Multifamily-Residential Outlook

Michael Mintz is the CEO and Founder of MD Squared Property Group, a New York City based residential property management firm. Prior to founding MD2 Property Group, Michael was the Acquisitions Manager and a Senior Property Manager at FirstService Residential New York, LLC (formerly Cooper Square Realty, Inc.), managing properties and locating investment opportunities for the principals of FirstService. At MD Squared, Michael uses his management, investment and development knowledge to create and implement asset repositioning plans including, tenant relocations, renovations and building improvements and violation removal in order to maximize value for owners and enhance resident experiences. MD Squared manages over 25 properties with over 500 units. Michael has experience in high-end and affordable housing including rent-stabilized units in the rental, co-op and condo markets. Michael graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Economics and has real estate licenses in both Washington DC and New York. Michael grew up in Minneapolis, MN.

In 2010 Michael Feldman & Benjamin Bottner founded Choice New York with a simple premise: to create a third party Property & Asset Management Company that provides a superior level of service, expertise and financial performance to Property Owners. At inception, the company had zero clients. Today, Choice New York Management and affiliated companies claim hundreds of Property Owners as clients and have just under 2 Billion Dollars of Assets under active Management. Mr. Feldman’s role has continued to evolve with the companies continued growth. In true start up form, Mr. Feldman has performed virtually every single function at the company in the past. Today, Mr. Feldman focuses his day to day activities on business development, brand awareness strategy, staff recruitment, talent retention, and select client advisory engagements. Prior to co-founding Choice New York Management, Mr. Feldman was a Managing Director at AFC Realty Capital, a boutique commercial real estate investment bank. There, he focused on the securing of debt and equity on multi-family, retail and office transactions throughout the United States. Prior to AFC, he was a Senior Private Banker with Indymac Bank. Mr. Feldman is regularly asked to speak on an array of real estate topics. He periodically teaches a continuing education class for attorneys called, “Receiverships and Bankruptcies” for the National Law Institute. He also teaches a continuing education course for Real Estate Brokers titled, “Commercial Property Management,” as an adjunct instructor for the Real Estate Board of New York. Additionally, he has served as a private consultant for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as well as a counselor to individual members in the United States Congress House of Representatives Financial Committee, whereupon he provides practical evaluations of various mechanisms by which Federal policy can impact local real estate. Mr. Feldman has served as a hired consultant for the prominent Venture Capital Company called Pre-Hype, where he counsels the technology based software company on the operational efficiencies within the property management industry. Mr. Feldman’s memberships and professional affiliations include being Director of the Board of Managers of the Cast Iron Corporation, Treasurer of the Real Estate Services Alliance (RESA), and he is a licensed New York State Real Estate Broker. Mr. Feldman takes special pride in his ongoing role on the Board of Rising Realty Stars, a non-profit aimed at placing the best and brightest young professionals from urban, impoverished backgrounds into internships and entry level positions within the Commercial Real Estate industry. Mr. Feldman’s formal education was at the University of Rochester where he earned a BA in Political Science. He was a 1997 recipient of the University’s prestigious Rush Rhees Scholarship, awarded for outstanding scholastic achievement.

Timothy Oberweger, Esq. is Managing Director and Counsel at TitleVest, a wholly owned subsidiary and direct division of First American National Title Insurance Company. In this role, he focuses on generating title business both in New York and nationwide. Timothy has more than 10 years of experience at leading national title insurance companies in the areas of commercial, retail, energy, industrial, hotel, gaming, office, multi-family and residential real estate transactions. Timothy received a B.S. from Macalester College in 1996. He graduated in 2005 with a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School, where he is currently a director of the Alumni Association and member of the Recent Alumni Council. He is admitted to practice law in Connecticut, New York and the Supreme Court of the United States, and is a member of the New York State and New York City Bar associations. Beyond his title experience, Oberweger is an active participant in the real estate community. He is a founding member of the Real Estate Services Alliance, which serves as a single source for the many transaction services needed by real estate owners. Additionally, he is chairman of the Young Mortgage Bankers Association, sits on the steering committee of the Real Estate Executives Council of the United Jewish Appeal - Federation of New York and is a voting member of the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting in his hometown of Greenwich, Conn.

