Amazon HQ2 & the Future of the Innovation Coast

Elizabeth Lusskin is the President of the LIC Partnership and Executive Director of the LIC Business Improvement District. In this role, she promotes economic development across the vibrant Long Island City industrial, commercial, residential and cultural arts mixed-use community. She is the Co-Chair of the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan Steering Committee, was Co-Chair of the Amazon Community Advisory Committee Project Plan Committee and is a Member of the Western Queens Tech Task Force, among other roles. Prior to LIC, she served as the Chief of Staff and Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. Through her former consulting practice, Elizabeth Lusskin Consulting LLC, she advised public, private for-profit and non-profit clients on economic and community development, organizational management and strategic planning. Elizabeth has served as Deputy Commissioner of NYC SBS, General Counsel to the Downtown Alliance and Legislative Counsel at NYS Office of Federal Affairs. She is a graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law.

The mission of the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) is to create and retain jobs with an emphasis on helping low and moderate populations, women, immigrants and minorities. As Executive Director Seth is responsible for creating and implementing programs that are in keeping with that mission. He first joined the QEDC in 1979 where he helped coordinate the borough’s first commercial revitalization programs which led to the founding of many local development corporations and business improvement districts. He became Executive Director in 2009, and has transformed the organization by significantly increasing the scope of the corporation’s activities. Notably this has included the opening of the Entrepreneur Space, a commercial kitchen business incubator in Long Island City; specialized programs for immigrant, minority and low-income entrepreneurs; MiQ ™ (Made in Queens) that helps local artisans market their products and the expansion of the Queens Tourism Council. The QEDC serves over 2,000 aspiring entrepreneurs each year through its many programs and services. In addition to being a founding staff member of the QEDC, he served as the Director of Economic Development for the Office of the Queens Borough President for two administrations. Seth is a native New Yorker and is a graduate of The New School/Parsons School of Design.

A sought after voice in Queens real estate, Eric Benaim’s entry into real estate began in 2001, after a successful career as owner of a live event production and marketing firm. Initially concentrating on Manhattan luxury sales, Eric later recognized the untapped opportunity in his own beloved borough, and turned his focus exclusively to Long Island City. The result was the sale of 50 residences in 2006 alone. In the midst of 2008’s severe economic crisis, Eric instinctively decided the time was right to launch Modern Spaces, permanently changing the perception and value of real estate in LIC. In just 10 years, Eric’s insightful and personal approach resulted in the swift expansion of Modern Spaces, including opening additional offices in Astoria where 100 agents work, capturing a 70% market share in Long Island City. In 2019, Modern Spaces crossed the river to capture 10% of the burgeoning market share over the next three years, in Jersey City. He is responsible for successfully completing over $7B in sales and is currently responsible for overseeing over $4B in real estate, which translates to over 8000 units. Eric was the first person to be recognized as a 40 Under 40 Rising Star in both Queens and Brooklyn by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, respectively. Eric has been the recipient of the 2018 Community Impact Award by the LIC Partnership, as well as the Community Hero award by the Long Island City YMCA. Eric is a member of REBNY, and serves on the Advisory Board of Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as the Board of Directors for the Long Island City Partnership. In 2016 the City and State Award honored him for Corporate Social Responsibility. Eric is consistently called upon to speak at a diverse array of events and is frequently featured, quoted, interviewed and profiled in prominent outlets including CNN, Fox Business, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CRAIN’S, The Real Deal, CNBC, and NY1. Eric is an art collector and avid supporter of the arts. As the informal ‘Mayor of LIC,’ it is his passion for building a prosperous community that informs Modern Spaces ‘unparalleled perspective. He currently resides in Long Island City with his wife Stephanie and son Greyson.

