LA Downtown Renaissance

As a founding partner and CFO of Callahan Capital Properties, Mike Colleran oversees all aspects of finance, tax, treasury, accounting and reporting. Drawing upon his extensive finance, investment and development experience in both public and private real estate firms, Mike serves as a key advisor on complex investment and structuring strategies. Prior to CCP, Mike was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Trizec Properties, Inc. (NYSE: “TRZ”) where he led all finance, accounting, tax and reporting activities.

Kenneth T. Lombard, President & CEO, is responsible for the overall direction of BRIDGE Housing, a leading nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing. He joined BRIDGE in November 2021. Over a career that spans three decades, Mr. Lombard has garnered extensive experience in business development, management, investment banking, economic development, corporate expansion and real estate investment. Mr. Lombard joins BRIDGE from Seritage Growth Properties (NYSE: SRG), where he served most recently as Special Advisor; he was an original Board member when Seritage went public in 2015 and subsequently served as Seritage’s EVP and COO. Seritage is a self-administered and self-managed REIT with properties totaling approximately 39 million square feet of space across 49 states and Puerto Rico. Earlier, Mr. Lombard was President of MacFarlane Partners, an investment management firm that acquires, develops and manages real estate assets on behalf of pensions and institutional investors. Prior to joining MacFarlane Partners, Mr. Lombard served as Vice Chairman, Partner and head of investments for Capri Capital Partners, and President of the Capri Urban Fund, which invested in more than $1 billion in commercial, residential and mixed-use development, redevelopment and repositioning projects in densely populated urban markets of the U.S. From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Lombard was President of Starbucks Entertainment, where he managed the collaboration with Concord Music to form a new Starbucks music label. In 1992, Mr. Lombard co-founded Johnson Development Corporation and spent 12 years as the President and Partner of the firm, creating a legacy of economic improvement in underserved communities of color in 65 cities and 17 states. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Washington.

As Partner, Development, Neils Cotter oversees Carmel Partners’ Southern California development projects with flexibility and creativity. He has 15 years of experience in identifying growth opportunities and executing focused business strategies. Prior to joining Carmel in 2012, Mr. Cotter was Vice President of Acquisitions and Asset Management for Matteson Companies, where he led acquisition, disposition, and asset management activities in Southern California, Las Vegas, and Denver. He was also the Acquisitions and Development Director for real estate developer, Intracorp Southern California. Previously, Mr. Cotter was a Captain in the United States Air Force. Mr. Cotter received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration degree from INSEAD.

As SVP, Mr. Andersen focuses on Multifamily development opportunities throughout Southern California, Northern California and Arizona. Currently, Jim is responsible for a portfolio of over 4000 units in various stages of processing. Prior to joining Trammell Crow Company, Mr. Andersen served as the President of NMS Properties, leading the organization from 2008 when his tenure began as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, through June, 2013. A 29-year real estate industry veteran, Mr. Andersen oversaw all aspects of NMS Properties from finance and asset management to development. Prior to joining NMS Properties, Mr. Andersen spent 12 years as Senior Vice President and Partner at Legacy Partners where he was responsible for operations, acquisitions and development activities in the Southern California, Nevada and Arizona markets. Prior to Legacy Partners, Mr. Andersen served as Chief Financial Officer for Bay Apartment Communities, a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust, and the predecessor to Avalon Bay. Mr. Andersen also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Trammell Crow Company’s Northwest Region. Mr. Andersen holds a B.S. Degree from Loyola Marymount University. He is a member of Urban Land Institute (ULI).

