Opportunity Zones Denver

Celeste Tanner is the co-founder and chief development officer of Confluent Development. Bringing nearly 20 years of industry experience, she established the full-service real estate investment and development firm to bring a new vision of development within the industry to life. In her role, she steers the firm’s execution across all phases of real estate development, successfully delivering custom and complex projects that create significant value in their respective communities. Since the company’s inception in 2014, Celeste has overseen more than $1.5 billion in development projects across the organization’s diverse portfolio, consisting of more than 100 industrial, office, retail, mixed-use and senior housing development projects. Under Celeste’s guidance, Confluent has delivered award-winning projects and works with some of the country’s most sophisticated clients including Target, FedEx, Starbucks, Mikron Corporation, Vectra Bank, and Charter Communications, among others. In her previous role as director of real estate development at Opus Development Company, Celeste led the real estate project team for its Denver office and played a key role in the ground-up development of more than 5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family space. Celeste holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Denver, is an alumnus of the Downtown Denver Partnership Leadership Program, and has been awarded for her outstanding achievements from organizations such as The Denver Business Journal, CREW, NAIOP Colorado and Bisnow. Giving Back in Business and Community Celeste has represented the development industry both locally and nationally through her leadership in NAIOP, where she previously served as the chapter president for Colorado. Currently an executive committee member on NAIOP’s national board, she provides a voice for Colorado’s development industry at the national table. Celeste also contributes her leadership well beyond the industry and into the community. She serves on the board of Wheat Ridge Localworks, where she contributes her industry expertise to help implement the organization’s business and home improvement loan programs, among others, focused on enhancing the city’s economic vitality and neighborhood revitalization. Celeste also represents District I as a member in Renewal Wheat Ridge (RWR), an Urban Renewal Authority committed to improving the visual aesthetics and environmental aspects of Wheat Ridge, meanwhile adhering to the wants and needs of the community.

Adam Cohen provides strategic advice to clients about the tax aspects of structuring the formation, acquisition, disposition, operation, and liquidation of businesses, with a principal focus on fund formation. He is a vital member of fund formation, corporate, merger and acquisition, master limited partnership, and real estate deal teams, working closely with other lawyers in the firm to achieve clients’ transactional goals. Adam counsels a number of funds focused on investing in various sectors of the economy, including hedge funds, venture capital funds, oil and gas funds, and real estate funds. He has published a number of papers on the emerging area of “qualified opportunity funds.” Adam has sophisticated expertise counseling clients on renewable energy and low-income housing tax credit projects and he is a sought-after, industry-leading speaker on the topics of opportunity zones, renewable energy tax incentives, and partnerships. Adam is a quarterly columnist for the Journal of Passthrough Entities and he co-chairs the firm’s MLP and Multifamily and Affordable Housing Development practices.

John Tayer is the President and CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. John served over a decade at Corden Pharma Colorado (formerly Roche Colorado Corporation) in various executive public affairs and community relations positions and is a former member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, as well as a former Board Chair. Prior to Corden, John worked directly for the city manager of Boulder as its Director of Policy Development and Intergovernmental Affair Coordinator. John began his career in Washington as a Congressional Aide to U.S. Senator Brock Adams. John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a J. D. from the University of Colorado School of Law. John recently resigned his position as a Director of the Regional Transportation District, representing the Boulder area.

Liz Hanson is the President of Hanson Business Strategies. Liz is a planning and business consultant who works with small and large companies, developers, and non-profit organizations to solve their land use and development challenges. Prior to 2016, Liz worked for the City of Boulder for 30 years as the City of Boulder’s Customer Experience Manager, Economic Vitality Coordinator, and Interim Development Review Manager. As a senior planner for the planning department, Liz served as the city’s case manager for many commercial developments including Twenty Ninth Street and the St. Julien Hotel and Spa. A resident of Boulder since 1982 and a Forever Buff (a Bachelor of Environmental Design graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder), she’s married to Keith Hanson and they have two grown-up “kids.”

Jeremy Records founded Central Development in 2005 and he has successfully grown the company to over $550 million in development and acquisitions of office, industrial, retail, residential, multifamily, and hotel properties. Central Development has constructed facilities for companies including, Samuel Sons, FMC Technology, JR Butler, EdgeConnex, Applied Control Equipment, Gordon Holdings Corporate Head Quarters, Reglera, Reed Construction Data, and Colorado, Rincon Research, Carrier West, Amazon, and Plastic Surgery Center.

