New York Multifamily Development & Investment Conference

Alicia Glen is the Founder and Managing Principal of MSquared, a nationwide real estate development and investment platform creating the next generation of mixed-use, mixed-income projects in rapidly growing and increasingly unaffordable cities and metro regions. Alicia is the former New York City Deputy Mayor and a nationally recognized expert in urban development, infrastructure finance, job creation, and housing policy. As Deputy Mayor from 2014 to 2019, Alicia was the architect of “Housing New York” – the largest housing plan in the nation – and developed and financed over 125,000 affordable homes, shattering all previous records. She also created “NYCHA 2.0,” a stabilization and modernization plan to generate $24 billion in funds for renovations and essential capital repairs across NYCHA’s portfolio by converting units to private management and building new mixed-income projects. She also launched the largest municipal ferry system in the United States; initiated large scale planning efforts on the Long Island City waterfront, Sunnyside Yard and Governors Island; negotiated the expansion of Google’s NY campus, spearheaded the rezoning of the Garment District and East Midtown; established the Tech Talent Pipeline for the life sciences and technology sectors; and repositioned the City’s industrial assets to support modern manufacturing and film and TV production. Prior to serving as Deputy Mayor, Alicia was Head of the Urban Investment Group (UIG) at Goldman Sachs and co-led the firm’s 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. Under her leadership, UIG catalyzed more than $5 billion of mixed-use development in cities across the country through equity, debt, and tax investment vehicles. UIG also invested in and structured innovative public-private partnerships, including the first domestic Social Impact Bond, CitiBike bike share, “New Lab” in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the headquarters of the National Dance Institute at P.S. 90, and Teacher's Village in Newark, NJ. From 1998-2001, Alicia served as the Assistant Commissioner for Housing Finance at the NYC Department of Housing, Preservation and Development. An attorney who practiced at several national law firms in their real estate groups, she began her career at Brooklyn Legal Services. Alicia is the current Chair of the Trust for Governors Island and Chair of women.nyc. She is also an advisor to the Terner Center for Housing and Innovation at UC Berkeley and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. Alicia received a BA from Amherst College and a law degree from Columbia University.

Andrea Kretchmer is a developer of affordable housing and mixed-use projects in New York and Connecticut. Andrea is a founding principal at Xenolith Partners LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development company. At Xenolith, Andrea focuses on new construction of mixed-use developments. Her interests include cultivating for-profit and non-profit partnerships; government, community and industry relations; and the pursuit of municipally-owned development sites. Prior to starting Xenolith, Andrea was also a founding principal of The Kretchmer Companies LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development firm based in New York City and spent several years with a mixed-use developer based in Westchester County. With those firms, Andrea completed the development of Coney Island Commons and Stanley Commons, both 200,000+ sf mixed-use projects with large community facility spaces including a 43,000 sf YMCA. Andrea’s Connecticut experience includes the adaptive re-use of a historic mill in Stonington, CT and an award-winning 80-unit mixed-income Passive House development in New Britain, CT, Prior to her career in affordable housing, Andrea was a practicing geologist. She has extensive experience in the investigation and remediation of contaminated sites throughout the New York metropolitan area. Her experience includes a wide scope of soil, surface water, ground water and ecological investigations. Andrea brings the unique combination of brownfield and real estate development to her projects. Andrea received her Bachelor’s Degree from Colgate University and her Master’s Degree in Geology from UCLA. Andrea is the Membership Chair and a Board Member at the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) and at Congregation Rodeph Sholom. Andrea is also a Fellow at the Urban Design Forum. Her past board services includes Citizens Housing and Planning Council, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the Bronx Real Estate Summit and the New York City Brownfield Partnership.