Ralph Herzka is the chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital Group. Since co-founding the commercial real estate advisory firm in 1991, Mr. Herzka has remained the guiding force behind the company’s evolution from a small Brooklyn-based commercial mortgage brokerage to a national leader in real estate capital markets, having personally arranged over $100 billion in financing. Additionally, Mr. Herzka has led Meridian’s recent expansion into New York City investment sales and retail leasing in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Mr. Herzka demonstrates an exceptional ability to foster multi-generational relationships with real estate owners and investors and forms critical alliances with lenders to achieve success across the asset spectrum. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, and the International Council of Shopping Centers. In addition to his professional leadership, Mr. Herzka is a dedicated philanthropist, raising millions of dollars for various organizations over his career. Most notably, he is a passionate participant of Bike4Chai, an annual 180-mile cycling fundraiser for children fighting pediatric illnesses and disabilities. Mr. Herzka is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY. He and his wife are proud parents and grandparents.

Drew Fletcher is head of Greystone Capital Advisors where he oversees a team of professionals responsible for arranging creative debt and equity solutions for institutional and private commercial property owners and developers, and provides strategic advisory services for institutions, investors and borrowers. GCA also focuses on large loan mortgage origination across Greystone’s Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, Bridge, balance-sheet and special situation lending platforms. Drew has over 20 years of commercial real estate experience, having directly originated and executed on more than $10 billion of financing transactions. Prior to joining Greystone in 2013, Drew was the Chief Financial Officer of Edison Properties LLC, one of the largest private real estate owners in New York City, with a $5 billion diversified portfolio of self-storage, office, multifamily and substantial land holdings throughout the NY Metro Region. Drew received a B.A. in Economics and Communications from Wake Forest University; an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University; and a Master of Accountancy in Taxation from Rutgers University. He volunteers his time as a guest lecturer at the NYU Real Estate Institute and also is an active member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Urban Land Institute. Drew also was named to the Commercial Observer’s 50 Most Powerful People in Commercial Real Estate Finance in 2018.

RJ Guttroff is a managing director who is focused on originations for the Hunt Mortgage Groups proprietary lending business. Mr. Guttroff joined Hunt Mortgage Group from Barclays where he was most recently a senior originator. He oversaw a team at Barclays that originated over $1.5B nationally for the CMBS lending platform. With over 15 years of real estate finance experience he has worked for EuroHypo, Nomura and UBS. RJ is a graduate from the University of Vermont and the New York University Real Estate Institute.

Chad Tredway is a Managing Director and the Head of the East Region (New York, Boston and DC) for Chase Commercial Term Lending (CTL) and is based in New York. Chad leads a team of over 150 people and is responsible for loan originations, strategic direction and the financial performance of the business. Chad also serves as the Fannie Mae DUS CEO for JPMorgan Chase and is the primary liaison to Fannie Mae for multifamily originations nationally. Chad is a columnist for the Commercial Observer and also publishes a quarterly thought leadership piece through JPMorgan Chase called “Chad’s Corner.” He was named by the Commercial Observer as one of the 50 most powerful people in real estate in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and in 2014, he was featured by the Commercial Observer as the top commercial mortgage broker or lender under 35. Chad serves as a mentor for the Chase Fellowship Initiative and sits on the board of directors for ArtsConnection and the Valley Economic Development Center. He graduated from Loyola University in Chicago and began his career in investment banking as an analyst in the M&A Group of a multinational financial services firm before joining JPMorgan Chase in 2008.

John Cannon joined Freddie Mac Multifamily in February 2012 as Senior Vice President, Multifamily Production and Sales where he serves as chief point person for our Program Plus® Seller network. John has over 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Prior to Freddie Mac, John was executive vice president with Berkadia Commercial Mortgage where he led the conventional mortgage banking network, GSE lending, proprietary lending, and investment sales platforms. In his last five years at Berkadia, they originated more than $86 billion in loans with a variety of capital sources, including Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, FHA/HUD, insurance companies, capital markets and other institutional lenders, and proprietary sources. Prior to his role with Berkadia, John held several leadership roles at Capmark Finance, where he managed the conventional and HUD production networks, the conventional sales force, and was the lead corporate liaison with the GSEs and conduit lenders. While at GMAC Commercial Mortgage, John originated servicing-retained commercial mortgage loans for the GSEs, correspondent insurance companies, and pension fund clients. John is an alumnus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and earned his Master of Science in Finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Seth D. Molod, is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Lightstone, where he is responsible for overseeing and managing all corporate finance operations. Prior to joining Lightstone he served as Chair, Real Estate Services; and Executive Committee member at Berdon LLP. Mr. Molod brings over 25 years of extensive experience advising some of the nation’s most prominent real estate owners, developers, managers, and investors in both commercial and residential projects. He has advised privately held real estate companies as well as institutional investors, REITs, and other public companies. Mr. Molod received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from Muhlenberg College. He is licensed as a certified public accountant in New Jersey and in New York.

