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California People and Company News, Week of Dec. 6, 2024
- Westwood Financial, a more than 50-year-old leading retail real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles, announced that Mark Bratt will retire as CEO at year-end 2024. Bratt has been Westwood’s CEO since January 2019.
- BioMed Realty, a Blackstone portfolio company and the largest private operator of life science real estate, announced that Bob Nowak has joined as SVP of operations for West Coast Markets. Based at BioMed headquarters in San Diego, Nowak will lead the operations and facilities functions across the West Coast markets, which include San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Boulder. He brings 30 years of commercial real estate operations and asset management experience, serving most recently as managing director at JLL, which he joined in 2013.
- International law firm BCLP has added partner Marty Taylor to the firm’s real estate finance group. He is set to join the firm’s Irvine office. Taylor brings more than 30 years of experience representing financial institutions, companies, and other parties across a wide range of syndicated and single-bank financing transactions. His practice focuses on syndications, mezzanine lending and restructuring and bankruptcy, with substantial experience in navigating complex transactions, distressed assets, and workouts.
- The Kleinfelder Group, Inc., a leading engineering, design, construction management, construction materials inspection and testing, and environmental professional services firm, promoted Victor Auvinen to the newly created position of EVP and chief revenue officer (CRO) and Chris King to EVP and West division director. As CRO, Auvinen, who has served as Kleinfelder’s West division director since 2019, will now oversee all revenue-generating activities to drive the organization’s sustainable growth and profitability. King, who will now lead Kleinfelder’s West Division, joined San Diego-based Kleinfelder in 2015.
- Global architecture and design firm Corgan has appointed two established California architects to its Los Angeles office. Kevin Tyrrell is joining as education studio leader and principal, along with Alexandria Hoevel as multifamily studio leader and VP. Both bring decades of experience with deep local and regional market knowledge.
- Hollywood Handy Construction, Inc., a woman-owned general contracting firm led by Alycia Belle, has been honored as Los Angeles General Contractor of the Year for 2024. Founded in 2012, Hollywood Handy Construction has built a reputation for excellence in commercial property renovation, tenant improvements and project management across Los Angeles County.
- Nadia Geller Designs, an award-winning interior design firm offering services across the real estate community, has completed the interior and exterior design installation at River Trail Village, a 203,000-square-foot multifamily student housing community on the 160-acre campus of Napa Valley College. Work on the school’s first residential community, comprised of three individually curated buildings, began in February 2023 and was completed in the fall of 2024.
- San Diego-based Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects (FPBA), a leader in life science design, has acquired CAS Architects, a Bay Area firm known for its expertise in advanced technology and life science design. The acquisition strengthens FPBA’s presence in the Bay Area, providing greater market diversity, opportunities for professional growth and enhanced service to clients.
- ◦People
