Long Island State of the Market Event

Gwen O’Shea is the President & CEO of the Community Development Corporation of Long Island. She oversees the 51-year-old regional non-profit with three non-profit affiliates and numerous for-profit subsidiaries, over $31 million in assets, an annual budget of $35 million and a staff of 87. CDCLI strives to strengthen homes, communities and individuals. CDCLI serves over 20,000 individuals annually through a variety of business lines: Rental Assistance, Resident Services, The Home Ownership Center, Home Improvement and Optimization and Real Estate Development. CDCLI’s Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) provides critical capital to under financed communities; supporting multi-family developments, homeowners and individuals. Currently, over $10 million is deployed in loan funds. CDCLI is a co-venture partner in fifteen multifamily tax credit complexes representing over 2000 apartments, with an additional 278 in pre-development. CDCLI has developed 235 single family affordable for sale subdivisions and currently managed 47 single-family scattered site rental properties. As a chartered member of NeighborWorks®(a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that supports community development), CDCLI is recognized as an “exemplary organization,” meeting a high standard of fiscal integrity and service performance to assist local residents in achieving their dreams. Prior to joining CDCLI in March 2017, Gwen served as the President & CEO of HWCLI for 10 years. She was the first female executive of the umbrella organization that advocates for the rights of those most vulnerable and at-risk. From 2006-2012, Gwen was an Adjunct Professor at LIU for the Graduate Programs of Social Work & Health Care & Public Administration. Gwen serves as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York’s Housing Advisory Council, is an Executive Member of the New York State Neighborworks Alliance and is a Board Member of the Long Island Federally Qualified Health Centers. Gwen received her MS from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management & Urban

Heath Abramsohn is Vice President & Regional Director, New Jersey/Pennsylvania Development, for Rockefeller Group. He joined Rockefeller Group in 2005 and has held positions of increasing responsibility throughout career with the company including asset experience with industrial, office, multifamily, and mixed-use projects. In his current role, Mr. Abramsohn is responsible for all aspects of real estate acquisitions and development for the company within the New Jersey/Pennsylvania region including overseeing a pipeline of approximately six million square feet of investment grade commercial assets. Throughout his career at Rockefeller Group, he has been involved in the acquisition, development, lease, and sale of more than 14 million square feet of industrial space. Most recently, he led the 2.1 million square foot Rockefeller Group Logistics Center; the 400,000 square foot Middlesex Logistics Center; and the 1.24 million square foot Cranbury Station Park. Mr. Abramsohn has also been instrumental in Rockefeller Group’s expansion of industrial assets in New York and the Mid-Atlantic region. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Group, Mr. Abramsohn worked in Corporate Finance at Pfizer. He was also a Consultant with Accenture. He received his bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College where he majored in Accounting and Economics. He received his master’s degree in Real Estate Development from New York University. Mr. Abramsohn holds a real estate license in New Jersey and New York and is a member of NAIOP and ULI. He has been recognized by several industry publications for his market insight and has spoken on commercial real estate panels across the region representing Rockefeller Group. He is an Advisory Board member at Rutgers University Center for Real Estate.

Peter L. Curry’s broadly based transactional practice concentrates on commercial real estate sales, acquisitions, leasing and development, and in the burgeoning area of economic development. Specific transactions include counseling major corporations in the fields of telecommunications, barcode technology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals manufacturing, food manufacture and distribution, internet content, and other technology-driven fields in the acquisition or disposal of headquarters sites, manufacturing facilities, and warehouse and distribution centers in all areas of the United States.

Mr. Altman is an entrepreneur and real estate investor with experience in identifying, buying and selling real estate. As a founder and Managing Member of KABR, he is instrumental in fundraising, structuring JV partnerships, sourcing and acquiring real property and debt. To date, Adam has participated in transactions totaling approximately four million square feet of commercial properties, as well as thousands of residential units, hotels and new development land with over 3000 units of entitlements. Prior to joining KABR, he focused on acquisition, development, management and disposition of real estate for a multi-billion dollar healthcare company.

