was started in 2008 and specializes in commercial construction.  Its primary focuses are on Restaurants, Retail, Breweries/Distilleries, Mixed-use and Warehouse/Industrial projects.   Tech 24 Construction has completed hundreds of successful projects throughout DC, MD, & VA as well as various other states throughout the east coast.   Brevic Development, formed in 2004, has been involved in acquisitions, development and construction of over 100 projects.  Its focus has been single family subdivisions to mixed use developments primarily in the City of Alexandria and Arlington Va.  In 2017, Brevic Development completed the acquisition and entitlements to 1800 Mount Vernon Ave in Alexandria.  This is a 49 unit mixed use project that will be delivered December of 2018.   By trade, Victor is a chef with a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America in NY.  He also received his Bachelor’s degree from Florida International University with focuses on business, marketing and economics.

  Tech24 Construction

  President

  Victor Bonomi

  President

  Tech24 Construction

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  Gerard Heiber

  President

  UIPGC

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  Mark Weisner

  As President of Bozzuto Construction Company, Mark Weisner leads the strategic direction of the organization. Since joining the Bozzuto team in 2005, Mark has been instrumental in developing business with new and repeat clients. His expert insight and recommendations on construction planning, scheduling, budgeting, and technology have greatly contributed to Bozzuto Construction’s expansion into new product types, geographic markets, and delivery methods—helping grow the company’s project portfolio to more than $7 billion.

  Bozzuto Construction Company

  President

  Mark Weisner

  President

  Bozzuto Construction Company

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  Eric Rafail

  Based in CohnReznick's Bethesda office, Eric Rafail is a partner in the Firm's Construction Industry practice. With over 20 years of experience working in the construction industry, he currently oversees a range of clients that include general contractors, subcontractors, engineers, architects, real estate developers, and property owners. Eric is focused on providing general accounting, financial reporting, tax, litigation support, strategic planning and business consulting services. He has extensive experience in the areas of engagement development, management, and oversight, financial reporting, tax methods, tax credits and incentives, operational and technology issues, cash flow analysis, banking and surety matters, labor and overhead rate analysis, FAR and Davis-Bacon Act compliance, CAS disclosure statements, incurred cost submissions, and other business advisory services. Eric has conducted training programs on various construction accounting, tax, operational, and software applications to both Firm and client personnel. The training programs he conducted for client personnel have allowed them to perform several accounting and tax related tasks internally. Eric has earned the Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional (CCIFP) designation and is an active instructor for the CFMA.

  CohnReznick

  Partner

  Moderator

  Eric Rafail

  Partner

  CohnReznick

Construction Finance: New Sources + Structures

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  Sonia Khanna

  Sonia Khanna is a Director in the Commercial Real Estate Lending division of CapitalSource. Based outside of Washington, DC, Ms. Khanna leads the commercial real estate originations effort in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ms. Khanna joined CapitalSource in 2007, and is responsible for originating and structuring non-recourse, balance sheet loans for the firm. Ms. Khanna is also co-leading a platform for lending on data center real estate assets with the Leveraged Finance Group at CapitalSource. Ms. Khanna began her career in 2001 with UBS Investment Bank as a structurer on the Mortgage Backed Securities trading desk. Ms. Khanna holds a BA in Mathematics from Barnard College and an MBA in Finance from The Kellogg School of Management.

  CapitalSource

  Senior Director

  Sonia Khanna

  Senior Director

  CapitalSource

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  Ryan Riel

  Ryan Riel has worked in Commercial Real Estate with EagleBank for more than 20 years and currently oversees the Bank’s $5 billion CRE lending portfolio. Throughout his tenure, he has worn multiple hats and participated in originating more than $6 billion in real estate transactions of various types across the DC region. Since February 2025, in addition to CRE Lending, Mr. Riel oversees more than 200 employees across retail banking, small business lending, loan and deposit operations, and information technology. Mr. Riel sits on the Board of Directors of the EagleBank Foundation, and on the Board for George Mason University’s Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship. He is a current Trustee for The Children’s Inn at NIH and previously served on the Board of Directors at the Inn for ten years. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from West Virginia University.

