ARC / Architectural Resources Cambridge hired Kelly C. Bliss to the firm as an associate and the new director of business development. She will be based in the Greater Boston area.
Bliss has served as director of business development and marketing at several architectural firms in the Greater Boston and Raleigh, N.C., areas in a career spanning more than two decades.
Bliss will oversee business development initiatives at ARC, an architectural, planning and interior design firm specializing in educational, sports, science and corporate facilities. She will also build long-term client relationships, promote the work of the firm, contribute to ARC’s market strategy and participate on behalf of the firm at industry conferences and events.
She studied interior design at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University in Boston and earned a bachelor’s degree in government/international relations from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
ARC also welcomed Madaline Hale to the firm as a senior associate and director of interior design. She has worked in fields ranging from higher education, science and technology to corporate and health care. She comes to ARC from Perkins+Will in Boston, and also has worked with Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott and The Hale Design Studio, as well as several Washington, D.C.-based firms.
NREI talked to Bliss about how ARC is working to make sports centers more environmentally friendly, what clients are demanding now and what sectors are particularly hot. An edited version of that interview follows.
NREI: Looking at the sectors that ARC specializes in—educational, sports, science and corporate—is there one sector that is particularly hot right now?
Kelly Bliss: Fortunately, each of these sectors seems to be healthy right now and we see a wide range of opportunities. ARC is committed to establishing long term relationships with our clients, and our breadth of experience enables us to serve them well, whether the project need is a new science building on campus, expanded athletic facilities, a classroom building renovation or corporate office/lab fit-up. We have a national reach and are pleased to see activity across the country. Currently, these opportunities are generally with major universities, academic medical centers and independent schools.
NREI: Looking at the field of sports centers, are there ways to make these facilities more sustainable and environmentally friendly?
Kelly Bliss: We have completed more than 20 LEED-registered and -certified projects of varying types. While our approach to sustainability is based on an integrated process starting with conceptual design, it is also intrinsically linked to how we technically approach a project’s design.
On all buildings, there are a number of ways to achieve high-performance improvement. Along with building envelope and MEP items, there are a number of strategies that may add value if considered as part of a holistic design approach including energy monitoring, daylighting studies, and the use of photovoltaics.
A recent project completed by ARC was the 114,000-sq.-ft. Stephen B. Swann Athletic and Wellness Center at Episcopal School of Dallas. The LEED Gold building is projected to save the school more than $26,000 per year in energy costs. Some of the center’s key sustainable features include the fact that all light fixtures within 15 ft. of exterior walls have daylight sensors that automatically adjust the lights based on the amount of daylight entering the room, thus reducing electricity use.
The center also has light fixtures in 30 percent of occupiable rooms that have occupancy sensors that turn lights off after 15 minutes of undetected movement. In addition, a minimum of 51 percent of wood-based materials in the building are FSC-certified, meaning the wood products have been chosen because they were harvested in a socially and environmentally responsible way.
Approximately 23 percent of the building’s materials and products are derived from recycled material. Also, more than half of the building’s roof is a white roofing material which absorbs less heat, resulting in a cooler building and lower air conditioning load.
NREI: Looking at the corporate world—what are these customers demanding now that they were not asking for, say, five years ago?
Kelly Bliss: ARC’s clients continue to seek highly-flexible labs, which is even more critical now to support of the ever-increasing rate of change in the field of science. In addition, while there is a need to provide flexible, standardized labs, there is also a need to offer highly specialized spaces. We’ve used this for clients such as UMass Medical School, Temple University, Harvard Medical School and Genzyme. For corporate office clients, there is also an increased need for flexible spaces that offer opportunities for collaboration. The millenials are interested in open spaces that support small work groups and a lot of interaction. Recent projects include VMware, Genzyme and Microsoft.
Massey Knakal Realty Services hired Michael Geraci to the firm’s capital services division as a first vice president.
Geraci will focus on several Brooklynareas: Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Homecrest, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay. He comes to Massey Knakal from Bergen Basin Realty in Brooklyn, where he was an associate broker. Before that, Geraci was a New York director and broker of record at Zip Realty Inc., where he was responsible for the entire New York region, which involved training and mentoring over 120 agents.
IndCor welcomed two senior vice presidents and one vice president to the real estate company that focuses on the ownership and management of industrial properties.
All three will oversee the firm’s West Coast operations, particularly in California.
Senior Vice President Robert P. Munson has responsibility for a 5.1 million sq.-ft. portfolio of properties located in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego. He comes to the company from WCV Commercial Properties, an affiliate asset management group for Walton Street Capital, where he was also SVP.