David Hart is the President and CEO of Steinberg Hart, an international Architecture, Interiors, and Planning firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 1953, the firm’s seven offices focus on higher education, urban mixed-use residential, performing and visual arts, hospitality, government, civic and commercial projects. David developed Steinberg Hart’s reputation as a leader in Higher Education through the design of inspirational, sustainable projects that shape the way students learn and socialize for institutions such as Stanford, UCLA, and USC. He now leads the firm’s large-scale mixed-use practice in urban cores, with projects such as Los Angeles’ Vision on Wilshire and San Jose’s Miro Towers. Leveraging his experience working with public agencies, institutions, builders, and developers, he works to advance complex public-private-partnership projects with an emphasis on responsible density, affordability, community impact and value creation for clients. As a thought leader, David speaks regularly at conferences both nationally and locally, including Greenbuild, P3C, SCUP, Educause, and NACUBO, and he has been tapped by publications such as GlobeSt, Monocle, the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and Bloomberg CityLab for his insights on design and urban issues of our time. David serves on the ULI Urban Revitalization Council, the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics Policy Advisory Board at the University of California at Berkeley, the Los Angeles Business Council Board of Directors, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Mr. Robert Sonnenblick, Principal of Sonnenblick, LLC, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania with more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of real estate and real estate finance. From 1981 to 1991 Mr. Sonnenblick was the driving force and power behind Sonnenblick-Goldman Corporation of California. Mr. Sonnenblick completed over $1.5 Billion of commercial real estate transactions on the West Coast and as a result is regarded as one of the West Coast’s leaders in the field of commercial real estate. Among the more notable projects for which Mr. Sonnenblick personally structured the financing for are The Beaudry Center, Los Angeles, California ($197 million), the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Pasadena, California ($97 million), One Waterfront Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii ($100 million), and the Los Angeles World Trade Center, Los Angeles, California ($55 million). In 1991 Mr. Sonnenblick was appointed Director of Development for the New Jersey and L.A. MetroMalls, with the responsibility for oversight and direction of the design, financing and leasing programs for two proposed $250 million enclosed regional malls totaling 1.2 million Sq. Ft. each. Mr. Sonnenblick personally oversaw more than 1 million Sq. Ft. of leases in connection with this position as well as arranging the necessary debt and equity financing. The New Jersey project opened to one of the strongest starts in the history of the United States mall industry. In addition, Mr. Sonnenblick was an original development partner of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. This 360-room, $90 million hotel was recently sold for $125 million. Prior to forming Sonnenblick Development, LLC, Mr. Sonnenblick was the senior partner in a Los Angeles-based real estate development firm (Sonnenblick Del Rio Development) which specialized in public-private partnerships, specifically the development of four major government-leased office buildings throughout the Los Angeles basin. During this tenure, Mr. Sonnenblick successfully developed nearly 1 million square feet of government leased buildings, occupied by such tenants as U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Mr. Sonnenblick is a frequent speaker at various real estate-related functions, such as those hosted by Deloitte Touche, ICSC, Value Retail News, Crittenden, USC, UCLA Real Estate Program, IMN Real Estate Conferences and the Institute for International Research, The Opal Group, iGlobal Forum Group, Globe Street/Realshare Conferences and Bloomberg Conferences. Mr. Sonnenblick is a member of the Advisory Board of the Golf Development Institute, a member of the Board of Real Estate Council of the Century City Chamber of Commerce and is a published author on subjects ranging from architecture to general real estate market conditions. In addition to Mr. Sonnenblick’s expertise in development, finance, joint ventures and equity structuring, Mr. Sonnenblick has also been certified as an expert in the area of real estate bankruptcy/foreclosure. Mr. Sonnenblick is a qualified expert witness in the area of Commercial Real Estate Finance and Interest Rates for the United States Federal Court System in numerous jurisdictions.

Jon has been an executive in and advisor to companies making the world happier, healthier and wiser -- and he has a special combination of experience as Co-Founder & Co-CEO of a greylock-backed start-up (Guru.com, a pioneer in the online human capital space, ultimately acquired by Kronos), leader in the F500 world (VP/GM EA SPORTS Active Fitness & VP/GM Global ecommerce @ Electronic Arts), COO/Advisor for mid-market consumer wellness leaders (Rodan + Fields, Perricone MD), and as an advisor to consumer & health-tech innovators (The Bar Method, Peach, Trumaker, Zeel, Greatist, CellScope, etc.). Jon is currently the GM for the West @ WeWork. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he hosted the school’s daily news broadcast. When he’s not working he chases his three little ones around with his wife Lexi.

Matthew (Matt) Ahrens leads Rising's acquisitions activities, including sourcing, underwriting, financing, and closing transactions. Since joining Rising, Matt has closed more than 4 million square feet of opportunistic investments in Southern California with a total capitalization of nearly $1 billion. Prior to joining Rising, Matt worked for Principal Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment subsidiary of the The Principal Financial Group. While at Principal, Matt was involved in the securitization of more than 200 commercial real estate loans with a total loan balance of more than $1 billion. In a subsequent role, Matt provided investment credit analysis on a $7 billion portfolio of commercial mortgage backed securities. Matt has Bachelor of Science degrees in Finance and Accounting from Iowa State University, and a Master's Degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California. Matt is an active member of NAIOP and the Pension Real Estate Association.

Jonathan is a member of Avison Young’s Global Leadership Team. Jonathan is the leader of Avison Young’s West Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Tri Cities and Ventura County operations in Southern California while continuing his focus on Downtown Los Angeles and maintaining two offices in downtown Los Angeles and West Los Angeles to better serve his clients. In this role, he oversees delivery of all services to clients, develops new business and recruits additional talent to enhance local service offerings. A real estate executive with over 3 1 years of experience, he has been recognized on numerous occasions as a top broker by CoStar and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Jonathan specializes in representing tenants for all their office and industrial real estate needs, and he is an expert in various types of transactions such as leasing, sale/leasebacks and investment sales throughout the United States. Before joining Avison Young, Jonathan was the Regional Managing Principal and served on the Board of Directors for Cassidy Turley. Jonathan also started and oversaw the brokerage group for the West region of Transwestern and served on the company’s Board of Directors. Prior to working at Transwestern, he launched, managed, and operated the profitable Los Angeles office of Trammell Crow Company (TCC) as a Principal, where he consistently ranked in the top 5 percent of TCC brokers nationally. Prior to TCC, he was a First Vice President at CBRE and ranked in the top 10 percent nationally.

Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Downtown Center BID, is known as DTLA’s biggest champion. Before she landed in DTLA, she was an SVP at the California League of Savings Institutions and then deputy regional director for the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp, where she oversaw the liquidation of billions of dollars in assets of failed savings institutions in the 12 western states. The most rewarding part of her job these days is touting the success of DTLA’s transformation. “Being a pivotal player in Downtown’s complete transformation has given me the greatest satisfaction,” she says. The possibilities are endless in DTLA, according to Carol. She sees construction costs and land prices as challenges developers face as a result of the progress that has been made. “We’ve become a victim of our own success,” she says. Carol also has concerns about the “misguided” anti-development legislation now being tossed around. She advises women and others getting started in the industry to “trust your instincts, and don’t take no for an answer." Away from the office, she enjoys the opera and theater as well as traveling, hiking and swimming.

Daniel Atwater is the Senior Manager of Public Relations for Oceanwide Plaza LLC, where he oversees PR strategy for Oceanwide Holdings’ U.S. real estate flagship, an over $1 billion-dollar project with nearly 1.5 million square feet of mix-used development. In this capacity, Daniel manages representation of corporate affairs, community relations and retail for Oceanwide Plaza’s residential and commercial offerings. Daniel’s passion for inclusive economic development includes 12 years of operations and business development experience representing clients and organizational portfolios in public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Before joining Oceanwide Plaza, Daniel founded Atwater Strategies, a public relations, marketing and diversity consulting firm for clients in real estate, financial services and technology. Prior experience includes positions at The Pollack PR Marketing Group, the University of Southern California, Combined Properties, the City of Los Angeles’ Asset Management Division, Sentient Communications, and Pat Tobin and Associates.

Commissioner Steve Soboroff was appointed to the Board of Police Commissioners by Mayor Eric Garcetti in August of 2013. At that time, he was elected President of the Los Angeles Police Commission by his fellow Police Commissioners. After serving the maximum of two consecutive years as President, he was elected Vice President in 2015. Commissioner Soboroff has long been known as a business leader and public servant who brings people together to get positive results. He is past Chairman and CEO of Playa Vista, and current Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Weingart Foundation. He is a senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Policy, a member of the Board of Councilors to the USC School of Public Policy, and the Chairman of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at LMU. He is a member of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. Commissioner Soboroff was the Senior Advisor to the California Science Center in its project with NASA to bring to, and permanently exhibit the Space Shuttle Endeavour in, Los Angeles. He is Chairman of the Maccabiah Games "Committee of 18" and is the world's foremost collector of typewriters that were previously owned by famous individuals. Commissioner Soboroff is the Chairperson of the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. He is also a Senior Fellow and member of the Advisory Board at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and is a member of the Board of Councilors at the USC Price School of Public Policy. He served as Senior Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, and was Chair of the $2.4 billion LAUSD Bond Citizens' Oversight Committee that made safety and other improvements to over 700 schools. Commissioner Soboroff was the driving force behind bringing Staples Center to Los Angeles and helped spearhead the Alameda Corridor Project, and he finished within 3% in the 2001 mayoral primary election in Los Angeles. Commissioner Soboroff served as President of the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission has a strong track record for creating, improving and protecting open space and park land for city residents. He served as president of the L.A. Recreation and Parks Commission from 1995 to 2001, reinvigorating the city's park system to better meet the recreational needs of the people of Los Angeles. Mayor Villaraigosa dedicated the SOBOROFF SPORTS FIELD complex adjacent to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park, and the STEVE SOBOROFF COURT PARK opened in 2011 in Playa Vista. Active in Big Brothers since 1968, Commissioner Soboroff currently sits as a member of the Board of Governors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. He has lectured and/or taught at UCLA, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Arizona and Loyola Marymount University and volunteers his time to mentor several university students annually. Commissioner Soboroff resides in Pacific Palisades with his wife Patti and they have five children.

Matthew Ellis runs the acquisition and capital markets group at MWest Holdings, where he is responsible for the acquisition, disposition, and financing of the firm’s portfolio. Prior to joining MWest in early 2009, Mr. Ellis worked for Wachovia Securities in structured finance, originating over $5 billion in first-mortgage, bridge, mezzanine, preferred equity, and equity solutions.

Kate Bartolo has been involved in the Downtown (DTLA) resurgence for over two decades. Her DTLA-centric career spans her current land use and development consulting practice. It also includes time as a land use counsel/partner at The Kor Group, where she helped develop 1,500 residential units and over 100,000 square feet of retail. Kate got her start in land use as the aide to a former LA City Councilman. Subsequently, she worked as a retail broker with CBRE, specializing in downtown Los Angeles. Then and now, it is clear to Kate that sound creatively applied entitlements are essential to redevelopment efforts. She also knows that the creation of safe, vibrant neighborhoods, promotion of great design and balance between commerce and residential living are the very definition of why the Downtown Renaissance is thriving. To that end, her pro bono commitments included serving as a founder of one Business Improvement District (BID), the President of another BID and service on the board of a major homeless services provider. Kate’s land use and development portfolio spans hotels, restaurants, ground up mid and high rise projects and adaptive reuse projects. Some of her higher profile projects include The Eastern Columbia Lofts and Barker Block Lofts. Kate graduated with honors from UCLA and has taken extensive additional coursework in land use planning and real estate.