Neighborhood Series: Downtown Boston

Alex Twining is President and CEO of Twining Properties with over 4 msf of development in New York City and Boston. Mr. Twining has been a real estate developer for over 35 years. He has structured $2 B in equity and debt capital transactions and negotiated numerous complex acquisitions, land assemblages and joint ventures. Projects include the 510,000 square foot Watermark Kendall Projects include the three block Mass+Main project in Central Square, the 300,000 sf Watermark Seaport in Boston, 560,000 sf Watermark Kendall in Cambridge, MA, 170,000 sf Watermark Court Square in Long Island City, the 1 msf mixed use tower 440 West 42 Street in Midtown Manhattan and the 2.5 msf residential component of Seaport Square overlooking the Boston Harbor. Mr. Twining was CEO of MetroNexus, a Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds Enterprise which managed the redevelopment of a 3 msf portfolio in the US and Canada. At Morgan Stanley he worked with its real estate, venture capital and telecom groups to launch a $1.25 B global platform. Mr. Twining also managed $3.0 B of Morgan Stanley's most complex real estate investments, including $1.2 B of acquisitions and over $750 M of dispositions. His focus at Morgan Stanley was on large scale development properties including The Woodlands, a 25,000-acre new town in Texas, John Buck Company's 3 msf North Bridge, urban mixed-used development in Chicago and The Gale Company’s 6 msf national office portfolio including the 1 msf One Lincoln Street. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1998, Mr. Twining was an officer of AvalonBay Communities, a $4 B multi-family REIT where he expanded the suburban garden apartment company into urban residential development, creating the management team and a pipeline of 3,000 apartments. For Colgate Palmolive he directed the development of the $2 B, 8 msf Colgate Center in NJ. He was Regional Partner for FD Rich Companies' Boston office overseeing a 2 msf mixed use hotel, office and retail development and directed an 800,000 square foot mixed use hotel residential and office development for BF Saul Company, halfway between the White House and US Capitol in Washington, DC. Mr. Twining is a ULI Trustee and Governor, an architect and real estate broker and serves on the Dean’s Council of the Yale School of Architecture. He received both a BA and a MArch from Yale University. He has lectured and taught at Yale, MIT, NYU and Columbia.

John Conley is Senior Vice President of Portfolio Management at Equity Office Properties, a leading real estate investment, and operating company. Mr. Conley oversees the Boston Region Asset Management and Leasing. Previously, Mr. Conley held similar positions with Archon Group and Glenborough Realty Trust. Mr. Conley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Boston University and an MBA in Finance from Boston College.

Deke is a senior executive at Rubenstein Partners responsible for spearheading the firm’s investment activities in the New England region. Since joining in 2008, key New England investments include 1000 Washington Street, The Center at Innovation Drive, Centerpoint, 55 Walkers Brook Drive and Crossroads Center. He is also a member of Rubenstein Partner’s Investment Committee. Before joining Rubenstein Partners, Deke spent ten years in various senior management roles at Clarion Partners with responsibilities encompassing acquisitions, capital markets, asset management and property management for multiple property types and risk profiles. He also served as co-chair of ING Clarion’s Sustainability Task Force which developed and implemented the firm’s Sustainable Growth Program promoting green building and smart growth best practices across its investment portfolio and corporate operations. Over this time period, he lead the acquisition of assets totaling in excess of $750 million and directed asset management for various portfolios of assets valued in excess of $1 billion. Deke graduated from Dartmouth College and earned his MBA from Rice University.

Chrystal Kornegay currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of MassHousing which lends over $1 billion annually to produce and preserve affordable rental housing and create homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income borrowers. Under Chrystal’s leadership, MassHousing launched a highly successful Down Payment Assistance program; secured over $80 million to expand its Workforce Housing initiative; and developed a nationally recognized program for homeownership production in communities of color. Before joining MassHousing, Chrystal served as the Baker-Polito Administration’s Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development where she successfully advocated to increase state capital dollars for affordable housing by almost 18%; partnered to increase rental subsidies for low income families by 42%; and collaborated to dramatically reduce the number of homeless families in motels. Prior to her work as Undersecretary, Chrystal was President and Chief Executive Officer at Urban Edge, one of New England’s largest community development corporations. She is credited with leading the organization’s financial transformation, resulting in a $3 million increase in the Agency’s net asset position. Chrystal serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the National Housing Trust and is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s Advisory Committee. Chrystal holds a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Hunter College.