For more than 20 years, Scott has been immersed in Colorado’s real estate industry, gaining extensive experience in adding value to partners and the community for a variety of project types, including market-rate housing, affordable housing, office and mixed-use development. Previously, Scott served as a commissioner of the Boulder Housing Authority. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and he is also an active member of the Urban Land Institute. Today, Scott leads Element’s efforts to source, underwrite, entitle and produce excellent project results for stakeholders. Scott garnered a B.A. in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and also attended the London School of Economics.

Doug Elenowitz is a principal of Trailbreak Partners, an alternative investment and advisory firm that focuses on acquiring control positions in smaller profitable companies and investing in and developing real estate in Colorado. Doug is an expert in urban redevelopment having managed the origination, structuring, and execution of urban infill and environmentally complex real estate developments across the United States for nearly two decades. In Denver, Doug oversaw redevelopment of the former St. Anthony Central Hospital, a 19 acre TOD urban mixed use development and redevelopment of the ASARCO Globe Smelter; a challenging public private partnership and one of Denver area’s most significant remediation and urban redevelopment projects. He is an expert in public finance having originated more than $30 million in financings including tax increment financing agreements, metropolitan districts, HUD Section 108 loans, and federal and local grants. Currently Doug is developing a 7-acre Transit Oriented Development (TOD) project in Lakewood, Colorado, a mixed-use/mixed-income project on Sloans Lake in Denver, and serves as Owners Representative to the Master Developer of the Clear Creek Transit Village, a 21-acre mixed-use TOD site in Unincorporated Adams County, Colorado. Doug holds a B.S. in Environmental Health from the University of Georgia and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado. He is a member of the ULI Urban and Mixed Use Development Council, the Denver Public Schools Bond and Mil Levy Oversight Committee, is a Real Estate Diversity Initiative (REDI) Mentor, and is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Denver. Doug is married with a son and daughter and lives in Denver.

Mr. Cutter is currently Senior Managing Director, overseeing Legacy’s Colorado’s activities. His 25 years of real estate experience in Colorado is varied, and encompasses multiple sides of the multifamily market. Mr. Cutter’s background is in design, spending 18 years owning and managing an architectural firm centered on housing, followed by two years developing on-campus housing for small universities in the Midwest with Knosis LLC. In his 7 years with Legacy, Mr. Cutter has overseen project completions in The Golden Triangle, City of Denver and Westminster. Currently Legacy has over 1,200 units in the pipeline including Legacy at Fitz (Aurora), Araceli DTC (Denver Tech Center), Legacy Metro 525 (Aurora), and 2040 S. Colorado Blvd (Denver). Mr. Cutter earned dual degrees in Architecture and Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Scott is a Tax partner in the Dallas office of KPMG’s Southwest Business Tax Services practice. He has over 25 years of experience serving real estate, hospitality and energy clients. Scott has extensive experience within the real estate opportunity fund area. His experience includes structuring partnership agreements to ensure they have the intended economic result, structuring acquisitions to minimize unrelated business income tax and meet the fractions rule requirements, and debt restructuring and modifications. Scott has significant experience with federal tax compliance and planning including running many large compliance jobs, assisting in financial audit support, provision review and FIN 48 documentation support. Scott also focuses on qualified opportunity funds, including structuring acquisitions. Scott serves as the DFW subject matter expert advising KPMG professionals and clients on Qualified Opportunity Zones.

As a member of the real estate team, Tasha navigates clients through real estate transactions from contract to closing. She assists clients with acquisitions and dispositions, entitlements, easements, condominium development, and title-related matters. Tasha specializes in commercial leasing, representing both landlords and tenants in leasing office, retail, and industrial properties. Tasha also focuses her practice on real estate brokerage license law. She advises clients regarding compliance with Colorado Real Estate Commission rules and regulations, and represents real estate professionals in administrative actions before the Colorado Real Estate Commission. Tasha further assists clients in resolving real estate disputes, including quiet title and contract disputes. Tasha lives in Boulder with her husband and two children, and enjoys spending time with her family, running, reading, cooking, and watching footb