Jose is a senior managing director and co-office head in the New Jersey office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. He joins JLL as part of the HFF acquisition and is a member of the firm’s leadership committee. Jose specializes in investment advisory throughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and also oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm’s New Jersey office. During the course of his more than 25-year commercial real estate career, he’s been involved in more than $62 billion of office, industrial, retail, multifamily and land sales. Jose started at HFF in March 2010. Before that, he was the executive director of Cushman & Wakefield’s New York area investment sales group where he spent more than 17 years. He began his real estate career as a real estate analyst at PaineWebber, UBS, Inc.

Aaron is the Vice President of Market Development and Strategy at Nuveen Green Capital. Aaron has more than ten years of experience in the energy policy and markets space. Prior to Nuveen Green Capital, he was a Director of Policy and Electricity Markets for SolarCity, one of the largest solar and energy storage developers in North America. He led national policy activities for the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) segment of the market. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the energy practice of Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked on third-party financing mechanisms for renewable and energy efficiency projects, natural gas procurement, and energy-related legislative and budget matters for the U.S. Department of Defense. Aaron received his graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland.

Sean Scuderi is a partner and vice chair of Tarter Krinsky & Drogin’s Construction Practice. Scuderi, named a Law360 Construction Rising Star this year, represents owners, developers, non-profit entities, schools, architects, engineers, general contractors, and construction managers through every phase of the design and construction process, from negotiating construction agreements to handling complex disputes. Additionally, he serves as general counsel to his clients and provides a strategic and holistic approach to all their construction, development, and real estate needs.

Steven Dubb is a principal of The Beechwood Organization (www.beechwoodhomes.com) founded by his father Michael Dubb in 1985. Beechwood is the leading developer of residential housing and sophisticated lifestyle communities on Long Island, and one of the largest in New York State, having built 7,000 homes and 60 communities with new sites in development from the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens across Nassau and Suffolk Counties to the Hamptons. Brand names include Arverne by the Sea, Bishops Pond, Country Pointe, Harbor Pointe, Marina Pointe, Meadowbrook Pointe and The Vanderbilt. Transitioning from small builder to national leader, the National Association of Home Builders cited Beechwood a Top 250 builder for 2018 in the United States where it has also ranked 116th in Professional Builder Magazine’s Housing Giants Top 400. Long Island Business News cited Beechwood as “the most prolific home builder on Long Island” and in 2018 named it Residential Developer of the Year for the fifth year running. Dubb is responsible for developing the company’s acquisition and construction loans; sourcing and structuring acquisitions; managing leasing for commercial holdings; and diversifying the Beechwood Homes brand. Dubb is regularly tapped for his real estate market views by media and industry panels including The New York Times, The New York Post, The Real Deal, Long Island Business News, Newsday, LI Pulse, Haute Living, Hamptons Magazine, Curbed Hamptons, Dan’s Behind the Hedges, NBC NY Open House, CUNY TV The Stoler Report, The Fordham Real Estate Institute and Mortgage Bankers Association of New York. Dubb is a Professional Builder 40 Under 40 rising star; and a Long Island Builders Institute board member. Dubb graduated from New York University where he specialized in real estate. He was with Credit Suisse in its Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group before joining the family business in 2008. Dubb is an active supporter of STOKED (www.stoked.org), a charity promoting personal development, academic achievement and healthy living to the under-served youth through action sports culture. The born and bred Long Islander from Oyster Bay resides in both Manhattan and Amagansett. He regularly covers the 100+ mile stretch of Beechwood projects from New York City and across Long Island where he can also be found surfing the shores of the Rockaways and the Hamptons

