Palm Beach County State of the Market

Dilip Barot is an Indian-born, American social entrepreneur with interests in real estate and technology, including investment, development, and management. He is the founder of Creative Choice Group, a conglomerate of companies that are founded on doing well by doing good for the communities in which they invest. He blends lessons learned from Gandhi, Swami Vivekanand, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and John Ruskin, and believes in “Capitalism with Heart” following Gandhi’s teaching of trusteeship. His investments have been focused on uplifting the socio-economy of various communities by creating a better environment for jobs, education, housing and livability. Some of his investments have been in public-private partnerships where he has worked with city, state, and federal or central government in India, USA, and Jamaica. With his strong belief in doing well by doing good, he is well known for “going where no one else will go.” Dilip Barot as well as his ventures have been featured in both national and international publications including Forbes Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Wall Street Journal, Times of India, Affordable Housing Finance, Tax Credit Advisors and Desh-Videsh. He and his ventures have also received numerous awards including 2014 Award of Excellence in Entrepreneurship from India-US Chamber of Commerce, 2014 PACE Technovation Award, 2014 / 2013 / 2012 PACE Corporate Citizen Award, 2011 Community Impact Award – Business of the Year, 2010 Employer Award of Excellence - Workforce Solutions of Texas, 2006 Best Five-Star Development– Florida, 2005 Business of the Year - Stewart Blood Center, and 2004 U.S. Corporate Stewardship Award from U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Joe McMillan is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DDG, an integrated investment, development, design, construction and asset management firm focused on the acquisition and development of real estate and underlying equity, debt or hybrid securities.  Since founding the firm in 2009, DDG has become one of the most active developers in Manhattan. Under McMillan’s tutelage the company has expanded its luxury real estate portfolio to California and most recently Florida. McMillan’s development portfolio of projects underway in prime locations in New York City include 325 West Broadway in Soho, 12 Warren Street and 100 Franklin Street in Tribeca, and his first tower at 180 East 88 th Street on the Upper East Side. The firm is also developing its first residential development in Brooklyn at the former rental building The Standish in Brooklyn Heights. Other celebrated projects developed under his helm include 41 Bond in NoHo and the price-record- breaking 345meatpacking in the Meatpacking District. In San Francisco DDG is currently developing four architecturally adventurous residential projects in the fashionable Hayes Valley neighborhood. McMillan also recently spearheaded DDG’s acquisition of 532 West 20th Street in New York, and Parcel T and 235 Valencia Street in San Francisco. In addition to his developments in New York and California, McMillan led DDG through its first foray into Florida with a new residential project in Palm Beach. Located at 3550 South Ocean Boulevard, the development will be the first new oceanfront luxury condominium in the area in over a decade.   Prior to founding DDG McMillan was a senior member of the U.S. private equity investment team at Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, an institutional alternative asset management firm with over $45 billion of assets under management. He was also a principal at Greenhill & Co., and a founding member of Greenhill Capital Partners investment team managing $1.1 billion of equity capital.    A graduate of the University of Virginia, he holds a B.S. in Commerce, Concentration in Finance. McMillan also served in the U.S. Army.

Scott Sherman is Founder and Principal of Miami-Based Torose Equities. He is responsible for the firm's strategic direction, sourcing investment opportunities, capital markets and operations. Torose is a real estate investment firm with several different verticals, including a value-add urban retail, office, and mixed-use strategy within the Southeastern United States. Prior to launching Torose, Scott co-founded Tricera Capital where he led the charge on strategic direction, capital markets and sourcing investment opportunities. In this role, Scott built a portfolio in excess of $700M over five years and consistently delivered returns in excess of 20% IRR and a 2x multiple across realized investments. Scott maintains ownership and major decisions across the Tricera portfolio and continues to be a minority owner of Tricera Capital. Previously, Scott was Vice President of Acquisitions at Thor Equities. He was responsible for acquisitions in the Southeast United States including Miami, Washington, DC, Nashville, Austin and Charleston. Additionally, he was a key member of Thor’s expansion into Montreal, London and France. At Thor, Scott completed in excess of $2 Billion of acquisitions focusing on urban retail and mixed-use assets. Prior to Thor, Scott was the Director of Acquisitions at Becker Brothers where he was responsible for sourcing and executing value-add strategies across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. During his tenure at Becker Brothers, he managed a mix of asset types including retail, office and parking garages. Before Becker Brothers, Scott began his career at Ernst & Young in the Transaction Real Estate Advisory group where he also obtained his CPA license in the state of NY. Scott is a native of South Florida and currently resides in Miami with his wife Laura, son Lucas, and daughter Lily. He received his MS and BS in Accounting from the University of Florida where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Scott is a member of ICSC, and CIASF, in addition to several philanthropic organizations he dedicates time to in his community.

Rich oversees all M&T Bank activities in Florida leading a team of professionals that provide Commercial, Commercial Real Estate, Healthcare, and Not for Profit credit and banking services. Rich has held various regional and commercial bank leadership roles in his 12 years with the Bank. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and is a distinguished veteran of the United States Army serving as an officer and aviator following his graduation from West Point with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Mr. Merin is a commercial real estate expert with a broad background in all phases of commercial real estate work, including investment sales, tenant representation, site acquisition, development consulting, corporate facilities, and industrial facilities. Mr. Merin’s specialty within the commercial real estate field involves the sale and leasing of office and retail facilities. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Merin has represented both owners and tenants in over 30,000,000 square feet of property negotiations representing over $7 billion in real estate transactions. Mr. Merin is the founder and Chairman of NAI Merin Hunter Codman, Inc., a property management company in West Palm Beach is currently responsible for managing 5,000,000 square feet of office and retail space and, in addition, is the largest commercial real estate firm in Palm Beach County. Mr. Merin is a graduate of Deerfield Academy and Boston University’s School of Management. He was contributing editor and developer of the Code of Ethics for the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, has authored numerous articles on commercial real estate and is the co-author of several professional books on tenant representation and commercial real estate practices.