Bay Area Construction & Development Update!

Lou Vasquez is a Founding Partner and Managing Director of BUILD, where he oversees the firm’s business strategy and executive management. Over the course of his 30-year career in real estate development, Lou has participated in the acquisition, entitlement, development, construction and management of more than $1 billion of residential and commercial product. Prior to forming BUILD in 2004, Lou worked in senior management at a number of prominent residential and commercial real estate development companies in the Bay Area, including Trammell Crow, Greenbriar Homes, Bay Communities, Oxford Development, and Archstone Communities. Through his volunteer work as a board member of Habitat for Humanity and as a founding board member of the Mission Preparatory School, Mr. Vasquez is committed to ensuring that San Francisco remains a diverse city providing opportunities for its most vulnerable citizens.

John combines his training as an architect with his 25 years of experience in real estate development to contribute to ECB a broad range of expertise in all phases of the development process. John has particularly strong skills in complex financing structures combining conventional financing, investor equity and funding secured through New Markets and Historic Tax Credits. John’s work in communities throughout Northern California has garnered ECB recognition for its expertise in delivering well-designed, complex projects that make an important contribution to their community. Prior to ECB, John was a regional vice president of a national development advisory firm specializing in urban mixed use and redevelopment. John earned a Master’s Degree from the MIT Center for Real Estate Development in 1985 and a Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University in 1981. John serves on the Board of Trustees for the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and Lick-Wilmerding High School and formerly served on the boards of Marin Country Day School and The Bay School of San Francisco. John is a longtime resident of San Francisco with his family and occasionally they escape the city to enjoy skiing and travel.

Arthur Friedman is a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s Real Estate, Land Use & Environmental Practice Group in the firm’s San Francisco office. Arthur has more than 25 years of experience litigating and consulting on complex real estate, land use, public agency, education and commercial matters. He is a recognized leader in representing developers and public agencies in CEQA litigation challenging significant and high-profile projects throughout California. Arthur was lead counsel in successfully representing multi-high rise developers in San Jose in defending CEQA litigation brought by the San Jose Sharks, as well as CEQA litigation challenging TopGolf’s proposed project. He also represented the Oakland Zoo in defeating CEQA challenges to the Zoo’s plan amendment and was lead counsel for the City of Sacramento in defeating CEQA challenges to the Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan, which The Daily Journal listed among the “Top Defense Verdicts.” Arthur currently represents various Hollywood hotel developers in defending CEQA litigation. Arthur also handles disputes under California’s housing laws and other statutes. He successfully represented residential developers following agency denials of their housing projects in pursuing claims against the Town of Los Gatos and the City of Dublin in separate litigation under California’s Housing Element, Housing Accountability Act and State Density Bonus Law. In another pending matter, he is representing a state-wide interest group in a lawsuit challenging a municipality’s enactment of a moratorium barring development of all public charter schools in the community. Arthur was named in the Best Lawyers in America 2019 edition and for seven consecutive years has been named a “Northern California Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers, which recognizes the top five percent in each field of law.

Michael Novogradac is the managing partner in the San Francisco office of Novogradac & Company LLP. He has more than 25 years of experience specializing in affordable housing, community development and renewable energy. Mr. Novogradac’s focus is in real estate taxation and accounting. He is the author of numerous real estate-related tax and accounting articles and books, including the New Markets Tax Credit Handbook and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Handbook. A frequent speaker at tax credit conferences and forums throughout the country, Mr. Novogradac is very active in advocating for the inclusion of affordable housing, historic, new markets and renewable energy tax credits in federal and state policy and broadcasts a weekly podcast that focuses on tax credit issues. In addition, he serves as advisor on industry and governmental affairs for the NMTC Working Group and the LIHTC Working Group. Mr. Novogradac also serves on the executive committee of the Housing Advisory Group and the boards of directors of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, the National Housing Conference, the NMTC Coalition and Historic Tax Credit Coalition, as well as being an original member of the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Affordable Housing Committee. He previously served on the boards of directors of A Hand Up and the Berkeley Chess School, the board of governors of the California Housing Consortium, as an advisory board member of the National Leased Housing Association, the Federal Housing Policy Council and Housing and Development Reporter. He was also a member of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association NMTC Steering Committee, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Tax Policy Council and the California State Treasurer's Housing Finance Advisory Board, as well as a board member and chief financial officer of the Housing Industry Foundation. Mr. Novogradac graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He is licensed in California, Oregon, Maryland and Texas as a certified public accountant.

Zac Shore is the Co-Founder and Principal of Avenues Development. Avenues Development is a real estate development company located in San Francisco. The company serves as an owner’s representative for a range of development companies and high net-worth individuals throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Services include all aspects of real estate development; from an initial highest and best use feasibility analysis, entitlements, financial analysis, construction management, and general value-add consulting services to get projects on the right track and set up for success. Zac has entitled nearly two thousand units in the Bay Area, built the first modular project constructed overseas and erected in California, and is involved with other emerging technology construction projects. Zac was a general contractor for 10 years, then attended MIT for a degree in Real Estate Development. After MIT, Zac has been involved in many facets of Bay Area Development over the past decade.

Serves as project manager for 52-acre mixed use, transit-oriented development at Vallejo’s Waterfront. Lead the City’s business attraction efforts and coordinate with property owners of opportunity sites. Provide economic development lens to the City’s long-range planning efforts, including the General Plan Update and specific plans. Design a façade improvement program for the downtown. Serve as ombudsman to the City’s permitting process, advocating for significant development projects to support development and investment.

Charles R. Olson is a Partner in Lubin Olson's Land Use and Real Estate Practice Groups, and he currently serves as the Firm's Managing Partner. He specializes in land use and land use litigation, and real estate transactions, including affordable housing. In his land use practice, Mr. Olson represents developers, institutions and other property owners in obtaining entitlements and permits for use of their property. He has represented clients with complex development projects in San Francisco, throughout the Bay Area and Northern California, including entitling multiple corporate campuses, large residential subdivisions, and complex mixed-use projects. Mr. Olson has extensive experience advising clients concerning the California Environment Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), general plans, the Subdivision Map Act, and local planning codes and zoning ordinances. He has successfully represented clients throughout California in dozens of land use and CEQA cases at both the Superior Court and Court of Appeal levels. In real estate, Mr. Olson represents property owners, developers and investors in all aspects of real estate, including acquisitions and sales, leasing, financing and construction, and architect and contractor agreements. He has extensive experience in affordable housing transactions and has represented clients in the acquisition, financing and development of thousands of affordable housing units using tax-exempt bond and low-income housing tax credit financing, as well as financing insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Olson has been honored by Thompson Reuters as a Northern California Super Lawyer from 2008-2012, and 2016-2018.

Dorinda Shipman has dedicated her career to managing and directing site remediation and mitigation at large military bases and Brownfield properties. She manages Langan’s Bay Area environmental practice and co-leads Langan’s Corporate Sustainability Program. Shipman also serves as an Advisory Board Member for the national nonprofit Center for Creative Land Recycling. Shipman is adept at integrating environmental cleanup and mitigation with design and construction for real estate property transfer and redevelopment. She leads soil and groundwater investigation and cleanup, soil gas and vapor intrusion risk assessments, water supply assessment, and dewatering evaluations; provides litigation support; and directs groundwater-flow and fate and transport modeling. She is actively involved with the nonprofit Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) as an Advisory Board member.