New York Future Forum: How to Capitalize & Win the Rebound

Laurie, an accomplished deal maker, is partner and co-chair of the firm’s global real estate practice. She takes a client-focused approach to her real estate practice, often acting as in-house counsel for her clients and becoming a trusted member of their businesses. She has a long list of clients who have been with her since the beginning of her practice and appreciate her ability to adeptly and efficiently handle any type of real estate deal. She is recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA 2021, noting that she is “a strong negotiator” and “she has a great business sense combined with legal knowledge.” Most recently, for the second year in a row, Commercial Observer included her in their elite “Power 100” list, which recognizes the most powerful players in real estate. Laurie represents real estate private equity funds, companies, institutional REITs, investors and other property owners in structuring and closing real estate transactions such as acquisitions and dispositions, developments, financings, portfolio transactions, preferred equity investments, leasing and real estate joint ventures. Her work touches all asset classes, including office, multifamily, affordable housing, workforce housing, mixed-use, life sciences, hospitality, retail and condominium. She also maintains an active capital markets and fund practice, representing investors in joint venture transactions and sophisticated fund and tax structures. Laurie is also well-versed in the Opportunity Zone program and helps clients through the process of structuring and investing in qualified properties and vehicles. Laurie is involved in a number of non-profit and charitable organizations focusing on increasing diversity in real estate. She serves on the Advisory Board and spearheads the firm’s legal partnership with Project Destined, an organization dedicated to transforming minority youth into owners in the communities in which they live, work and play. She also serves as co-chair for Rebuilding New York’s “She Builds” program, where she organizes an annual renovation day, rehabilitating a New York City community center in need.

Chris is President and Chief Investment of Officer at Taconic. He also leads Taconic’s Acquisitions team. As President, Chris oversees corporate matters across the firm. As Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for all aspects of Taconic’s acquisition businesses and investments. With 18 years of real estate investment experience, Chris has led or been directly involved in the acquisition of over $5 billion of real estate while at Taconic, all in New York City. He is also responsible for deal sourcing and structuring, and oversees all of Taconic’s debt and equity financings, as well as fundraising and rezoning initiatives. Prior to joining Taconic in 2005, Chris was a Bank Officer at M&T Bank where he was responsible for underwriting and sourcing commercial real estate loan opportunities in the New York City metropolitan area. Chris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Colgate University and until recently served on the Board of Directors of Vibrant Emotional Health, a non-profit mental health advocacy and educational organization.

Susi Yu is a Principal and the Head of Development at MAG Partners, responsible for overseeing and executing the company’s development investment strategy. MAG Partners spun out of a successful two-year partnership with the L&L Holding Company founders, called L&L MAG. During her tenure at L&L MAG, Susi oversaw the acquisition and development of 480- unit multi-family rental project in Chelsea. Previously, Susi served as Executive Vice President of Development for Forest City Ratner Companies, leading the Residential Development team on execution of Pacific Park Brooklyn, the $4.9 billion, 22- acre mixed-use development in the heart of Brooklyn. At Forest City, Susi also oversaw the development of large scale, mixed-use urban projects including New York by Gehry, a 896-unit residential building designed by Frank Gehry. Susi started at Forest City in 2001 and worked there until 2018, except for a 20-month stint from 2013-2015 with the Howard Hughes Corporation as Senior Vice President of Development. Trained as an architect at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, Susi previously worked for ten years in that field, most recently as a Project Architect for Robert A.M. Stern. She is a graduate of Columbia University’s Master of Science in Real Estate Development Program and is a registered architect in New York State. Susi emigrated from Seoul, Korea to Richmond, Virginia at the age of ten. Susi serves on an advisory board of the Goldman Family and is a director of Apple Bank.

Ms. Adler is a founding member of the Firm, chair of the Firm’s Real Estate Department, and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Ms. Adler is one of the most talented and creative attorneys in real estate and was recently named as one of the top 100 female lawyers in New York City in Crains New York’s 2018 inaugural list which recognizes women for distinguished careers and exceptional civic and philanthropic activities. Ms. Adler is an unmatched powerhouse in corporate real estate transactions requiring complicated bespoke structuring, which plays to her strength of being innovative. Ms. Adler’s success is achieved largely by understanding the business goals of her clients and assisting them in achieving those goals while helping to build their businesses. While overseeing one of the largest real estate practice groups in New York City, Ms. Adler has developed a wide range of expertise in all areas of national and international real estate practice with a particular focus on complex joint ventures and corporate real estate transactions. Ms. Adler has been at the forefront of many industry trends, whether involving the creation of new real estate platforms, to strategic investments in existing real estate platforms to preferred equity investments and multi-tiered joint ventures. As a result of more than 20-years of experience, Ms. Adler is able to address not only the real estate aspects and corporate of a particular transaction, but also the unique needs of clients in their national and international transactions and relationships. Ms. Adler is the founder of the Firm’s women’s initiative and is actively involved in mentoring and assisting women both at the Firm and outside of the Firm in achieving their own definition of success. Ms. Adler regularly speaks on women’s issues in both the legal industry and the real estate industry and is passionate on issues concerning gender inclusion and parity. Ms. Adler’s most recent contribution was speaking on the panel titled “Life in the Boardroom: Viewpoints from Female Power Players” at the 2018 Real Estate Women’s Forum. In addition, to being named as one of the top 100 female lawyers in New York City in Crains New York’s 2018 inaugural list, Ms. Adler is consistently named as one of New York's Super Lawyers in real estate and as one of the Top 50 Women Attorneys in New York. Additionally, Ms. Adler was elected to The Commercial Observer’s Power 100 Reader’s Poll (along with her partner, Bruce Stachenfeld). The list marked the first (and only) time that The Commercial Observer allowed the public to vote for the most powerful people in New York real estate.

