Atlanta State of the Market: Outlook for 2019

Matt Shulman is the CEO and Managing Partner of The Ardent Companies (“Ardent”) and the CEO of each of the General Partner and the Advisor. Prior to forming Ardent, Matt Shulman was a Managing Director with Rialto Capital where he managed an origination platform for equity investments across Rialto’s strategies. In that role, Matt oversaw deployment of capital into deals varying from performing and non-performing loans, equity investments directly in real estate, and recapitalization of existing sponsors. Prior to Rialto, Matt was a founding partner at Fairway Capital Partners - a real estate investment firm founded in 2007. Matt is a member of YPO and Wexner Heritage. He actively serves on the boards of the Atlanta Real Estate Collaborative, Usher 1F Collaborative, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta in addition to serving as Chair of The Epstein School board. Matt formerly served on the board of Open Doors Atlanta and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta ELC board. Matt received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science in Real Estate Finance from New York University. After graduate school, Matt served as an adjunct professor of Real Estate Finance at his Alma Mater NYU.

With more than 15 years in business development and financial strategy, Oz Friedmann brings seasoned industry knowledge and versatile expertise to Sixty West as Managing Director of Development, where he oversees the development process for the company’s real estate portfolio. Friedmann joined Sixty West in 2018 following a successful turn at Mill Creek Residential Trust as development associate, where his focus was on mixed-use development. Mr. Friedmann was responsible for the site selection, or management of all phases of development, of over 2,000 apartment homes and 100,000 square feet of retail. Prior to his role at Mill Creek, he served as portfolio manager at Renova Partners, where his focus was on distressed debt, investment banking, and asset consulting. Additional career highlights include serving as development associate at Pollack Partners, where he was responsible for the due diligence, entitlements, design, and lease-up of approximately 1,000 market rate apartment homes. At Sixty West, Friedmann’s responsibilities include managing all aspects of the development process, from site acquisition through design, entitlements, financing, construction, leasing, and disposition of assets. Friedmann received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Georgia and a Master’s of Business Administration from Georgia State University.

Beth McMillan joined Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. as Director of Community Engagement in December 2008. Her major responsibilities include coordination of all aspects of community planning, including management of the 10 Atlanta BeltLine Sub-Area Master Plans; coordinating with the City on rezoning and development applications for properties within the Atlanta BeltLine Planning Area; gathering community input from all impacted BeltLine communities and presenting on the Atlanta BeltLine to communities, civic groups, business associations both within the Atlanta BeltLine and other areas in the region and serves as a member of the BeltLine Design Review Committee. Beth was formerly the Director of Planning and Zoning for the City of East Point, Ga. where she managed a department of 15 employees engaged in the planning, zoning, inspection, licensing and permitting functions for the City. Other responsibilities included the development and oversight of all zoning and development policies, establishment of a current development fee program and the total re-write of a proposed new Zoning Ordinance for the City. Previously, Beth served for 17 years in planning in different responsibilities in the Fulton County Department of Environment and Community Development. In her last eight years at Fulton County she served as the Assistant Director of Comprehensive Planning. In that capacity Beth managed a staff of 13 professional planners responsible for community planning in North Fulton, Sandy Springs, Southwest Fulton and South Fulton County. There she successfully implemented 10 community overlay districts and managed four design review boards. Under her direction, Fulton County developed and implemented its’ Smart Growth Policy. Beth is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University (formerly Clark College) where she majored in Economics, and continued her graduate study in the field of Economics at Atlanta University. Beth is a member of Cascade United Methodist Church.

James Kelly is a Director with Hunt Real Estate Capital. Mr. Kelly is based in the Atlanta office and is responsible for structuring and financing multifamily and commercial real estate through Hunt’s mortgage banking platform. Hunt offers Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and FHA executions as well as its proprietary products, which include fixed rate, bridge, and equity. Mr. Kelly has 21 years of commercial real estate experience in mortgage banking, securitization, underwriting, and asset management. Before joining Hunt in 2010, Mr. Kelly valued loan portfolios, failed bank assets, and distressed banks on behalf of private institutional investors seeking acquisitions. Prior to this role, Mr. Kelly was a Senior Production Associate at CWCapital where he focused on the origination of CMBS, Mezzanine, and Bridge loans. Mr. Kelly earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Virginia Tech. Mr. Kelly is an active member of the Real Estate Group of Atlanta (REGA) and the Real Estate Investment Advisory Council (REIAC).

An experienced commercial real estate advisor for over 20 years, Wesley is an Opportunity Zone National Leader and Audit Partner with Cherry Bekaert’s Real Estate & Construction industry group. Based in the Atlanta office, he provides guidance to clients on real estate tax credit transactions, pre-acquisition due diligence, purchase price allocation, tax mitigation structuring, real estate consulting and financial statement audits. Wesley’s technical ability encompasses an assortment of expertise with clients in the hotels and resorts, student housing, military housing, multi-family/affordable housing, and retail/office sectors. He also consults on equity rollups, public filing preparation and large-scale real estate portfolio acquisitions. In addition, Wesley has helped real estate holding companies, developers, contractors and private equity funds with transactions ranging from $25 million to $4 billion. Prior to joining Cherry Bekaert, Wesley led the Atlanta office and Commercial Real Estate Group for the Southeast for a Top 15 National Accounting Firm. He previously held various Board of Directors positions with local chapters of NAIOP, Central Atlanta Progress, and the City of Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Chapter of the Urban Land Institute for five years (including three years as Treasurer) and was on the National Board of Directors for the National Multi-Housing Council. Wesley is a regular speaker at various real estate conferences around the nation.