Sal is a partner at one of the nation’s oldest, established architectural firms.  A native Long Islander and a second generation Architect, he specializes in the planning and design of mixed use buildings, transit oriented development and multi-family residential projects. His firm’s current projects are wide ranging, first of their kind and significant in their scope and innovation.  This work has been completed all across Long Island and includes Wyandanch Rising; where BHC worked to refine the Master Plan for the entire development; Gateway projects in Downtown and Uptown Port Jefferson and Transit Oriented Developments in Lindenhurst, Riverhead, Central Islip and Copiague   Another important focus has been designing cost effective; attractive Workforce Housing.  Some of these include Vineyard View; 50 townhouses in Southold; 20 Station Drive, four story, 87 units in Wyandanch; 40 Station Drive, five story, 98 units with retail; 11 Park Drive; five story 94 units of Senior Housing in Wyandanch; Peconic Crossing, five story 45 units on Main Street in Riverhead; 34 Park Avenue; a four story 75 unit Senior development with LGBT headquarters at its base, in Bay Shore; Matinecock Court; a 145 unit townhouse development in Huntington; Sterling Green; three story 71 unit development in Farmingdale; Hempstead Village’s ‘Carman Place’, now in construction, consists of two five story mixed use buildings containing 226 units with parking and retail below and The Grove at East Patchogue, which is 55 units with retail.  Recent ‘Market Rate’ Multifamily projects include ‘The Wel’; a 260 unit development in Lindenhurst; ‘Shoregate’ Bay Shore, a 419 unit mixed use development in Bay Shore; The Shipyard at Port Jeff, a 112 unit three story development; Hudson Place at Central Islip, 166 new units and a 100 unit redevelopment of the NYIT CI Campus; Fieldstone at Commack, 98 units of 55 and over housing; Smithtown Preserve, a 180 unit 55 and over townhouse development; The Vue at Riverhead is now in design development, a 117 unit five story mixed use building and a Transit Oriented Mixed Use Development at the Riverhead Train Station which will bring 234 units and 6,000 SF of retail. Additionally, Sal now has in production two Market Rate developments in Hicksville, as well as Baldwin Commons (workforce) and Baldwin Sunrise (Market Rate) which are the first projects approved by the Town of Hempstead for their new Baldwin zoning; and two buildings consisting of a 101 unit Market Rate Building a 56 unit Workforce development at Garvies Point. The next phase of Wyandanch Village is set to break ground this Summer which is a 219 unit five story mixed use building.   Sal has worked directly with municipalities such as the Village of Westbury to rezone their Village to promote responsible development.   He has worked with the Town of Babylon to rezone the ‘Downtown Copiague Zoning District’ which has resulted in the first development ‘Copiague Commons’.   Overall, the firm of Beatty Harvey Coco Architects is the longest running continuously established architectural firm on Long Island. They have completed over 150 Public Library projects in the NY Area, including Greenburgh, Ossining, Cherry Hill, Merrick, Cold Spring Harbor, Rogers Memorial in Southampton, Friends Academy Library and dozens more. The firm has experience in Hospitality projects across LI, including the recently approved Jericho Plaza Hotel in Oyster Bay. BHC also has offices in Baltimore, MD where they have worked over the last thirty years on Harbor East, Harbor Point and Fells Point on numerous mixed use, residential and hospitality projects. Sal is a Member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and a LEED Accredited Professional, he received his Bachelor of  Architecture degree from the New York  Institute of Technology in 1987. He has also practiced Architecture in Florida and designed several Airport Projects in the Caribbean.

Alfred L. Amato is the founder and managing partner of Amato Law Group, PLLC, which was established in 1995. Today, the firm is one of the largest real estate and land use firms on Long Island. With a sophisticated real estate practice cultivated over 27 years, Amato Law Group, PLLC strategically focuses on commercial real estate development and transactions, land use and zoning, litigation, telecommunications and renewable energy. The firm represents some of the nation’s largest commercial, industrial and multi-family developers, telecommunication companies, health care and assisted living providers, retailers, and public agencies, along with international energy companies and regional developers and businesses. The firm’s clients depend upon Al’s comprehensive experience to successfully navigate the challenging and complex Long Island development environment. Mr. Amato is admitted to the New York State Bar, the New Jersey State Bar, the United States District Court Eastern District of New York and the United States District Court Southern District of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Nassau and Suffolk County Bar Associations, the New Jersey Bar Association and the New York State Wireless Association. Al serves on the boards of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.