Larry DiCara is among Boston’s most recognized attorneys and civic leaders. A frequent speaker at colleges, universities and other venues, as well as a regular go-to source in Boston media, Larry has taught at Harvard, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. Larry practices real estate and administrative law and has been intimately involved with the development process in and around Boston for more than 40 years.

Mr. Ashleigh R. Simpson is a Director, and Head of North East Acquisitions at MetLife Real Estate. Ashleigh was instrumental in completing $5bn of commercial real estate investments nationally including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C and Denver. Ashleigh successfully led teams during significant expansion periods at leading public and private real estate platforms. Ashleigh attended the University of Maryland, majoring in Political Science and Philosophy. He received a Masters in Real Estate Finance from the Georgetown University. Ashleigh is a United States Marine Corps veteran. Ashleigh most recently Chaired MetLife’s Military Veteran Network (MVET), Investments Chapter and a champion for service veterans.

Tim Phair is Co-Founder and Managing Principal at L3 Capital. Tim helps oversee all aspects of the firm with a particular focus on acquisitions and capital markets activities nationwide. Since inception, Tim has helped the L3 Capital team acquire and operate a first-class portfolio of assets in Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Manhattan and Miami. Tim’s career started in Chicago real estate with a focus on large office properties at former Chicago-based REITS TrizecHahn Properties and Equity Office Properties. Following his analyst positions at those firms he worked in retail acquisitions at Transwestern Investment Company prior to co-founding L3 Capital in 2009. Tim’s professional affiliations include memberships of the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is a Type I Diabetic and serves on the Illinois Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Tim holds a BA in Economics from Boston College where he enjoyed mild success as a Division I soccer player. He is also married and a proud father of three children.

David is a Managing Director in LaSalle’s U.S. Acquisitions Group. In this role, he leads office and retail acquisitions for the firm with a primary geographic focus on the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis and Texas markets and has completed over $4 billion in transactions across a variety of markets, property types and risk profiles. David leads all phases of the deal origination process, including sourcing, market research, underwriting, structuring, negotiation, due diligence and closing. David joined LaSalle in 2004 and his experience includes direct property acquisitions, development and forward commitments, as well as arranging joint ventures, recapitalizations, entity-level purchases, loan assumptions and other heavily structured transactions. David holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Colgate University. He is active in numerous industry organizations including Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers and NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

John is a Director of Development for The HYM Investment Group, LLC and brings 12 years of experience in commercial real estate development, acquisitions, underwriting, and permitting. Currently, John leads several of HYM's new business and development efforts, most notably Bulfinch Crossing: a $2+ Billion, multi-phased redevelopment of Boston’s Government Center Garage. John played a key role in the early stages of the redevelopment by obtaining permits and approvals for 2.9 million square feet of new development for the project – one of the largest ever entitled in the City of Boston. John continues to oversee the day-to-day execution of Bulfinch Crossing, and led the recent efforts on significant project milestones, including: a $180 million refinancing of the existing asset and the commencement of the project’s first phase – a 45-story residential tower – which recently closed its $250 Million construction loan. Also while at HYM, John was a key member of the HYM team that completed one of the largest land sale transactions in Greater Boston’s history at NorthPoint (now Cambridge Crossing). Prior to HYM, John served in various project management roles for Suffolk Construction on large-scale projects in the Greater Boston area which totaled over $600 Million in construction costs. John is a proud father of three boys, but remains civically engaged: he is a member of the outreach council for Heading Home, sits on the Board of Directors for the South Boston Community Development Fund, and is former-executive committee member for the American Cancer Society’s “Coaches vs. Cancer” events. John is a graduate of The College of Holy Cross – where he sits on the Board of Directors for its alumni association – and earned an MBA from Boston University School of Management.

Gemma Sanders Geldmacher is a Senior Director and loan originator specializing in multifamily debt financing, with a specialty focus on affordable and HUD/FHA transactions. Prior to her originations career, Gemma was a Fannie Mae and FHA underwriter for over 10 years, most recently as part of Berkadia’s FHA underwriting management team and loan committee. Her well-rounded commercial real estate experience also includes stints at a bridge/mezzanine lender, a property management firm, and real estate consulting. She resides in Hingham, Massachusetts with her husband, adorable daughter, and once she has a house plant that lives more than a year, she might break down and get a dog as well.