  EagleBank

  Chief Real Estate Lending Officer

  Ryan Riel

  Chief Real Estate Lending Officer

  EagleBank

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  Michael Vu

  Michael Vu is a Principal and sits on the Investment Committee of Artemis Real Estate Partners. Mr. Vu is responsible for developing and implementing the acquisition and asset management activities of Artemis. Mr. Vu joined as a founding member of Artemis in 2010, has been involved in over $1.9 billion in new investments, and is based in metropolitan Washington, DC. Previously, Mr. Vu was an associate at The Carlyle Group, where he served in the Transactions Group within U.S. Real Estate. Mr. Vu was focused on property and portfolio acquisitions, dispositions, and financings across all major property types. Prior to The Carlyle Group, Mr. Vu was an analyst at Lazard Frères & Co. where he focused on mergers and acquisitions within the U.S. Real Estate group in New York. Mr. Vu earned a bachelor's degree in Politics and Finance from Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude. Mr. Vu was awarded the Lyman H. Atwater Prize for the top thesis within the Politics department. Mr. Vu is the Vice Chair on the board of the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., which focuses on providing a second chance to high schoolers and young adults to put them back on track towards a high school diploma or equivalent credential and a path for a productive post-secondary career. Mr. Vu is also an active council member with the Urban Land Institute.

  Artemis Real Estate Partners

  Principal

  Michael Vu

  Principal

  Artemis Real Estate Partners

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  David Webb

  The world’s leading developers and commercial property owners turn to CBRE to provide creative financial solutions for their commercial real estate investment needs. CBRE has long-term, established relationships with more than 400 of the industry’s premier international lenders. As a Vice Chairman with CBRE’s Capital Markets Group, Mr. Webb leads the Company’s Mid Atlantic Debt & Structured Finance Team which arranges senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity for a wide variety of apartment/condominium, office, retail, industrial and other properties and development projects. The Team is comprised of 12 real estate professionals who work collaboratively with the other groups within CBRE to secure funds from a wide range of capital sources including Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, FHA, pension funds, endowment funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, offshore and domestic banks, debt funds, mortgage REITS and other sources. Over the past five years, Mr. Webb and his team have closed over $14 Billion of debt and equity transactions. After having worked early in his career as an attorney and real estate developer, Mr. Webb has since acted as broker and/or advisor in the financing of over $30 Billion of commercial real estate transactions, including over 100 major development and repositioning deals, and hundreds of refinance transactions of more than 60,000 apartment and condo units and 15 Million square feet of office space. Notable transactions closed by Mr. Webb include 200 Stovall (Alexandria), The Boro mixed-use project (Tysons), Central Place Apartments (Rosslyn), National Science Foundation headquarters (Alexandria), Portals III recapitalizations (Washington, D.C), Columbia Hospital (Washington D.C.), Highland Park I & II (Washington, DC), Liberty Place (Arlington), The Hepburn Residences (Washington, DC), National Cancer Institute (Frederick), and the LCOR apartment portfolio recapitalization (throughout the US).

  CBRE

  Vice Chairman

  Moderator

  David Webb

  Vice Chairman

  CBRE

Remarks from the Podium

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  Yulia Yaani

  Yulia Yaani is the co-founder and CEO of RealAtom, the first online marketplace for commercial real estate debt financing. Prior to RealAtom.com, Yulia managed commercial real estate investments for Amstar Global Partners, a U.S. private equity fund, as well as worked for Related Group in Florida. Yulia’s experience exposed her to the highly fragmented commercial real estate lending industry that lacks transparency and to real estate developers and investors that were wasting time and money in order to secure debt for their projects. As a result, she decided to build RealAtom, a marketplace for commercial real estate loans. RealAtom matches CRE borrowers directly with appropriate lenders, allowing for significantly lower costs of capital and a streamlined origination process. This is Yulia’s third start-up. Yulia received her MBA from Columbia University and holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.

  RealAtom

  Co-Founder & CEO

  Yulia Yaani

  Co-Founder & CEO

  RealAtom