Opening Remarks from Cushman & Wakefield

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  Andrew Kahn

  Andrew M. Kahn joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2000 and is an Executive Managing Director of Retail Services. With over 25 years of retail leasing experience, Mr. Kahn’s strategy in developing national rollouts, negotiation of complex deal structures, understanding of consumer behavior, study of trends and data analytics, financial analysis, and development design and merchandising consulting allow him to draw from a breadth of experience to add value to his clients. He has completed hundreds of transactions valued over $3 billion and leases for some of the most well recognized, highest trafficked and most productive retail locations globally. Mr. Kahn’s understanding of his clients’ objectives and execution of retail strategies have earned him the reputation as one of the best leasing advisors in the field. Mr. Kahn consistently ranks among the top 10 retail brokers at Cushman & Wakefield nationally. Mr. Kahn has earned a stellar reputation as an expert in negotiating complex flagship deals for major retail brands and national roll outs. Microsoft, 677 Fifth Avenue: completion of largest Microsoft flagship store in the world on one of the best blocks of Fifth Avenue. Net lease of 40,000 sf seven story building on one of the best blocks of Fifth Avenue. Microsoft’s Gensler designed storefront with LED billboard is one of the most recognizable storefronts in all of New York City.  McDonald’s, 1530 Broadway: Completion of McDonald’s global corporate flagship store in the heart of Times Square.  This 12,000 SF lease is coupled with the largest individually owned LED billboard (10,000 SF) in Times Square and gives McDonald’s the most significant presence of any restaurant in the Times Square market. LEGO, 636 Fifth Avenue – Rockefeller Center - Opening Summer 2021: spectacular two level 11,000 SF flagship store facing St Patrick’s Cathedral. We negotiated LEGO’s first New York City flagship more than 10 years which became one of their most successful stores in the world.  This relocation and expansion will allow LEGO to capture the full potential of the Fifth Avenue/Rockefeller Center market. Currently, Mr. Kahn is responsible for the national strategy and roll out of Samsung experience stores. Mr. Kahn has also represented prominent landlords that include TF Cornerstone, New York Life, The Carlyle Group, Millennium Partners, Peninsula Hotels, Kingsville Investments, Rabina Properties, Eastgate Realty, Ponte Gadea, and Savanna. Mr. Kahn began his career at the Edward S. Gordon Company/Insignia ESG (the predecessor to CBRE in New York). He later helped form Retail Development Partners, a national landlord and tenant representation brokerage firm which merged with Cushman & Wakefield in 2000. Mr. Kahn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Vermont. He is an active member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

  Cushman & Wakefield

  Executive Managing Director

  Andrew Kahn

  Executive Managing Director

  Cushman & Wakefield

Keynote on the State of Retail

National retail trends in eCommerce, investment and the next wave of in-person shopping

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  Tom McGee

  Appointed President and CEO in September 2015, Tom McGee oversees strategic leadership and operations at ICSC. Prior to joining ICSC, he served as Vice Chairman of Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services organization, where he garnered 26 years of experience in managing an organization with diverse constituencies around the globe.

  ICSC

  President & CEO

  Keynote

  Tom McGee

  President & CEO

  ICSC

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  Brandon Isner

  Brandon Isner serves as Head of Research, Retail Capital Markets. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, he is renowned as a leading retail thought leader, leaning on both his experience working with advisors and clients, as well as his educational background in urban studies and urban planning. He possesses a unique viewpoint supported by both data and an understanding of the relationship between retail spaces and their communities, which helps him provide invaluable insights to Newmark clients. Isner previously led Retail Research at CBRE, where he spent more than a decade.

