Future of the Far West Side

Jay Cross is President of Related Hudson Yards, leading the Related Companies’ development efforts of the 26-acre Hudson Yards site on the west side of New York City. Cross has over 30 years of diversified real estate and sports business experience having been a driving force behind the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, the American Airlines Arena in Miami and the Air Canada Centre, home for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Cross was formerly President of the New York Jets LLC where he was responsible for all business operations of the NFL team, including finance, marketing, community relations, broadcast and game operations and the team’s 50% share in the New Meadowlands Stadium a joint venture with the New York Giants. Cross joined the Jets in 2000 from the Miami Heat of the NBA where he was the President of Business Operations and led the development of the America Airlines Arena, creating a public-private partnership between the Heat and Miami-Dade County to manage the project. In that role he also spearheaded a pioneering development program surrounding the arena that included multiple restaurants and an office tower, and closed on an unprecedented triple “A” $185 million bond offering. Cross also served as the point person for the development of the Air Canada Centre, home of Toronto's NBA and NHL franchises. Cross has held senior positions with Marlborough Properties Inc. where he was responsible for the company’s commercial and industrial portfolio, and at The Prudential Insurance Company of America's real estate investment operations, where he was responsible for all aspects of The Consilium, a mixed-use project in Toronto incorporating 2 million sf of office space, a 400-room hotel and 1,000 condominiums. An accomplished sailor, Cross has been a member of three Canadian Olympic Teams and won 10 World, North American and National titles. Cross holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree in Architectural Technology from Columbia University.

Mitchel Simpler joined Jaros, Baum & Bolles in 1977, and has served as Managing Partner since 2012.  Mr. Simpler has served as Project Manager and Partner in Charge on a wide variety of high-rise office buildings, corporate headquarters, laboratories, museums, data centers, residential buildings and mixed-use buildings as well as hotels. Some of Mr. Simpler’s notable projects include premier laboratory facilities and research centers, such as the new Memorial Inpatient Hospital for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Belfer Research Building at Weill Cornell Medical College, and the Rohm & Haas Research Center in Shanghai, China.  His experience also includes corporate headquarters such as Sohio headquarters in Cleveland, OH for BP America and Merck world headquarters in Readington, NJ.  Mr. Simpler has also managed the construction of landmark museums and visual art spaces such as the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is currently working on the TWA Hotel, the reimagination of Eero Saarinen’s landmark TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport as well as the new One Vanderbilt Tower in midtown. Mr. Simpler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.  He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York and a Fellow of the American Council of Engineering Companies.