David Marvin, founder and president of Legacy Ventures®, was an early believer in downtown Atlanta’s resurgence. Since making his first investment downtown in 1994, Marvin has developed $500 million in downtown real estate. Atlanta tested Legacy, but the firm has expanded its footprint regionally. In addition to development, Legacy today has hotel and restaurant operating divisions that employ roundly 1,000 people. Legacy’s in-house financial, marketing, design and construction teams represent collaborative resources for its development, asset management, and operations initiatives. Marvin’s professional career began as a graduate engineer on the docks of Electric Boat Naval Shipyard. Ten years into his career, Marvin transitioned from construction to real estate. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont, an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master’s of Science degree in Real Estate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and is active on several civic boards, including the Atlanta Rotary Club, Central Atlanta Progress, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District Board, Chair of ADID Interagency Law Enforcement Task Force, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, the Atlanta Hospitality Alliance, the Georgia State University School of Hospitality’s Advisory Board, Partners for HOME Board and is the Founder/Chairman of the Centennial Park District®.

As President of PMRG's Eastern Division, Bill Weghorst oversees long term strategies for the entire Eastern portfolio, which encompasses more than 20 million square feet. Mr. Weghorst brings more than 25 years of office leasing experience in the Atlanta market. He has completed more than 1,000 lease transactions totaling in excess of 6.0 million square feet and with an aggregate dollar value of more than $800 million. Prior to joining PMRG, Mr. Weghorst was Senior Vice President of Asset Services at CB Richard Ellis, where he was responsible for the marketing and leasing of approximately 4.5 million square feet of office space throughout Atlanta. His portfolio included major urban high-rise towers and multi-building suburban mid-rise developments.

Clark Dean helps directs Transwestern’s Occupier Solutions business and is the founder of the company’s Transaction Sciences platform, which operates across service lines. Clark is a member of Transwestern’s Board of Directors and its National Occupier Solutions Steering Committee. He also helps lead the company’s global partnerships with BNP Paribas Real Estate and Devencore. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS With a background in biomedical engineering, management consulting, and financial structuring, Clark is known for being a disruptive innovator in the brokerage industry. His Transaction Sciences practice combines robust brokerage capabilities with behavioral science, organizational science, and decision science to deliver real estate solutions that optimize culture, function, and economics for occupiers and investors. Prior to joining Transwestern, Clark was a founding principal of Studley’s Corporate Services Group where he spent over a decade working on some of the firm’s largest and most complex assignments. Before that, Clark was a management consultant and later chief operating officer for a management consulting firm specializing in strategic and operational consulting for insurance and financial service companies. He began his real estate career with Studley as a financial analyst in Washington, DC.

Neil Beldock has over 30 years of experience as a real estate finance professional. Over those 30+ years Neil has held positions at Citigroup, Coast Federal Bank of California, Independence Bank of Los Angeles, Family Savings Bank of Los Angeles, Hamburg Savings Bank of New York, Interbay Funding and Velocity Commercial Capital. Neil has held executive and senior level management positions covering loan originations, loan operations, loan servicing, secondary marketing, loan securitization and joint venture operations. Neil is also a published author having written articles for numerous mortgage industry publications including the Scotsman Guide, Commercial Mortgage Insight, The Mortgage Press and National Mortgage Broker Magazine. Currently, Neil serves as a Senior Executive at Pender Capital Funding in Dallas, Texas.

Tina Renee McCall serves as the Managing Director of Asset Management & Dispositions at Bridge Investment Group. She oversees Disposition and Asset Management teams nationally and is responsible for capital markets and asset management training programs and procedures. During her career, McCall has developed successful management and marketing strategies for commercial real estate assets across the country. A proven problem-solver and leader, McCall is highly experienced in asset management, leasing, capital markets and portfolio management, and has cultivated tenant relationships with executives at Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Bridge, McCall was the Senior Vice President of Asset Management at Gemini Rosemont Commercial Real Estate, where she helmed the organization’s East Region office and managed the investment performance for 20 buildings totaling more than 3 million square feet. She hired and directed asset management analysts, brokers, property managers, administrative staff and engineers to implement marketing and management strategies, and she successfully completed more than 100 lease transactions over a four-year period. McCall has also served as Vice President of Asset Management for Columbia Property Trust, where she directed the financial performance of 20 assets totaling more than 7 million square feet in major U.S. markets such as New York, Boston, Atlanta, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham and Pittsburgh. Through her highly focused investment approach, McCall significantly enhanced the value of real estate assets while maintaining an average occupancy rate of 95 percent. She also played an integral role in the firm’s successful disposition of 18 properties, totaling nearly 4 million square feet. During her time as Investment Officer at Wells Real Estate Funds, McCall completed more than 900,000 square feet of new and renewed leases, helped with a strategic portfolio disposition totaling 1.9 million square feet, and maintained an average occupancy rate of 94 percent. McCall received a bachelor’s degree in environmental economics and management from the University of Georgia, as well as a master’s of business administration with a concentration in finance from Georgia State University. She is a Certified Commercial Investment Member and currently serves as the 2018 President for CREW Atlanta and the 2018 Director of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors.

