An Evening with Boston's Power Women - Part 2
Bisnow celebrated the top 50 women in Boston commercial real estate Monday night with 450 guests as part of a nationwide initiative profiling the top 300 commercial real estate women in DC, NY, Dallas, Atlanta, LA and Chicago.
The Boston event culminated our eight-part series of profiles, telling the stories of these extraordinary women and their rise to positions of influence. (You can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7 and Part 8).
Bisnow Power Woman Kathy MacNeil, principal, MDA Partners in JV with Millennium Partners (with Power Woman Edwards Wildman Palmer’s Rebecca A. Lee) is building the $630M, 975k SF Millennium Tower. This game changer in Downtown Crossing follows Millennium’s Ritz on Avery Street, One Charles Street and Millennium Place, where 256 condos sold in 18 months.
Bisnow business manager Amy Ericson greets Power Woman Boston Harbor Association president Vivien Li. As she has for decades, Vivien is shaping the future Boston waterfront working on the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan Advisory Committee and advocating for a blend of climate-resilient private development with public access and amenities.
Synergy Investments director of investments and Power Woman Maura Moffatt led this fall's Synergy/Green Oak purchase of the signature 10 PO Square for $143M. Given the vibrancy of the Boston market, she expects to see more of the same in ’15. Trained as an attorney, she’s drawn to real estate because it connects with the five senses and is enduring.
Honoree and Wood Partners director of development Addie Grady is leading the charge to develop a nearly $200M multifamily project in East Cambridge at 22 Water St (Zinc). The work suits a multidimensional mind like hers. She deals with finance, engineering, design, law, property management, marketing, sales and the environment.
This year, Boston Capital director of acquisitions and Power Woman Brenda Champy managed about $600M in investments for the company, which is one of the nation's largest investor/owner/syndicators of affordable housing assets. She works with banks and insurance companies that invest with Boston Capital and the tenants who live in its housing.
Claudia Piper, SVP, Webster Bank says 2014’s been a great year for making loans--construction, long-term and refis--here and nationwide. Claudia, who is also president of NEWiRE, says borrowers are taking advantage of low interest rates. Banking is a right brain/left brain pursuit that calls for analysis and people skills.
With a focus on growth, Cresa chief operating officer Margaret Wigglesworth (with colleague Bob Shulman) is overseeing Cresa's expansion by adding staff in consulting, project management and industrial advisory services as well as more specialized practice areas: legal, medical, life science and energy.
CBT Architects principal/chief financial officer Margaret Deutsch (left) runs all the financial aspects of this busy design firm. She started in 1980 as a part-time temp typist. In ’99, she was the first non-architect to become a principal and now chairs the equity principals meetings and oversees all staffing. Lois Goodell, principal leading the interiors practice, has followed the advice of her mother, Evelyn, that everything's possible.
IPA director Jennifer Athas (with colleagues Kyle Tremble and Kaitlyn Fox) and her team closed one of the largest Massachusetts multifamily sales of ‘14—DSF's purchase of Avalon Danvers for $108.5M. She got into commercial real estate as a bank lender and did her own private projects with her contractor's license in hand.
Forest City Enterprise’ in-house counsel and VP Kathryn Lachelt Brown (with Goulston & Storrs’ Andrew Zelermyer) got into real estate development to see the entire scope of activities. The last parcel of University Place—the $155M, 250k SF research lab project under construction at 300 Mass Ave—has fulfilled her expectations. She’s been in the thick of the 14-year site acquisition, a JV agreement with MIT, leasing to Takeda Oncology, financing, permitting and construction.
