Exploring D.C.: NoMa, Mount Vernon Triangle, North Capitol Street

As President & CEO of the MVT CID, Kenyattah Robinson is responsible for overall management of the organization, including leading operations, planning, program development, financial management, communications, marketing and branding, special events, community advocacy, fundraising, public speaking and reporting; vendor management; working with District of Columbia and Federal government, Advisory Neighborhood Commission and National Park Service partners; managing all staff including a seven-person crew of Clean Team Ambassadors; and managing a 19-member Board of Directors. With 20+ years of combined public- and private-sector management, real estate finance and advisory, policy, public affairs, and urban placemaking experience, Kenyattah previously served as a Senior Vice President | National Director on the Public Institutions team at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) where his primary responsibilities included developing strategies to help public-sector organizations achieve their mission objectives through public-private partnerships and other venture opportunities to maximize the value of their real property assets. A New Orleans native of the Upper Ninth Ward and graduate of the “blue ribbon” Benjamin Franklin Senior High School, he earned his B.A. in liberal arts and business from Louisiana State University (LSU) and an M.B.A. from the Johnson School at Cornell University where he was a Roy H. Park Leadership and Robert Toigo Foundation fellow. A former Mount Vernon Triangle resident property owner, Kenyattah lives in northwest Washington with his son Markus and wife Marnique Heath Robinson, a Principal in the Washington, DC office of STUDIOS Architecture (where she also serves as firm-wide Chair of the Board), previous Chair of DC’s Board of Zoning Adjustment, and current Chair of DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board. He is a proud Eagle Scout.

Brian Smith is the Senior Director of Planning and Economic Development for the NoMa Business Improvement District in Washington, DC. In his current role, Brian is responsible for attracting and retaining businesses and residents to the neighborhood, and developing future plans to make NoMa even better. Prior to the NoMa BID, Smith served as the Senior Economic Development Coordinator for the City of Durham’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Earlier in his career, Smith worked as the Economic Development Project Manager at Atlanta’s Midtown Alliance, a coalition of top business and civic leaders. Smith also renovated two historic buildings in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina, which he transformed into a café and events venue. In his personal time, Brian enjoys tennis, running, and watching documentaries. He serves as the Board Chair for the Community Empowerment Fund, a non-profit supporting people experiencing homelessness or financial insecurity.  Brian holds a BBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Dave Pollin is the Co-Founder and President of The Buccini/Pollin Group (“BPG”), co- headquartered in Washington, DC and Wilmington, DE. He also serves as Chairman of PM Hotel Group, the hotel management affiliate of BPG. Mr. Pollin leads the firms’ hotel acquisition, development and capital markets efforts. The Buccini/Pollin Group has acquired and developed over $5 billion of properties in every real estate asset class throughout the United States since its founding in 1993. BPG is the developer, owner and operator of over 50 hotels, seven million square feet of office space, 15 major residential communities, numerous retail properties, and multiple sports/entertainment venues. Among BPG’s affiliates, PM Hotel Group manages 60+ hotels and over $600mm of managed revenue, ranking it as the 15th largest independent hotel management company in the US (pmhotegroup.com). BPGS Construction has 60+ associates focused on general contracting, tenant improvements and owner representation services (bpgsconstruction.com). BPG 360 develops and manages office projects for BPG (bpg360.com), while Reside BPG oversees the company’s multi-family residential efforts (residebpg.com). Corten Real Estate Partners was formed in 2018 to be BPG’s discretionary fund vehicle and has several investments closed or in the pipeline. The principals of BPG are also co-founders and owners of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, having developed and constructed Talen Energy Stadium, the team’s home field in Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Pollin’s current affiliations include: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration’s Dean’s Advisory Board; Cornell University Council; Vice President of the Economic Club of Washington; Trustee of the Federal City Council; Trustee of The Holton Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland; Canopy by Hilton’s Owner Advisory Council; Education Chair of YPO Gold US Capital Chapter; and Founding Board Member of Founders Bank in Washington, DC. In years past, Mr. Pollin served on the Monument Bank (now Revere Bank) Board of Directors; Starwood Hotels & Resorts North American Owner’s Advisory Council; Owner Advisory Council of Hilton’s Embassy Suites brand; Co-Founder and President of the Board of Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic; and Regional Chair of the Northeast US Region of the Young Presidents Organization. Prior to co- founding The Buccini/Pollin Group and PM Hotel Group, Mr. Pollin was a consultant with Laventhol & Horwath and worked in operations with Westin and Sheraton. David Pollin graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Kelly Phillips is co-founder and hospitality director of DC-based Destination Unknown Restaurants, which includes Destino, Las Gemelas, and Ghostburger. Kelly was named to the Washington Business Journal 40 under 40 list in 2022 for her work in fostering equitable work environments in the restaurant industry. She lives in Northeast D.C. with her husband and two french bulldogs.

