New York's Hottest Development Sectors

NYC Gets Behind the Nation's Growth Sectors

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  Colleen Wenke

  Colleen is President and Chief Operating Officer at Taconic. She also leads Taconic’s Development and Construction practice. As President and COO, Colleen oversees corporate matters across the firm. As Head of Development and Construction she manages all aspects of development including strategic planning, zoning and entitlements, predevelopment, project budgeting, design management, construction oversight, procurement, risk management and insurance, community relations, branding, and marketing through sale or lease-up. Since joining Taconic in 2000, Colleen has planned and overseen both ground-up and restoration projects in the commercial, residential and mixed-use sectors, totaling over 7 million square feet of commercial space and 1,500 units of housing. In addition, Colleen leads Taconic’s development advisory business, which focuses on key partnerships for client-led development and construction projects. Colleen received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in psychology from Boston College, and earned a Master of Science degree in real estate development and finance from NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate. Colleen is an active member of ULI’s Program Steering Committee, NYPEN, Professional Women in Construction, and sits on the Fordham Real Estate Executive Advisory Council.

  Taconic Partners

  President & COO

  Colleen Wenke

  President & COO

  Taconic Partners

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  Alireza Esmaeilzadeh

  Alireza (Ali) Esmaeilzadeh leads Brookfield’s residential and commercial development business for the NY and Boston regions. Prior to his current role, he was responsible for the asset management and leasing of a 6 million square foot Class A New York commercial portfolio, including the New York Times building and the Tata Innovation Center at CornellTech. Prior to joining Brookfield Properties, Mr. Esmaeilzadeh headed the NYC offices of Forest City Enterprises and previous to that, he was a banker in the investment banking division of Scotiabank in Toronto, Ontario. Mr. Esmaeilzadeh received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with honors from Queen’s University, in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Esmaeilzadeh proudly serves on the Brooklyn Hospital’s Board of Trustees, as well as the boards of Brooklyn Horizons, Greenpoint Manufacturing Design Center, and The Acting Company. Mr. Esmaeilzadeh is the Chairman of the MetroTech Business Improvement District; board member and secretary of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership; board member of the Times Square Alliance and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

  Brookfield Properties

  SVP, Development

  Alireza Esmaeilzadeh

  SVP, Development

  Brookfield Properties

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  Rich Monopoli

  SVP, Development & Investment

  BXP

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  John Cahill

  John Cahill is a Senior Vice President in JLL’s Midtown New York office. He focuses on tenant representation and agency leasing services for life sciences and biotechnology clients throughout the New York metropolitan area. He is highly experienced in evaluating new markets for clients, as well as in the leasing and disposition of office space, research and development facilities, and laboratory and manufacturing buildings. John has more than 16 years of experience in commercial real estate, primarily focusing on life sciences and biotechnology transactions. Prior to joining JLL, John was a principal at Cresa New York, where he served as senior advisor and head of the life sciences practice, overseeing the expansion of the firm’s pharmaceutical, medical and biotechnology client base both in the New York metropolitan area and nationally. Earlier, John specialized in life sciences leasing for Colliers International and, before that, Cushman & Wakefield. Prior to joining the real estate industry, he worked in pharmaceutical sales and marketing at Johnson & Johnson and Alcon Laboratories.

  JLL

  SVP, NY Life Sciences Practice Group

  Moderator

  John Cahill

  SVP, NY Life Sciences Practice Group

  JLL

Building & Investing in Sustainable & Compliant Buildings

Prioritizing Compliance & Local Law 97

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  Brendan McCarthy

  Vice President, ESG

  Morgan Stanley (Calvert Research & Management)

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  Michael Lohr

  Managing Director

  Goldman Sachs

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  Atalia Howe

  Atalia Howe is the Assistant Vice President of Initiatives and Impact Investing at The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a nonprofit affordable housing and community revitalization finance company based in New York City. There she oversees CPC’s Impact Investing initiative and Sustainability, supporting CPC’s role as a leader in promoting energy efficiency and high-performance building practices.

  The Community Preservation Corporation

  AVP of Initiatives and Impact Investing

  Atalia Howe

  AVP of Initiatives and Impact Investing

  The Community Preservation Corporation

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  Rusty Pomeroy

  Raymond “Rusty” Pomeroy is an environmental lawyer with a broad, multifaceted skill set developed in private practice and as an in-house counsel for the commercial real estate investment division of a U.S.-based multinational conglomerate. Rusty has an extensive track record helping clients identify, understand and mitigate environmental risks in complex commercial real estate transactions, financing and commodities transactions, and corporate mergers and acquisitions in a pragmatic and commercial way. His practice includes advising clients on green and sustainable energy issues, climate change, and the implications and opportunities stemming from New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act, among other laws. Rusty has counseled clients regarding site cleanups and brownfields projects in multiple jurisdictions across the U.S., including New York’s Brownfields Cleanup Program, New York City’s Voluntary Cleanup Program and New Jersey’s Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA). Rusty has also litigated CERCLA and state-based cost recovery actions, toxic tort claims and challenges to legislative actions and environmental review projects; assisted corporate clients with the development and implementation of environmental policies and procedures; counseled manufacturing clients regarding their obligations under various regulatory regimes, including RCRA, and the self-disclosure of environmental audit findings; addressed tenant and employee health and safety issues; negotiated, placed and reviewed environmental insurance policies; and represented clients in administrative proceedings before government regulators. Rusty was previously the chief elected official in Sullivan County, New York, serving as chairman of the Sullivan County Legislature.

  Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

  Special Counsel

  Moderator

  Rusty Pomeroy

  Special Counsel

  Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Outside the Box Approaches: Off-Site Construction

Analyzing feasibility, cost effectiveness

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  Peter Papamichael

  Principal

  Vorea Group

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  Jonathan Cogswell

  Vice President, Manhattan Development

  Northwell Health

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  Dino DeFeo

  Partner

  AKF Group

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  Aurimas Sabulis

  Aurimas Sabulis is CEO of Dextall and a pioneer behind the revolutionary software solution that shortens the existing design process of mid and high-rise building exteriors by more than twenty times. In addition to improving design process inefficiencies, the software also drives sustainability and net-zero energy goals throughout the design process. Under his leadership, Dextall has since qualified as an approved prefab panel Component Manufacturer for all affordable housing retrofit projects in the state of New York by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Mr. Sabulis’ more than 20+ year career in construction has been dedicated to utilizing technologies to advance the fields of design and construction through countless award-winning and groundbreaking projects within the United States. Mr. Sabulis believes the power of technology combined with smart business solutions creates sustainability and long-term value in mid to high-rise building construction. Prior to Dextall, Mr. Sabulis was founder and CEO of INTUS Windows, a commercial glass/window solutions company for high-rise buildings in the United States with manufacturing facilities across Europe. His experience in high-rise building construction, coupled with his expertise in finance allowed INTUS Windows to develop product lines that were both affordable and exceeded performance metrics within the industry. Under his leadership, INTUS Windows was involved in the most energy-efficient and sustainable high-rise construction in the United States. Additionally, INTUS Windows was selected for and became part of the design outlook for the Wyndham, Hilton, and Marriott umbrella and sub-brands because of its advanced efficiency, quality, and sustainability. During his tenure at INTUS Windows, Mr. Sabulis also launched a 1-Window-1-Tree initiative, which planted trees in communities around the United States for each window sold by the company. Mr. Sabulis is an active member in a number of organizations that promote green, sustainable, and energy-efficient design in buildings such as USGBC and the Passive House Institute, where he advocates for improvement in current building envelope performance and works tirelessly to identify best-practice solutions. Mr. Sabulis has spoken before the bipartisan House Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucus. In 2014 and 2015, Mr. Sabulis was a panelist on leadership and construction for the AIA Convention. In his spare time, Mr. Sabulis is a dedicated Ironman athlete who competes in world championships and races all over the world. Mr. Sabulis received an MBA from Georgetown University.

  Dextall

  CEO

  Aurimas Sabulis

  CEO

  Dextall

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  Jack Conway

  Jack works for Gil-Bar Health and Life Sciences where he is the Vice President of their healthcare division. Jack specializes in modular operating room construction to improve constructability and quality. Currently, Jack works with hospital design and construction teams to assist in creating a better operating room environment. By applying modular cleanroom technologies, improving air quality and utilizing safe hospital construction practices he is able to help hospitals manage infection prevention and control.

  Gil-Bar Health & Life Sciences

  Vice President

  Jack Conway

  Vice President

  Gil-Bar Health & Life Sciences

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  Mary Frazier

  Managing Principal

  Ewing Cole

• Moderator

  Rich Steimel

  SVP

  Lendlease

Construction Conflicts: Supply Chain, Raw Materials, Labor Shortages

Handling C&D Hurdles

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  Thomas Campbell

  Managing Member

  Thorobird Companies

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  Scott Solish

  Executive Vice President

  Greenland USA

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  Charles Esteves

  Charles Esteves is the Director, Preconstruction at Schimenti Construction Company, an industry-leading general contractor headquartered in NYC. Charles collaborates with project partners from concept design to post-construction planning identifying and mitigating risks to ensure the alignment of design, budget, and schedule. Along with a team of skilled estimators and project managers, Charles performs constructability analyses and value engineering options that consider site conditions, material procurement, construction logistics, and labor requirements. The result is innovative solutions that align with our clients’ business objectives and design vision. Charles holds a BA in Architecture from Yale University and an MBA in Real Estate & Finance from NYU. Charles has over 20 years of experience in the AEC industry, including 7 years as a Superintendent in the field.

  Schimenti Construction Company

  Director, Preconstruction

  Charles Esteves

  Director, Preconstruction

  Schimenti Construction Company

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  Kenneth Wille

  Mr. Kenneth F. Wille, CEO: Professional Engineer licensed in multiple states and based in NY, Building Performance Analyst, LEED AP, Certified Energy Manager, and Green Building Engineer with the Association of Energy Engineers. Mr. Wille was involved in developing HUD Green Mark to Market requirements and qualifications following participation in HUD Green Retrofit Program. A seasoned construction consultant with over 5,000 construction loan monitoring inspections, 1,000+ Property Needs Assessments and 100+ energy audits under his utility belt. Mr. Wille has been numerous boards, podcasts and panels and is a published author with an educational building inspection series available on the KOW YouTube channel.

  KOW Building Consultants

  President and CEO

  Kenneth Wille

  President and CEO

  KOW Building Consultants

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  Jessica Rothman

  Jessica L. Rothman has 20+ years of litigation experience focused on representing owners, contractors and design professionals in a range of performance and payment disputes including breach of contract, mechanic’s lien, negligence and building defect claims. Her practice extends to mediation and arbitration of these disputes. Jessica’s knowledge and experience is often sought out by owners, contractors, architects and engineers in negotiating contracts for construction and design projects. Jessica is skilled in negotiating the critical risk, performance and payment terms under those agreements, and managing the implementation and practical effects of the critical terms over the course of a project. Jessica is admitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the New York State Bar.

  Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP

  Partner

  Moderator

  Jessica Rothman

  Partner

  Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP