Jersey City & Hoboken State of the Market

Over the past 25 years, Bernel Hall has executed over $5 billion in real estate investment, lending, and disposition transactions for multifamily, retail, office, and hotel properties in 36 states throughout the United States. A former investment banker, public housing executive, and real estate finance professor, Mr. Hall is an expert in large, multi-faceted public-private real estate transactions and small business transactions and executive leadership. As New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) President and CEO, Mr. Hall leads the largest Community Development Financial Institution in New Jersey with four business lines--Lending, Real Estate Development, Investment Ventures and Strategic Community Consulting--with approximately $700 million in assets under management. Loans and investments leveraged over $2.5 billion in capital to more than 120,000 business owners and residents in underserved and low- income communities in New Jersey, New York, and Florida. Additionally, Mr. Hall leads Community Asset Preservation Corporation (CAPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of NJCC, and the largest affordable housing development company in New Jersey with more than 600 units of housing and 500,000 square feet of commercial assets. CAPC’s capabilities include real estate development, property management, asset management, mortgage acquisition, and mortgage modification services in New Jersey, New York, and Florida. As President and CEO of Invest Newark, he established a proven track record of transformative leadership that resulted in wealth creation for underserved communities throughout New Jersey’s largest city. In partnership with his Board of Directors and Staff, Mr. Hall transformed Invest Newark into New Jersey’s premier economic development vehicle featuring the state’s only land bank, a municipally sponsored fiber optic company, an employee-owned industrial company, and an infrastructure investment fund. As CEO of Halltown Real Estate Advisors, Mr. Hall served as real estate investment advisor to some of the largest housing authorities in the country. As part of his tenure with the Atlanta Housing Authority (“AHA”), Mr. Hall established an $100 million co-investment vehicle between AHA, HUD, and the Atlanta Economic Development Authority (“Invest Atlanta”). During his tenure with the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”), he oversaw the execution of over $1.5 billion in real estate disposition, development, and joint venture transactions. Previously, Mr. Hall worked in Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group where he was responsible for sourcing and evaluating urban-based multifamily, retail, and mixed-use real estate private equity investments. Prior to his work at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Hall executed $785 million in real estate acquisitions, loans, and joint ventures transactions for UBS Investment Bank. Mr. Hall began his career with Bank of America in the firm’s Construction Lending and Real Estate Investment Banking Groups. Mr. Hall is a licensed Uniform Investment Advisor (Series 7, 65) and possesses a Bachelor of Science from North Carolina State University and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He sits on the community development and new market tax credit advisory boards of PNC Financial and Goldman Sachs, respectively. He also holds a certification from the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Bobby Shamsian is a leader in the acquisitions efforts at Kushner Real Estate Group (KRE). He has over 22 years of acquisitions and financial experience. During the last 9 years at KRE, Mr. Shamsian has been responsible for the acquisition and disposition of 3,000 value-add multifamily units valued of over $750 million, land acquisitions of $375 million to develop over 6,300 units, and debt financings of over $1.2 billion. Prior to KRE, Mr. Shamsian’s experience has been in M&A investment banking and advisory working at Deloitte, KPMG, and Susquehanna International Group in many asset classes including real estate, technology, financials, and consumer products. Mr. Shamsian graduated cum laude from the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business.

Tom is a Managing Director in the New Jersey office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. Mr. Didio has been in the commercial real estate industry for nearly 10 years, including 2 years as Vice President with CBRE Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance’s New Jersey office, 4 years in an underwriting / origination role with Freddie Mac Multifamily and 4 years with a NY private equity family office specializing in sourcing, underwriting, structuring and financing commercial real estate transactions. During his career, Mr. Didio has executed in excess of 100 transactions totaling more than $2.0 billion in volume throughout the United States, with a strong focus on the NY/NJ/CT Tri-State area. Mr. Didio obtained his Masters of Science in Real Estate Finance from New York University shortly after his undergraduate studies at Tufts University.

Mr. Wolfe is the Managing Partner in the Property Tax Department at Skoloff & Wolfe, PC, where he focuses his practice on representing taxpayers in significant real estate tax appeals and property tax related matters. He has extensive experience in all types of property tax appeals, including hotel, multi-family, retail, office, and industrial properties. Mr. Wolfe frequently counsels clients on the property tax implications of the development, acquisition, and disposition of significant assets. He also counsels clients with respect to property tax exemptions and PILOT agreements. Mr. Wolfe serves on the Board of the National Association of Property Tax Attorneys (NAPTA) and as the Co-Chair of the Real Property Tax Practice Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Mr. Wolfe has been featured or quoted in a wide variety of local and national publications, including Forbes.com, GlobeSt.com, Marketwatch.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Law.com, Law360.com, The New York Law Journal, and Commerce Magazine. Mr. Wolfe has a track record of obtaining significant assessment reductions on behalf of his clients. Examples of those assessment reductions include: • Reduced hotel assessment from $188 million to $131million; • Reduced multi-family assessment from $116 million to $67 million; • Reduced office assessment from $115.5 million to $90million; • Reduced supermarket anchored center from $66.9 million to $46 million; • Reduced nursing home assessment from $36 million to $10.1million; • Reduced big box retail assessment from $21.3 million to $13.4 million; • Reduced office assessment from $27.8 million to $6.5million. Mr. Wolfe began his career as an associate at the law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell in New York. While at Davis Polk, he focused his practice on regulatory investigations, securities litigation and banking disputes. Mr. Wolfe is a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and is the Co-Chair of the ABA’s Diversity & Inclusion 360 Presidential Commission. As a young lawyer, Mr. Wolfe served as the Chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division, the ABA’s largest entity with more than 130,000 members. Mr. Wolfe received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and graduated from Cornell University with distinction in all subjects.