Senior Vice President Thomas B. Hwang is in charge of a 10.6 million-sq.-ft. portfolio of IndCor properties located in the Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Portland, Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area. He brings to IndCor 19 years of asset management experience for major institutional real estate owners. He was also previously with WCV Commercial.
Katherine T. Flynn joins IndCor as a vice president with more than 20 years experience working with institutional real estate owners on all asset classes of commercial real estate, with an emphasis in the industrial sector. Her role with IndCor will include responsibility of all facets of a 5 million sq.-ft. industrial portfolio located in the L.A. Basin and Orange County markets.
Cassidy Turley welcomed Thomas Traugott to the firm’s New York office as senior vice president, data center solutions group.
Traugott will work closely with the New York tri-state region team as well as the national data center solutions group in servicing the needs of data center clients regionally and nationally.
Before coming to Cassidy Turley, he was a principal at Data Center & Colocation Strategic Advisory Services.
Avison Young will acquire Raleigh, N.C.-based Thomas Linderman Graham Inc., a full-service commercial real estate services company. The transaction is expected to close in two weeks.
The ownership change will add 61 employees to Avison Young’s operations, including eight new principals, and new offices in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, N.C. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Joining Avison Young as principals are: John Linderman, president and COO of Thomas Linderman Graham; Rex Thomas, CEO of Thomas Linderman Graham; Jack Graham, Lee Clyburn, William Allen, Arnold Siegmund, Gina Ide and Elizabeth Gates.
Linderman will also become managing director of the Raleigh-Durham offices. He brings 27 years of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young.
Thomas, Clyburn, Allen and Siegmund will join as transaction professionals; Graham will handle the administrative functions of the office; Ide will be responsible for property management; and Gates will oversee research and marketing.
Also joining Avison Young will be Thomas Linderman Graham brokers Chester Allen, Braxton Anthony, Bill Aucoin, Curteis Calhoun, Janet Clayton, Carlo DiGiorgio, Bryan Everett, Rich Gernand, Gary Hill, Jake Jones, Jim McMillan, Dave Mester, Carlton Midyette, Jeff Solomon, Michael Vulpis, Cheshire Webb and Matt Winters.
Stage Equity Partners LLC added Russell Brenner to the firm as a partner.
Brenner comes to Stage with more than 16 years of commercial real estate experience, including a background in office and retail investment, leasing and finance.
Prior to joining the company, he was senior principal and member of the management committee at Syndicated Equities, a Chicago-based real estate private equity firm where he oversaw the investment sales team and led fundraising efforts for each of the firm’s investment platforms. While there, he spurred the company’s acquisition of more than $800 million of commercial real estate assets around the country.
At Stage, Brenner is responsible for new business development including sourcing new acquisition and development opportunities and establishing capital relationships.
David Dolan has joined Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Capital Group as a senior managing director.
He comes to NGKF from Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was an an executive vice president working in all facets of brokerage and investment sales. He also spent 12 years with Grubb & Ellis Co.
Colliers International hired David M. Valdez as a senior managing director for the firm’s New York City brokerage division.
As a Midtown Manhattan specialist, Valdez strategically advises tenants and landlords in the execution of office lease transactions, especially corporate clients and nonprofit organizations.
Most recently, Valdez was an entrepreneur advising tenants and landlords in the New York City and South Florida real estate markets. Prior to that role, for four years he was a vice president at Goldman Sachs, where he negotiated the business terms for leases, property acquisition and disposition agreements and helped complete real estate transactions and reposition firm-owned assets throughout the Americas.
Guardian Investment Banking and Real Estate added Hernan Magariños as a managing director at the firm’s New York office.
With more than 15 years of financial advisory and transactional experience, Magariños has assisted clients on the sale and acquisition of dozens of bank loan portfolios with an aggregate value totaling more than $20 billion. Formerly a director of KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, he specializes in strategy assistance, asset analysis, buyer and vendor due diligence, portfolio valuation and other sales related services, including data room management, closing negotiations and investors' contact.
Greystone Servicing Corporation Inc. appointed two new hires to further develop and expand the company’s lending business.
Chris Rabenold comes to the firm as managing director and Keith Kiecker comes as director.
Rabenold will oversee the small loan business for Greystone’s Los Angeles office and will continue to build out the firm’s ft.print on the West Coast. He comes to the company from Plaza Bank, where he was vice president of commercial real estate. Throughout his career, he has closed over $300 million of commercial real estate transactions.
Kiecker will be based in New York City and will be responsible for reviewing Greystone’s prospective affordable housing transactions, assessing risk and determining the financial viability of affordable housing projects throughout the firm and focusing on the firm’s work with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA.