Kate Wittels is Partner at HR&A Advisors, an industry-leading economic development and real estate consulting firm. Kate focuses on how to best shape places, train people, and deliver infrastructure to prepare today’s cities for tomorrow’s opportunities. Kate advises governments, developers, and businesses on leveraging technology and forging connections to create districts, workforces, and economies that are ready for the future. Kate has managed many of HR&A’s most complex projects including the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s 200-acre Sunnyside Yard Overbuild Feasibility study; MTA and Westfield’s public-private management partnership of the $1.4 billion Fulton Center; and David Beckham’s efforts to develop an MLS soccer stadium in Miami. Prior to joining HR&A, Kate served as a Director of Corporate Real Estate for Sony. Kate earned a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

David led World-Wide Holdings' multifamily development and acquisition activities in the LIC market.

Mr. Mandel joined Tishman Speyer in 2014 and oversees the firm's acquisitions efforts for the New York metropolitan area, and the United States more broadly. In this expanded role, he sets the strategy for driving the firm's acquisitions across the United States, growing business and engaging with regional teams. Prior to joining the company, he served in the Bloomberg administration as senior advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. In that role, Mr. Mandel was responsible for a number of signature redevelopment initiatives, including the World Trade Center and Essex Crossing projects, as well as several million square feet of public and private re-zonings. Previously, he held positions at Bank of America Securities, Lehman Brothers and Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP. Mr. Mandel holds a BA, MBA and JD, all from Columbia University.

Mr. Schechtman leads the Middle Market Team of Meridian Investment Sales as a Senior Executive Managing Director, overseeing a team of originators, analysts and other professionals. Mr. Schechtman is widely recognized as one of the industry’s most visible and well-respected investment sales professionals. Trained for years at one of the world’s largest law firms, Mr. Schechtman has personally sold more than 790 deals representing more than $8 billion in his fifteen-year career to date. Recognized as an industry “Titan,” “Power Broker”, “Jack of all Trades” and one of the “25 Most Visible New York City Real Estate Players” by the Commercial Observer, The Mann Report and The Real Deal, respectively, Mr. Schechtman is regularly engaged by private families, institutions, lenders, estate lawyers and their counsel and advisors to value, market and see through to closing the sale of multifamily properties, development sites, buildings ripe for repurposing, retail condominiums and co-ops, unsold shares, and loft office and industrial buildings throughout New York City. Mr. Schechtman has also represented more than 25 lenders in the disposition of performing and defaulted notes and assets in Chapter 11, Section 363 Sales. Prior to joining Meridian, he held the position of Principal and Executive Managing Director at Eastern Consolidated, where he was named “Broker of the Year” on multiple occasions. Prior to Eastern, Mr. Schechtman was a practicing attorney at DLA Piper in New York, where he specialized in commercial and property-related bankruptcy and litigation. Mr. Schechtman holds a J.D. from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and a B.A. from University of Delaware. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Commercial Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York and several other boards and charities. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Columbia University, the Real Estate Board of New York and law firms throughout the tri-state area on foreclosure and bankruptcy asset sales.

Andrew Barrocas has enjoyed success as a dominant force and respected authority in the New York City real estate industry for many years. In his accomplished career, he has sold over $10-billion worth of property, and managed, trained, recruited and collaborated with the city's top agents and brokers. As CEO and Founder of MNS, Andrew currently oversees more than a billion dollars’ worth of real estate, as well as an exceptional team of talented agents and project managers focused on providing the utmost level of client service. Andrew entered the real estate field after graduating from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He went on to achieve instant success and recognition as one of the "Top 30 Brokers Under 30", according to The Real Deal. Over the years, Andrew has been a continually sought-after expert on real estate who has been featured in The New York Times' "The 30-Minute Interview", quoted in all major New York publications, and spotlighted on The Stoler Report. Since founding MNS in 2006, Andrew has grown the company substantially in terms of its revenue and its team, which is now over 125 people. He also serves his industry as a licensed teacher through the State of New York, passing on his knowledge and array of professional experience of real estate sales to real estate brokers and salespersons. Andrew is also an active member of The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), The Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), Young Jewish Professionals (YJP) and Young Presidents Organization (YPO). He and his wife Rachel are the proud parents of three beautiful girls – Cayden, Ella and Zoe.

Eric Herlands is a CRE professional with 33+ years of highly diverse experience. He specializes in valuation and underwriting across all asset classes on a local and national basis. Mr. Herlands also possesses a decade long transactional record acquiring Class A office properties for a $6 billion New York office REIT, Reckson Associates Realty Corp. His real estate acumen and analytic ability is widely regarded and Mr. Herlands is an acknowledged expert in the industry standard Argus software. In 2008 he developed and continues to teach a graduate level acquisition course at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate which prepares the next generation of real estate analysts for the rigors of the industry. In his present role as Managing Director at Townhouse Partners, Mr. Herlands is responsible for facilitating the outsourced underwriting process through its Investor Advisory Group, diligence projects, loan surveillance, asset management and leads the company’s training and staff development initiatives. Mr. Herlands also conducts executive training sessions with such prominent financial institutions as Barclays, Cantor Fitzgerald, Citibank, Alliance Bernstein, Morgan Stanley among others.

Seth Pinsky serves as Executive Vice President and Investment Manager of the RXR Metropolitan Emerging Market Strategy . In this role, Pinsky is leading RXR’s efforts to invest in “emerging opportunities” in New York City and the surrounding Tri-State region, focusing on asset classes and geographic regions that have historically been characterized by underinvestment, but that have significant growth potential due to planned or in-place infrastructure and other relevant characteristics. Prior to joining RXR, Pinsky served as Director of Mayor Bloomberg’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, which developed a $20 billion plan to help neighborhoods stricken by Hurricane Sandy to rebuild smarter and stronger and to protect critical citywide systems and infrastructure from the likely impacts of climate change in coming decades. Pinsky also served as President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2008, after joining the agency in 2003 as a vice president. During his tenure, NYCEDC became an international leader in the field of economic development, focusing both on transforming the city’s underlying economy and investing in its critical infrastructure. While at NYCEDC, Pinsky served as a lead negotiator on behalf of New York City for projects ranging from Yankee Stadium and Citifield, to the World Trade Center, to the acquisition of Hunters Point South in Queens, the largest middle-income housing development in the City since Starrett City. Among the initiatives advanced by NYCEDC under Pinsky’s leadership were the redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, Coney Island in Brooklyn, the Homeport in Staten Island, and the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, as well as the creation of a major new bioscience research park on City-owned land, north of Bellevue Hospital. Under Pinsky, NYCEDC also managed the construction of the first two phases of the High Line in Manhattan, launched a new East River Ferry service connecting Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan and announced and advanced plans for the world’s largest observation wheel in St. George in Staten Island. In the area of economic modernization, under Pinsky, NYCEDC created the Center for Economic Transformation (CET), which, in addition to launching a network of business incubators across the City that, at the time of Pinsky’s departure, housed more than 600 companies, developed and oversaw the Bloomberg Administration’s international Applied Sciences NYC competition. The Applied Sciences competition will result in a significant expansion of Columbia University’s engineering school, as well as the creation of a new engineering institute in Downtown Brooklyn led by NYU that will include CUNY, Carnegie Mellon University and others. It will also result in the creation of a $2 billion engineering campus on Roosevelt Island, being developed by Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Prior to joining the NYCEDC, Pinsky was an associate at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in the Real Estate practice and a financial analyst at James D. Wolfensohn Inc. He is a graduate of Columbia College, where he majored in Ancient History, and of Harvard Law School, and is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Pinsky lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Angela and their children, Theo and Amelia.