Ravi S. Bhalla was elected Hoboken’s 39th Mayor on November 7, 2017. Born and raised in New Jersey, Mayor Bhalla is an 18 year resident of Hoboken and 8 year member of the Hoboken City Council. In his first few months in office, Mayor Bhalla has focused on improving the quality of life for Hoboken residents while prioritizing fiscal responsibility. He introduced a City budget with no municipal tax increase, maintained the City’s AA+ credit rating, continues to oversee the rehabilitation of Washington Street, formed a Homelessness task force, is pursuing affordable housing strategies, completed the design phase of Northwest Resiliency Park, secured more than $1 million in state transportation funding, and signed executive orders to expand parental leave benefits, invest in the arts, and protect the civil rights of immigrants and the LGBTQ community. Mayor Bhalla first set his roots in Hoboken at the age of 26, a bachelor fresh out of law school starting his first job at a small law firm in Newark, New Jersey. Mayor Bhalla earned national recognition in the New York Times for his legal advocacy after suffering a violation of his own constitutional and civil rights during a jail visit to a client. The incident motivated Mayor Bhalla to lead a successful campaign to reform the federal government’s visitation policies at correctional facilities nationwide. It was during this time that Hoboken’s local government was in dire straits. Mayor Bhalla observed and witnessed mismanaged government at the local level, including a government budget that was underfunded and overspent by $12 million, a state takeover of Hoboken, and a 70% spike in municipal taxes in a single year. These dire conditions motivated him to get off the sidelines and seek to reform city government by running for City Council in 2009. During this election, Mayor Bhalla was the highest vote-getter as a first time candidate, and remained on the City Council for 2 terms, from 2008 to 2017. During this time, Mayor Bhalla served as Council President from 2010-2011 and 2013-2014, and Council Vice-President from 2012-2013. Mayor Bhalla received his undergraduate education from the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a B.A. in Political Psychology. Upon graduation, he attended the London School of Economics (L.S.E.) in the United Kingdom and received a Master of Science degree in Public Administration and Public Policy, and also earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mayor Bhalla and his wife Bindya reside on Garden Street with their two children, Arza Kaur, age 11 and Shabegh Singh, age 6.

Michael Sommer is Chief Development Officer at Kushner. In this role, Sommer oversees development and construction efforts throughout the Kushner portfolio. During his 25 years of real estate experience, Sommer has developed in excess of 8 million square feet of residential, retail and office assets. Most notably, Sommer has managed the development of 4,000+ residential units in New Jersey. Prior to Kushner, Sommer was Senior Vice President of Development and Construction at Cedar Realty Trust, a NYSE listed retail REIT with a portfolio spanning from Washington, D.C. to Boston. Before Cedar, Sommer was Executive Vice President of Development at Edison Properties where he led the redevelopment of the award winning Ironside Newark in Newark, New Jersey. Sommer also served as Managing Director of Development at Advance Realty after having started his career at Premier Development. Sommer earned an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Business from Lafayette College.

Vincent is an adjunct professor at NJIT. He teaches courses on digital fabrication, modern housing, and high-rise design. Vincent earned his master’s degree in architecture from TU Delft, located in the Netherlands. His master’s thesis, a collaborative effort with Dutch faculty and MHS Architecture, involved designing a new city spanning 200 acres on restored land along the Jersey City waterfront. This ambitious project included over 100,000 new housing units and more than 65 million square feet of new real estate. Prior to this, Vincent obtained his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. His professional journey also includes time spent working in Germany. Professional Experience Vincent Marchetto is an NCARB-certified architect licensed in New Jersey and Florida. He is an expert in multi-family design and is the project manager on a series of high-rise projects. Vincent enjoys standing at the intersection of art and science, always looking for interesting ways to blend beautiful design with logical layouts. Previously a board member of the Journal Square Community Association and part of NJTPA’s UpNext focus group for NJ’s 2050 long-range transportation plan, Vince has successfully presented projects for approval at Jersey City, Newark, Woodbridge, and Hoboken, NJ planning boards. Certifications/Licenses • New Jersey State Board of Architects • Florida Board of Architecture & Interior Design • Colorado State Board of Architects Professional Affiliations • American Institute of Architects • Florida Board of Architecture & Interior Design • Colorado State Board of Architects • Journal Square Community Association

Jose is a senior managing director and co-office head in the New Jersey office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. He joins JLL as part of the HFF acquisition and is a member of the firm’s leadership committee. Jose specializes in investment advisory throughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and also oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm’s New Jersey office. During the course of his more than 25-year commercial real estate career, he’s been involved in more than $62 billion of office, industrial, retail, multifamily and land sales. Jose started at HFF in March 2010. Before that, he was the executive director of Cushman & Wakefield’s New York area investment sales group where he spent more than 17 years. He began his real estate career as a real estate analyst at PaineWebber, UBS, Inc.