He comes to Greystone from JPMorgan Chase, where he underwrote and approved affordable housing construction and permanent loans, as well as bridge loans.
Sir David Tweedie was named chairman-elect of the International Valuation Standards Council board of trustees by RICS, the independent professional body established in the U.K. that provides professional standards in land, property and construction.
Tweedie’s appointment is part of a goal to implement international standards in valuation that will improve public, investor and government confidence in the profession following the global economic downturn.
Columbia Residential hired Barry Weaver as president of property management for the affordable housing developer headquartered in Atlanta.
Weaver has more than 20 years experience in property operations and management. Prior to joining Columbia Residential, he served as vice president of property management at Westlake Housing, a subsidiary of Wentwood Capital Partners in Austin, Texas.
Pircher, Nichols & Meeks hired Susan V. Kai as an associate in its Chicago office. She will be engaged in real estate financing, acquisitions and dispositions, as well as leasing.
Kai received her law degree in 2012 from Northwestern University School of Law. While attending law school, she was active in several organizations. Kai served as an executive editor for the Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business. Kai was also the co-president of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund as well as both the vice president of Northwestern University's diversity coalition and the secretary of the group Student Effort to Rejuvenate Volunteering (SERV).
McCarter & English LLP brought Marshall B. McLean to the law firm’s environment and energy and corporate practice groups as special counsel. He will be based in the firm’s Newark, N.J. office.
McLean represents developers, manufacturers and investors in the renewable energy industry. He has assisted in the development, finance and sale of over 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects across the country, primarily in the wind, solar and geothermal sectors.
In addition to his environmental work, McLean maintains a traditional corporate practice focused on mid-market merger and acquisition matters, including corporate finance, securities law and regulatory compliance. He has advised international clients in connection with merger and acquisition deals in China and Europe in the chemicals, healthcare, life sciences, transportation, private equity, consumer products and banking sectors.
Urban Protective Services (UPS) hired Deryl Deese as chief operating officer and Percy Williams as director of business development for the personal and property security company based in Los Angeles.
Deese will spearhead the day-to-day operations of UPS, including establishing and maintaining best practices for the firm and implementing the most effective and advanced technology available. Prior to joining UPS, Deese was a banking executive for Mitsui Manufacturers Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.
Williams joined UPS to assist with enhancing client relationships and expand the firm’s role within the local communities. His background includes service in the U.S. Army and extensive education and training in security, personal protection and business protection.
UPS specializes in providing security and protection services for commercial properties, including shopping centers, corporate complexes, construction sites, worship centers, hotels, high-rise office buildings, apartment complexes and the entertainment industry as well as special events, celebrities, executives, dignitaries and public figures.
The Marketing Directors has formed a strategic alliance with Beverly Hills, Calif.-based KW Builder Marketing Services Group, a division of international real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson.
The alliance will offer a full complement of services, including: sales management, marketing and promotional management, market positioning, product development and market evaluation research and analysis.
In addition, Tom Vetter was promoted to executive vice president of KW Builder Marketing Services Group.
CCIM Institute announced its new 2013 executive leadership team at the organization’s annual conference in Las Vegas.
Wayne D'Amico has been elected as CCIM Institute’s new president for 2013. D’Amico earned the CCIM designation in 1996 and has a long history on the CCIM’s executive leadership team. D’Amico recently joined RE/MAX Right Choice Commercial & Investment Group and is continuing his role as principal of Wayne D'Amico & Co. Inc., a Connecticut based brokerage and advisory firm.
Mark Macek was elected to serve as 2013 first vice president. Macek has more than 23 years of experience in commercial real estate and is president and owner of Macek Companies Inc., a real estate company that specializes in commercial real estate brokerage, commercial and residential property management, and real estate development.
James D. Verro was also elected to serve on the 2013 exeuctive committee and Karlos McGhee was elected to the CCIM Institute’s board of directors.
Four new members were also elected to serve on the CCIM Technology Board of Directors in 2013: Nick Miner, Don Sebastian, Mark Van Ark and Robin Webb.
WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate named Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice President Joanne Podell as “2012 Woman of the Year.”
The group presents the award annually to a person that has contributed in a significant way to the ideals and advancement of women in real estate. Podell will be recognized by the organization for her outstanding achievement in the area of retail brokerage services and leadership at an event on November 15.
Podell, a 20-year professional of the real estate industry, specializes in luxury and specialty retail brokerage in Manhattan, with extensive experience in both tenant and landlord representation. She joined Cushman & Wakefield Retail Services in 2002.