Helena Rose Durst is a Principal at The Durst Organization, overseeing all aspects of the company's residential portfolio, including leasing, management, operations and marketing. Currently, she is spearheading the lease up and pipeline of more than 2,000 market rate and affordable units in Queens at Halletts Point and Queens Plaza Park. Helena has helped lead the ground-up management of nearly 2,000 units of rental housing at several projects, including EŌS, The Helena, FRANK 57 WEST, Historic Front Street and One Bryant Park. Active in the NYC real estate and environmental community, Helena serves as a board member of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, Board of Governors on the Real Estate Board of New York, Chair of Lower East Side Ecology Center and member of the New York Restoration Project and Lincoln Center Real Estate Advisory Board. As the former President of New York Water Taxi/Circle Line Downtown for seven years, Helena transformed the organization into profitable mass transit, tour and travel operation serving more than 1.5 million passengers annually. During her tenure, NYWT became the first maritime company in the harbor to implement a minimum wage of $15 per hour for its 200 employees. When Helena's not in the City, she can be found with her two children at her family's McEnroe Organic Farm, one of the largest family-owned-and-operated organic farms in New York State. Helena started an education program at McEnroe Organic Farm, reconnecting neighbors and youths with agriculture to educate future generations.

Jeff joined Rubenstein Partners in 2014. As Director of Investments, he is responsible for ensuring underwriting consistency and best practices across all regions. Additionally, he plays a direct role in New York investment and asset management activities. Prior to Rubenstein Partners, Jeff worked at Merrill Lynch and Ernst & Young. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Relations.

Kathe Kramer Chase has three decades of New York City centric commercial real estate experience and has played major roles in world renowned projects such as Chelsea Market, the Historic Falchi and Factory Buildings and now Industry City. Kathe received her undergraduate degree, with a concentration in business, from Northwestern University. After graduating, she held roles at Yale Robins and later Time Equities. Kathe worked with developer Irwin Cohen after leaving Time Equities to assist in the renovation and leasing of 2mm square feet in Long Island City, and later in the purchase, redevelopment, and lease-up of what is now known as Chelsea Market. As an integral part of the Chelsea Market team, Kathe helped shape the identity of the Meat Packing District as an international destination and in 2014 joined the partnership’s newest project, Industry City, as the Director of Leasing. Over the course of her career Kathe has been on the forefront of real estate trends, pioneering concepts of landlord and tenant partnerships that distinguish her in the industry, leasing millions of square feet of commercial real estate in New York City, valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Chad is a Managing Director in the Investment Sales practice at Ackman-Ziff. Chad specializes in the sale of all commercial property types throughout New York City. A Wall Street veteran, Chad brings his financial expertise to complex real estate transactions. Prior to joining Ackman-Ziff, Chad was an investment sales executive at Eastern Consolidated. Before Eastern Consolidated, Chad was an Equity Options Trader at the Cutler Group LP where his self-funded portfolio primarily focused on illiquid names, binary events, Regulation Sho securities and biotechnology. Prior to that he was a Senior Equity Options Trader at Group One Trading where he was a leader of the trading team that made markets in a portfolio of over 400 NYSE Equity Options, NASDAQ Equity Options and Exchange Index Options. Chad is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), Urban Land Institute, and Long Island City Partnership.

Troy has 15 years of experience in audit and consulting, with a particular emphasis in real estate and financial services reporting, in accordance with US GAAP, IFRS, NCREIF PREA Reporting Standards and income tax basis. He is also an expert in accounting for asset acquisitions and complex leases and specializes in various tax-advantageous, in particular Opportunity Zones and government subsidized deal structures. Troy’s financial services background involves audits of private equity funds, which hold equity or debt interests in a variety of industries including technology, consumer products, personal services, real estate and renewable resources. His expertise includes complex valuations, mezzanine and first lender analysis, as well as, the evaluation of options. In 2018, Troy was selected as a senior analyst in RSM’s cutting edge Industry Eminence Program, which positions its senior analysts to understand, forecast and communicate economic, business and technology trends shaping the industries RSM serves. These senior analysts advise clients on conditions impacting middle market leaders. Troy’s focus is on the real estate industry.