  Newmark

  Head of Research, Retail

  Keynote

  Brandon Isner

  Head of Research, Retail

  Newmark

• Moderator

  Lauren Thomas

  Retail and Real Estate Reporter

  CNBC

Holding, Buying or Selling? Navigating Retail Opportunities

How to Navigate Retail Uncertainty

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  Jessica Zaski

  EVP, Chief Transactions Officer

  SHOPCORE Properties

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  Jeff Weinhaus

  President, Chief Development Officer

  Equinox

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  Stefan Martinovic

  Stefan Martinovic is VP of Data Partnerships at Placer.ai, working with key clients including real estate firms, hedge funds and retailers to devise solutions to critical business challenges as well as cultivating partnerships with innovative data & software providers to support Placer's product development and corporate growth. He joins Placer from Midwood Investment & Development, where he served as VP Investments & Head of Analytics. Prior to Midwood, Stefan was the Head of Innovation & Products at REBNY, New York City’s real estate trade association. Stefan is an active angel investor and advisor to over a dozen companies in the PropTech space, and an entrepreneurial real estate developer with a portfolio of projects including a residential, hospitality & regenerative agriculture community in the Catskills and a first of its kind modular mixed-use building in Upper Manhattan.

  Placer.ai

  VP of Data Partnerships

  Stefan Martinovic

  VP of Data Partnerships

  Placer.ai

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  Dena Cohen

  Dena Cohen focuses her practice on commercial leasing transactions, ground leases, and real estate sales and acquisitions. Dena has represented a wide range of prominent landlords and tenants in retail and office leases across the U.S. Her tenant clients have included large financial institutions, well-known restaurants, art galleries, international retailers, television networks and fashion brands in prime Manhattan locations. Dena's diverse experience representing landlords and tenants helps her efficiently negotiate transactions and find creative solutions to thorny issues that can arise during lease negotiations. Dena also represents parties in the acquisition and sale of real estate development rights, as well as outdoor advertising, billboard and signage leasing. Dena has been recognized numerous times by Thomson Reuters' Real Estate Super Lawyers, which identifies lawyers who have achieved a high degree of excellence and professional achievement. Dena has recently represented: a major real estate owner in various retail leases including high-end medical offices and food and beverage establishments a hotel developer in a long-term ground lease in Midtown Manhattan its first New York transaction a real estate investment firm in the net lease of the former H&H Bagels headquarters a national financial institution in the divestment of 500,000 square feet of Class A office space a global financial institution in its $87 million acquisition of a SoHo loft building a real estate fund in its $100 million acquisition of a hotel in Union Square the purchasers of multiple properties in complex 1031-exchange transactions numerous corporate clients in leasing transactions, including several investment banking firms and public television network WNET in its headquarters lease a prominent developer in a 99-year ground lease of property in Red Hook, Brooklyn the owner of property in lower Manhattan in a development ground lease

  Herrick Feinstein

  Partner

  Moderator

  Dena Cohen

  Partner

  Herrick Feinstein

Lease Negotiating Table: Who has the Leverage?

Finding Value & Flexible Lease Terms

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  David Himmel

  David Himmel is a Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Jamestown Real Estate Services, which consists of Development & Construction, Architecture, Retail Leasing, Creative & Marketing, and Property Management. In this role he is responsible for the day-to-day management of these departments and their execution within Jamestown’s portfolio. Mr. Himmel joined Jamestown in 2014. Previously, he worked at Forest City Ratner Companies in Development on projects including the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street. Mr. Himmel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 with distinction and from Harvard Business School in 2014. As a student at Harvard Business School, Mr. Himmel co-founded the Brattle Park Group, a real estate investment company focused on mobile home parks. He serves on the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board and the Covenant House Real Estate Executive Committee.