As Chairman, NY Investment Sales with JLL Capital Markets, Bob co-leads the investment sales division in New York City. Bob was Chairman and Founding Partner of Massey Knakal Realty Services, New York’s #1 building sales firm. He started his real estate career in 1984 at CB Richard Ellis where he met Paul J. Massey Jr. They both left CB in 1988 to form Massey Knakal. From 1988 through 2014, Massey Knakal closed over 6,000 transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $23 billion. To date, Bob has been personally responsible for the sale of 1,873 buildings (generally considered to be the highest total ever for a single broker in New York) and over $18 billion in sales. On December 31, 2014, Cushman & Wakefield acquired Massey Knakal. At Cushman & Wakefield, Bob acted as Chairman of New York Investment Sales. He was ranked the top originating investment sales broker at Cushman & Wakefield, globally, in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Since 2009, Bob has written a weekly column on the New York City Real Estate Market called Concrete Thoughts for the Commercial Observer.

Jason leads the originations platform in the Americas for Nuveen Real Estate and is focused on further expanding the firm’s third-party real estate debt business. Prior to joining the business in 2018, Jason was a managing director at ACORE Capital where he led a team responsible for the sourcing and execution of structured finance investments, including mortgage, mezzanine and preferred equity. As one of the initial employees of ACORE, he helped grow the firm from a start-up, to one of the largest private lenders in the United States, with $9 billion AUM in just under three years. Jason has also held a number of roles at GE Capital Real Estate. Most recently he was a senior director in the strategic capital group focused on whole loan origination with institutional clients. Jason graduated with a B.S. from Illinois State University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School. He is a graduate of the GE Capital Financial Management Programme with roles including finance, underwriting and M&A and is a member of Commercial Real Estate Finance Council.

Mr. Fineman has more than 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate business. At ACORE, Mr. Fineman is responsible for originating, underwriting, structuring and closing commercial real estate financing opportunities, and for managing originations for the Eastern Region. Prior to joining ACORE, Mr. Fineman was an Executive Vice President with Brickman and a principal at Hillcrest Finance, where he was responsible for originating, underwriting, structuring and closing equity and debt investment opportunities, and financing new and existing equity investments. Prior to Brickman, Mr. Fineman held various positions in commercial real estate finance including a senior role with Wachovia Bank, where he managed, structured and closed more than $25 billion of complex commercial real estate finance transactions often involving multiple lenders and tranches of debt, and a role as a banker with Nomura Securities in the mid to late 1990s. In addition to his finance experience, Mr. Fineman has also spent a significant amount of time on the equity side of the commercial real estate business where he was involved in the development, ownership, management and operation of commercial real estate, including in senior roles with Centres Inc. and Terranova Corporation, and in his time with Brickman. Mr. Fineman began his career in commercial real estate as an attorney representing institutional and private clients in a wide range of commercial real estate transactions, including finance, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, development and land use. After college and prior to law school, Mr. Fineman spent several years at IBM Corporation as a marketing representative. Mr. Fineman received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a J.D. from the University of Florida. Mr. Fineman serves on the board of enCourage Kids Foundation. Mr. Fineman is married to Lori and they have two children, Mia and Rocky.

Sebastian Post is Managing Director and Co-Head of Investments for Lionheart Strategic Management, LLC, the fund management affiliate of Fisher Brothers, and is responsible for sourcing new investments, capital raising, and management of operations. Since joining Fisher Brothers in 2011, Mr. Post has been involved in the creation of the fund management affiliate which has raised over $1 billion from investors. Mr. Post has been involved in the execution of over $2.0 billion of real estate equity investments and over $4.0 billion of real estate credit investments throughout the United States. Mr. Post received a Bachelor of Science in Finance at the University of Central Florida and received a Masters of Science in Real Estate Finance & Investment from New York University.