Mr. Heagy is a senior managing director and is responsible for the leasing and marketing of the office projects and for securing corporate services and mixed-use development assignments in the Southeast Region of the United States. Mr. Heagy joined the firm in 1996 and has been active in Atlanta's commercial real estate market since 1977. Heagy received his BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia. Mr. Heagy serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, Central Atlanta Progress (CAP); Metro Atlanta Chamber; and the Perimeter Community Improvement District (PCID).

Steve LaMontagne is a Partner at Moore Colson and leads the firm’s Real Estate Practice. Steve has extensive experience in all sectors of the real estate, construction and hospitality industries, including fund managers and advisors, registered investment advisors (RIAs), REITs, developers, institutional investment vehicles, operating properties, and syndication of private and public partnerships. During his 30+ years of experience in the real estate industry, several years were spent in capital markets working exclusively on real estate transactions. In his role as leader of the Moore Colson Real Estate Practice, he works with a variety of real estate clients. His expertise includes real estate investing, accounting, financial reporting, and auditing matters. Prior to joining Moore Colson, Steve was an Assurance Partner and leader of the Southeast Real Estate Practice with the international accounting firm of KPMG, LLP. Steve worked with KPMG, LLP since 1983 as a CPA. Steve became the leader of KPMG’s Atlanta real estate practice in 1997 and shortly thereafter became the Director of the Real Estate Practice for the entire southeastern United States. He also served on several National Committees utilizing his expertise in the area of real estate finance including leasing, mergers and acquisitions, financings, public offerings and sales of real estate.

Matt joined Cousins in 2016 to lead the Phoenix regional team, a role he previously held for Parkway Properties since 2007. In 2018, Matt relocated to Atlanta to lead the Atlanta regional team as Managing Director. In his current role, he has responsibility for leasing, property operations, investments and business development in the Atlanta market. During his 11-year tenure running the Phoenix portfolio for Parkway, Matt’s team was named NAIOP Arizona Owner/Developer of the Year, and facilitated large-scale leases with clients including Amazon, ADP, Silicon Valley Bank and Symantec. Additionally, Matt acted as the local point of contact for investment opportunities in the Western US for Parkway, and sourced over $400MM of assets purchased or developed in the Phoenix market.

Bobby Condon is the General Manager for Southeastern region for WeWork, currently overseeing six markets: Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas City, Miami, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham. Prior to his role as General Manager, he served as WeWork's Director of Operations in New York, directly managing operations for more than 35 locations in the Tri-State area. Bobby previously served as WeWork's Business Operations Manager in New York, owning strategic projects and the financial processes and reporting for the region. Before WeWork, he worked in the financial services sector and held several positions at Bridgewater Associates and PwC. Bobby earned a degree in International Political Science from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and currently resides in Atlanta with his family.

Harvey comes to Portman Residential from Mill Creek Residential Trust where he led development operations for the Atlanta region, and prior to that, Jamestown Properties. He brings a strong focus on mixed-use development, urban high-rise construction and strategic multi-family development to our team, managing national operations and overseeing strategy and execution. Harvey has spent his fifteen-plus real estate career building Atlanta, and has been involved in the development of more than 4,000 multifamily homes with a total capitalization of over $1.2 billion. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Real Estate Group of Atlanta, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

As Vice President of Design & Construction, Suzanne is a future-focused leader responsible for the entitlement and due diligence process, construction and financial aspects of all projects for HVMG. This includes working closely with owners, the HVMG Business Development team and external consultants as well as the company’s investor and brand partners. Suzanne brings over 25 years of experience working for nationally branded companies in commercial construction management with an emphasis in the hospitality, restaurant and retail industries. Prior to working for HVMG, Suzanne worked for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts where she was the Vice President of Design Services for the Americas region with a focus on the Hyatt Place & Hyatt House Brands and was instrumental in the launching of both of these select service brands. Suzanne also has over 5 years of distribution center development and manufacturing/logistics planning experience where in her first job she was an Aerospace Industrial Engineer working on the B-2 Stealth Bomber Program. Suzanne received her BS in Industrial Technology (Industrial Engineering) and AAS in Drafting Technology from Lamar University in Beaumont TX.

Bisnow went back to find our Atlanta reporter. Waaay back. As in the 1980’s back. As far as we can tell, Jarred has not left the decade of pastel colored sport coats and crazy, wavy hair, and will regularly challenge all to 80s music trivia fights (we try not to provoke him). Outside of having the largest collection of cassette and VHS tapes in Atlanta, Jarred has been steeped in Atlanta media for more than a decade, most of the time focused on commercial real estate. You can also find Jarred spittin’ out lyrics with our Data Center and Denver newsletters.