  Jamestown

  COO

  David Himmel

  COO

  Jamestown

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  Lori McGhee

  Lori McGhee-Curtis is Vice President of Specialty Leasing for Taubman. Lori brings more than 25 years of experience in retail leasing, marketing and management to her role and oversees the company’s national and regional specialty leasing agents who curate compelling retail environments for tenants and customers. Fashion-obsessed and forward thinking, in 2018 Lori developed Emerge With Taubman, a platform that helps emerging, digitally native and legacy brands flourish with new concepts and experiences at Taubman shopping centers. Emerge with Taubman takes the brands to lease and to market quickly, with flexible terms, while offering turnkey solutions for everything from design and merchandising to marketing. To date, Lori and her team have worked with a variety of exciting brands in leading markets, including Elle B Zhou, Jessica Rich, LisaRaye Homestyles, Bikini Baddie, Celebrity Vault, Heirs to the Throne Gallery, Museum of Dream Space, Tamara Mellon, Calia by Carrie Underwood, Bogner, Miniso, United Nude, Christina Lombardi, Radley London and more. Lori is a leader on Taubman’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group and founded the People of Color employee resource group. She is active in the retail community as a co-chair of Ancillary Retail while also serving on ICSC’s Specialty Leasing and Detroit Garment Group boards. Lori and her husband Phillip lives in greater Detroit.

  Taubman

  Vice President, Specialty Leasing

  Lori McGhee

  Vice President, Specialty Leasing

  Taubman

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  Whitney Arcaro

  As the Chief Revenue Officer, Residential Ms. Arcaro is responsible for the overall revenue strategy and its implementation for RXR’s extensive residential portfolio, across multiple regions in the United States. She oversees an integrated workstream across Operations, Development, Marketing, Sales/Leasing, and Portfolio Management to enhance the product, create brand premium, and drive revenue streams above competitive assets in each market. Ms. Arcaro joined RXR in 2017, serving as Executive Vice President – Head of Marketing and Retail Leasing for the company. She was responsible for overseeing the marketing and communications of RXR’s 25.6 million square feet of commercial assets in Manhattan and the surrounding region, as well as the concepts, design strategy, marketing and strategic branding initiatives for more than 6,200 multi-family units in planning across the region at the time. As the Head of Retail Leasing, Ms. Arcaro oversaw the strategy and implementation for the 1.1 million square feet of retail space across RXR’s New York City and Tri-state portfolio. Prior to joining RXR, Ms. Arcaro served as Managing Director of Business Development for SHVO, a luxury real estate company, where she was integral to key elements of the business, comprising capital raising, EB5 financing, hotel partner relations, retail activity and sales/marketing efforts. Ms. Arcaro was senior member in the company’s strategic growth initiatives, effectuating a $3.5 billion investment and development pipeline in a 24-month period. Previously, Ms. Arcaro served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Vornado Realty Trust, one of the largest publicly traded REITs in the U.S. with over 100 million square feet across multiple markets during her time there. At Vornado, Ms. Arcaro was responsible for creating and implementing marketing strategies including office, retail, residential, and hotel properties, new developments and major asset repositions. Ms. Arcaro oversaw Vornado’s major branding initiatives. Among her accomplishments includes building an interdisciplinary, multi award-winning marketing program for Vornado’s corporate, New York, and street retail platforms, which included innovations in digital marketing and technologies, as well as industry-leading sales centers and product positioning. She oversaw the marketing and communications plan of the company’s nationally recognized sustainability program, and also created a successful public holiday tradition in partnership with the San Francisco 49ers in California. Before Vornado, Ms. Arcaro was a commercial real estate broker working on tenant representation, landlord agency, consulting services and investment opportunities for multinationals and institutional organizations. Ms. Arcaro has been listed as one of New York’s Real Estate Power Women in each year since 2018. She is a member of the Leadership Committee of the American Lung Association. Ms. Arcaro has produced award-winning feature length and short films featured at SXSW and Sundance Film Festivals, including a critically and politically hailed feature on conditions of Veterans, which garnered over 12 awards and coverage in the Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, and the New York Times.

