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New York People and Company News, Week of Feb. 14, 2025
- JPMorgan Chase announced that Kurt Stuart will become the co-head of Commercial Term Lending (CTL), joining Ed Ely, who has led CTL for over 25 years and established the business as the nation’s leading multifamily lender in the U.S. alongside vice chair Al Brooks. Previously, Stuart served as the area manager for the Northeast Region, overseeing a team of 150 people and managing originations, strategic direction, and financial performance for the loan business.
- Trammell Crow Company (TCC), a leading commercial real estate developer, is expanding its NYC metro industrial team with the hiring of Jagger Riefler as a VP. In this role, Riefler will be responsible for sourcing and overseeing new industrial development opportunities throughout New York, New Jersey, and Western Connecticut. Based in New York City, he will work directly under Jessica Fraser, who leads TCC’s industrial development team throughout the NYC metro region. Riefler joins TCC from Prologis.
- Greystone, a leading national commercial real estate finance company, announced that Jason Brown has joined as a managing director. Based in the Indianapolis market, Brown will focus on providing multifamily financing solutions across Greystone’s broad range of debt platforms, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA, bridge, and CMBS, and debt & equity placement services. Before joining Greystone, he was a managing director at Berkadia in Indianapolis, where he originated more than $1 billion in loans during his four-year tenure.
- Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Broad Street Development (BSD), a multifaceted investor and developer, is expanding its investment capabilities with two senior executive hires. Matt Sobel and Ben Kahan have joined the firm as senior managing director and managing director, respectively. The duo will play a crucial role in shaping and executing the firm’s investment strategy as it looks to actively acquire $2 billion in assets over the next several years.
- CBRE has promoted Will Forcello to senior managing director and New Jersey market leader. Forcello previously served as interim New Jersey market leader until this appointment. During his time at CBRE, Forcello has consistently demonstrated his leadership as well as industry, financial and operational acumen, the company said.
- Fried Frank has elected 10 new partners and promoted 18 new special counsel, effective March 1, 2025. The following lawyers were elected partners: Brian C. Drozda, Capital Markets, New York; Andrew J. Ebersbach, Corporate Real Estate, New York; Graham Greenwood, Finance, London; Karen Henderson, Asset Management, London; Harry R. Kaplan, Asset Management, New York; Michael A. Kleinman, Intellectual Property and Technology, New York; Robert MacVicar, Asset Management, London; Michael Schneider, Finance, New York; Adam L. Streicher, Corporate Real Estate, New York; and Katherine St. Romain, Litigation, Washington, DC. The following lawyers were promoted to special counsel: Devon Brewster, Finance, London; Nathaniel Bronstein, Antitrust and Competition, New York; Melissa Brown, Real Estate, New York; Nicola Bruton, Asset Management, London; Moshe A. Cohen, M&A and Private Equity, New York; Richard Cromie, Asset Management, London; James Frecknall, M&A and Private Equity, London; Jeremy Kozin, Real Estate, New York; Eric D. Marlowe, Real Estate, Washington, DC; Zachary A. Mason, Asset Management, Washington, DC; Hannah J. Reiner (Mrakovich), M&A and Private Equity, New York; Shira Sandler, Litigation, New York; Lauren Schwartz, Asset Management, New York; Vincenzo Sessa, Real Estate, Washington, DC; George Skerrett, Asset Management, London; Charles Stern, Capital Markets, New York; Athena Tan, Asset Management, London; and Jonathan M. Weiss, Asset Management, New York.
- Cresa, an occupier-centric commercial real estate firm, announced that Dan Foley has joined the company as a managing principal with the firm’s Rutherford, NJ, office. He will serve large office and industrial clients throughout the Northeast corridor. Foley joins from Savills, where he was one of the region’s top producers.
- R4 Capital, a nationwide affordable housing investor, lender and developer, added Kevin Day as director of capital transactions and asset strategies, based in the firm’s New York office. For more than 20 years, Day has managed portfolios in the tax credit industry representing over $2 billion of real estate assets. Previously, he was SVP of portfolio management at Conifer, where he repositioned and/or recapitalized more than 30 of the firm’s existing 200-property portfolio.
- Rosenberg & Estis, P.C., currently celebrating its 50th year as one of New York City’s leading law firms, announced that Raychel A. Camilleri has joined as a member within the litigation department. Camilleri joins R&E from Biedermann Hoenig and Semprevivo, P.C., where she was a shareholder. Before that, she was a trial attorney with the Law Office of Jennifer Adams and with the Law Office of Bryan M. Kulak.
- Freestone Property Group, a leading full-service property management company headquartered in New York City, announced two appointments to key firmwide roles and the creation of two new functions to enhance business operations and financial reporting. Keqi Wei and Kate Wu have been elevated to senior managers. Wei will lead the firm’s operations team, while Wu will be responsible for overseeing property accounting and the financial reporting process for Freestone.
- DIGroup Architecture announced four key leadership promotions. Scott Hoffman has been elevated to principal, while Jaime Masler Beach and Kelli Glasgow have been named associate principals. Additionally, Dalina Cruz has been promoted to senior interior designer.
- Max Benjamin Partners (MBP), a leading boutique real estate investment bank headquartered in Beverly Hills, has opened a new office in New York City. The New York City office launch led by Paul Wolfson follows MBP’s recent opening of a Miami office.
- Hart Howerton announced its new leadership appointments for 2025. The New York- and San Francisco-based design firm has promoted James Neville, ASLA, and Todd Pace, ASLA, to principal. Jessica Sager, AIA has been promoted to associate principal, and Chris Apicella, AIA has been appointed technical director.
- Robert Letskus, a real estate broker and developer with over 23 years of industry experience, announces a new real estate development partnership model through his company, Refined Living, Inc. The program is designed to elevate land values and provide substantial profit opportunities for landowners by securing essential building approvals and permits.
- Trepp, a leading provider of data, insights and technology solutions to the structured finance, commercial real estate and banking markets, has launched new artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including AI Search, which uses a proprietary generative AI (GenAI)-based model to allow users to ask complex, natural-language questions and instantly retrieve relevant commercial property, loan, and financial data. This enhancement simplifies the search process, making it faster and more intuitive for CRE professionals to find assets that match their investment or lending criteria, according to Trepp.
- Time Equities, Inc. has closed its sixth diversified income and opportunity fund. Notable investments by Fund VI include partial interests in VC Bend Apartments in Lancaster, OH; The Armory in Huntsville, TX, a 145-unit student housing property near Sam Houston State University; The Ridge at WVU in Morgantown, WV, a 640-bed student housing property near West Virginia University; Boulder Crossing, a 48,160-square-foot, grocery-shadow-anchored strip center in Las Vegas; Paradise Village Office Park in Phoenix, AZ; and a 48,826-square-foot industrial property located next to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska, currently 100% leased to two long-term tenants.
- Drees & Sommer, a global consulting company for the real estate, infrastructure and industrial markets with roots in Germany, announced its merger with VVA Project & Cost Managers, the U.S.-based project and cost management company. The merger marks Drees & Sommer’s debut into the U.S. market and will leverage the strengths of both companies, combining Drees & Sommer’s single-source approach to consultancy and implementation services with VVA’s deep expertise and industry knowledge in the local market and longstanding client relationships.
- ◦People