Shimon Shkury is the President and Founder of Ariel Property Advisors. As President he oversees all investment sales, capital services and research initiatives that the company undertakes. Since 2002, Mr. Shkury has advised private clients, institutions, operators, equity providers and lenders on pricing, positioning and selling assets throughout New York City. This experience has enabled Mr. Shkury to emerge as an expert within the various asset classes, city, state and federal regulatory agreements and market indicators. Mr. Shkury is routinely sought out as a resource for the industry and has been featured in publications such as The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York, Bisnow and many others. As a contributor to Forbes, he writes about trends in commercial real estate and is the host of Ariel’s Coffee & Cap Rates podcast. In 2023, he was named to the Commercial Observer’s Power 100 list of commercial real estate leaders and, in 2022, to Crain’s New York’s list of Notable Leaders in Real Estate. Along with his partners, he was honored with Connect CRE’s Top Broker Award 2022, Globest.com’s Multifamily Influencer Award 2022, and Commercial Property Executive’s Best Investment Transaction 2022 in the portfolio category. Originally from Israel, he came to the United States in 1999 to earn an MBA in finance at the Wharton School of Business and a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute. He previously served as a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces. Prior to starting Ariel Property Advisors, Mr. Shkury was a Partner with Massey Knakal Realty Services, now Cushman & Wakefield. Mr. Shkury lives in Manhattan with his wife, son and daughter. He can be reached at 212.544.9500 ext. 11 or via email at sshkury@arielpa.com.

Daniel Parker is a Managing Director on the Hodges Ward Elliott (“HWE”) New York commercial investment sales team. Mr. Parker has spent over a decade working in both principal and advisory roles in the New York City commercial real estate market. Prior to joining HWE, Mr. Parker was a Vice President at The Related Companies, where he led a management team overseeing a 2,700 unit multifamily portfolio in New York City. Prior to working for Related, Mr. Parker worked in the Savills Studley Capital Transactions Group, working on a team that closed in excess of $2.2 billion in commercial real estate transactions including residential, office, retail and land. Mr. Parker started his real estate career working as a multifamily asset manager, overseeing 45 rent-regulated properties with 1,600 apartments and 78 retail spaces located in New York City for Prana Investments. In addition to New York City office, retail and land transactions, Mr. Parker brokers multifamily properties in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Mr. Parker has represented institutional clients that include Related, Rockpoint, Carlyle, KBS, Westbrook and Normandy, as well as a number of private families and investors. Mr. Parker recently brokered the sale of a $71 million workforce housing portfolio on behalf of Related to a partnership between Taconic Investment Partners and Clarion Partners. Other notable multifamily sales include the record-breaking $140 million sale of a 38 walk-up properties with nearly 1,000 units in the Bronx, 316 Bergen in Brooklyn, the Madison Belvedere at 10 East 29th Street in Manhattan, 442 Lorimer, 184 Havemeyer, 164 Havemeyer, the leasehold at 300 East 46th Street, and 111 Kent Avenue. In 2005, the New York City Teaching Fellows program selected Mr. Parker for a one year public school assignment as a full-time English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Washington Heights at PS 5. From 2001-2003, Mr. Parker lived in Mexico City, where he offered service through his church and became fluent in Spanish. Mr. Parker is an Eagle Scout and remains an avid photographer, camper and hiker. He regularly spends time with his family at Candlewood Lake in New Milford, CT to enjoy the outdoors and water sports. Mr. Parker received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Utah and an MBA in Finance and Economics from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

As the President of GFI Realty Services, Michael Weiser manages the day to day commercial mortgage operations as well as the Investment Sales & Retail Leasing divisions. He is responsible for overseeing originations at GFI as well as maintaining relationships with various lenders and financial institutions. He also oversees GFI’s acquisitions and dispositions. Known in the industry for his strong analytical skills and negotiation expertise with lenders and financial institutions, Mr. Weiser ensures successful closings for GFI clients. He has a strong understanding of the many facets involved in property acquisitions and management, which allows him to negotiate the right loan products for his clients. Since joining GFI in 1996, Mr. Weiser has been involved in countless transactions on behalf of GFI’s clients. He received his BS in accounting from Brooklyn College.