  RXR

  Chief Revenue Officer, Residential

  Whitney Arcaro

  Chief Revenue Officer, Residential

  RXR

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  Jay Norris

  Jay Norris, Co-founder, and CEO of Guesst®, has over 15 years in developing experiential marketing concepts. Jay started in the music industry developing multi-city tours and venues for top recording artists for Clive Davis’ Arista Record and others. In 1997, Jay started Tastemakers Media, which published a cutting-edge magazine throughout the US featuring the best retail & lifestyle offerings domestically and abroad. In 2005, Jay brought his expertise in lifestyle and experiential marketing to the commercial real estate tenant brokerage industry. Jay is a small to medium-size business growth executive at heart, continually looking to maximize resources, build relationships and identify growth opportunities. Jay has been effectuating Retail-Matchmaking in the analog space for a number of years, which has led to the founding of Guesst - A Retail-Sharing Community.

  Guesst Software

  Co-Founder & CEO

  Jay Norris

  Co-Founder & CEO

  Guesst Software

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  Peter Braus

  Peter Braus is the Managing Principal and Cofounder of Lee & Associates NYC, where he oversees over sixty brokerage professionals, and is actively involved in every aspect of managing and running the business. Mr. Braus is also Vice-Chair of Lee & Associates’ National Board of Directors. Mr. Braus has been involved in the ownership and brokerage of real estate for over 25 years, specializing in strategic repositioning of major retail assets on behalf of owners and developers. He joined Lee & Associates NYC in 2011 as an owner/investor. In 2019, Mr. Braus won the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) Retail Deal of the Year Award. Prior to Lee & Associates NYC, Mr. Braus was a retail leasing broker with Newmark Real Estate. He has been involved in a wide variety of brokerage transactions and currently represents numerous owners and tenants.

  Lee & Associates

  Managing Principal

  Peter Braus

  Managing Principal

  Lee & Associates

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  Risa Letowsky

  Risa Letowsky is Co-Chair of the Leasing Practice at Adler & Stachenfeld LLP. Ms. Letowsky has extensive experience representing landlords and tenants in large-scale office, retail, restaurant, shopping center, co-working, industrial, and ground lease transactions. Ms. Letowsky regularly represents many prominent New York City landlords, as well as one of the nation’s largest insurance companies and one of the world’s largest co-working companies with their office leasing portfolios. She is well-regarded in the industry as a “deal maker” and is consistently sought after for her negotiating and drafting skills in this space. Prior to joining Adler & Stachenfeld, Ms. Letowsky was Special Counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. Earlier in her career, Ms. Letowsky served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Rouse Properties, Inc., and as an associate in the real estate group of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Ms. Letowsky is the Firm’s hiring partner. She is also a member of the Firm’s women’s initiative, the Chair of the Firm’s mentoring program, and Co-Chair of the Alumni Committee. Ms. Letowsky serves on the board of City Living NYC, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide assistance to youth aging out of the foster care system, and she previously served on the Cofactor Council of SparkYouth NYC, a nonprofit whose mission is to ignite growth opportunities in community-based programs for the young people of New York City. Ms. Letowsky also dedicates time as a mentor to junior high school students in Harlem who are part of B.O.N.D. (Brothers on a New Direction) and G.L.O.W. (Girls Learning Their Own Worth). Ms. Letowsky loves anything music-related and has been known to travel long distances to catch a live show.

  Adler & Stachenfeld

  Partner

  Moderator

  Risa Letowsky

  Partner

  Adler & Stachenfeld

New Shape of Street Retail

Grocery Delivery, Technology, Grab & Go Retail

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  Dan Shallit

  Dan Shallit has been a retail development professional for over 25 years, starting his career with notable brands such as GNC & Macy’s prior to joining Starbucks in 1999. After ten years, Dan left Starbucks to see development from the landlord perspective. In 2009, he joined Acadia Realty Trust as the VP of leasing. While the experience was meaningful, his heart was still on the retail side of development. After a small stop at Sports Authority, Dan rejoined Starbucks global development group in 2012. He was hired for Manhattan, with responsibility for helping to expand emerging brands and concepts including the company’s first Teavana Café, Express store, delivery store, and Reserve bar location, while also helping to open, expand, & relocate dozens of traditional Starbucks locations. Dan earned his promotion in 2016. As the current director of development for NY metro, he holds accountability for real estate/development along with construction for New York City and Long Island. Dan has a long history of public speaking & teaching. He’s a long-time guest teacher/speaker for a NYU restaurant/real estate program and participates and leads multiple real estate panels and classes for great institutes and universities such as ICSC, Wharton Business School Alumni, Hunter College, NYU and his alma mater Johnson & Wales University. Dan lives in Rego Park, Queens with his wife, and has one son.

  Starbucks

  Director of Store Development

  Dan Shallit

  Director of Store Development

  Starbucks

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  Alex Solomon

  Director of Leasing

  Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

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  Oliver Holland

  Oliver Holland is the Senior Director, Project Management at Schimenti Construction Company, an industry-leading general contractor headquartered in NYC. Oliver oversees Schimenti’s project delivery across several key sectors, including Retail, Hospitality, and Commercial Real Estate. Experienced in leading delivery teams for Fortune 500 companies, Oliver provides clients with technology focused and cost-effective solutions, driving industry leading outcomes in safety, quality and customer service. Oliver holds a BS in Civil Engineering and Sustainability from Brunel University and brings over 15 years of experience in international construction management.

  Schimenti Construction Company

  Senior Director, Project Management

  Oliver Holland

  Senior Director, Project Management

  Schimenti Construction Company

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  Helen Herrick

  Helen is a key Studio Director in MBH’s New York Office who brings over 15 years in design, strategy, and physical transformation of retail and hospitality architecture. Before coming to MBH, she acquired vast knowledge on the client side of design from her time working for brands including Gap, Ann Taylor, and Capital One. As Studio Director, Helen will utilize her strong management and leadership skills to ensure projects remain on track and deliverables exceed expectations. Throughout her career she has cultivated her strengths in architectural and interior design, collaborative project management, and bridging the digital and physical customer experiences. Her extensive experience and strategic, creative leadership brings new guidance and excitement to the New York team.

  MBH Architects

  Studio Director

  Helen Herrick

  Studio Director

  MBH Architects

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  Vince Sweeney

  Vince joined Meridian in 2021 and currently serves as a Director and Tenant Rep Advisor in the company’s Manhattan office. He specializes in both tenant representation and landlord representation and in New York City, NY Metro Area, and the Tristate Area. Mr. Sweeney has distinguished himself in the retail leasing sector with expansive experience in market entry and roll out strategies with the leasing of QSR, national and publicly traded retailers and big box retailers. Prior to joining Meridian, Mr. Sweeney was a senior advisor at start up, Tenant Base, where he managed tenant rep advisory. Prior to joining Tenant Base, Mr. Sweeney worked at The McDevitt Company as well as SCG-Retail. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sweeney has represented Starbucks, Staples, Whole Foods, Washington Mutual Bank, Capital One Bank, LA Fitness, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Drake’s of London, Baked by Melissa, Dos Toros, Freehold and Sabon to name a few. Notable lease negotiated by Mr. Sweeney was at 119 Spring Street in where he exclusively represented the Kardashian’s for their Dash store.

  Meridian Capital

  Director, Tenant Rep Advisor

  Vince Sweeney

  Director, Tenant Rep Advisor

  Meridian Capital

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  Hemant Chavan

  Hemant is the co-founder and CEO of Housie, a one click leasing software for apartment rentals. He leads their growth, operations, marketing, and PR efforts. Hemant is a real estate development executive with over twelve (12) years experience and a portfolio of $4.1 Billion which includes high rise condominium & multifamily residential, commercial office, retail, industrial & infrastructure projects in New York, North East California and Seattle. Within a short span of time, he has established has a proptech leader. He is a pioneer of bringing utility to Virtual Reality and Computer Vision in the real estate industry.

  Housie

  Co-Founder and CEO

  Moderator

  Hemant Chavan

  Co-Founder and CEO

  Housie