Dean Mosones is the owner and managing partner of Bar Chinois located in Mount Vernon Triangle. He is also a partner in a NY-based restaurant group with operations in Brooklyn (Alta Calidad) and New Orleans (Otra Vez). With more than 30 years of marketing and business development experience, Dean is responsible for building culture, optimizing operations and expansion. He is also a business consultant working primarily with law firms, startups, and senior executives on growth strategy, recruiting, and executive leadership. A Southern California native, Dean moved to Washington, DC in 2005 where he joined the law firm of Crowell & Moring as the Director of Business Development and Competitive Intelligence where he oversaw and managed the firm’s sales and marketing strategy and opportunity analysis efforts.

Meridith uses her real-world experience with her extensive legal knowledge to provide her clients with creative and results-driven legal advice. Armed with her in-depth business and regulatory background, Meridith works closely with developers, architects, contractors, property owners, and tenants as an integral member of their team. Meridith has deep roots in Washington D.C., growing up in both Annapolis and Georgetown, attending Georgetown University and the University of Richmond, and building her family on Capitol Hill. Meridith served as a board member and chair of the Board of Zoning Adjustment from 2009 to 2011 as a mayor appointee, appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty. Meridith brings her knowledge of the region to her practice to provide her clients with informed legal insight and useful risk analysis. Meridith’s background in business, in conjunction with her regulatory experience, informs her approach to the practice of law and enables her to deliver realistic risk assessments and options, thus allowing her clients to proceed from an informed perspective. In addition to her focus on zoning, land use, and development, Meridith also possesses experience advising clients on a broad range of licensing, advertising, compliance, and distribution issues before the District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board.

Elizabeth Emerson’s architectural interests spring from the social and cultural. A native of the Washington DC area, Elizabeth’s research in design has engaged issues of social and environmental sustainability, individual and collective identity, and privatization. Elizabeth's project experience prior to founding EL Studio ranged from multi-tenant residential and hospitality projects to institutional and government projects including the Syracuse University School of Architecture and the US Embassies in Rabat, Morocco and Vienna, Austria. She has taught at several institutions, most recently in the graduate Urban Practice concentration at Catholic University School of Architecture and Planning. In addition to her design work and academic research, she undertakes art exhibition and residency projects in partnership with Carpe Diem Arte et Pesquisa in Lisbon, Portugal and is an Architectural Expert Guide for Spain and Portugal with AIA Architectural Adventures. Elizabeth is a licensedarchitect in New York and Washington, DC.

Mark Lawrence is a maker, solving theoretical problems with a material vocabulary and skill set. He approaches architecture just as much with his hands as with his mind, using his intimate understanding of construction to understand how seemingly theoretical decision making aects built work. He has worked on a range of project types of varying scale with architecture firms in both Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA, including the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego and the UCLA Broad School Art Center reconstruction and expansion under Richard Meier and Partners. As a board member of the Washington Architecture Foundation, Mark works with Community Design Services to increase access to the organizational value of architecture by optimizing the space occupied by non-profit organizations. Mark is a licensed and registered architect in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Michael J Darby is the principal and founder of Monument Realty, one of the most prolific integrated real estate service firms in the Washington, DC area. Mr. Darby has built Monument into a full-service real estate firm with expertise in Acquisitions, Development, Construction Management, Property Management, Leasing, Investment Sales for Commercial, Residential and Retail property. Through his dynamic leadership and visionary thinking, Mr. Darby has been a driving force in Monument's success for over 23 years and an active member of the Washington region's construction and development industry for nearly 40 years. Mr. Darby served as a senior vice president for Akridge prior to founding Monument. He also directed a number of downtown development projects while at The Carr Company, including such landmark restoration projects as the Willard Hotel and the Southern Railway Building. Today, Monument is transforming neighborhoods throughout the DMV with innovative projects like the new SoNYa district and residential buildings in NoMa, as well as the unprecedented assemblage and preservation project in Chinatown. Mr. Darby began his career in his native Australia, working with a Melbourne-based general contractor, and holds a degree in Construction Engineering and Business from the University of Melbourne. Mr. Darby has been active in numerous regional real estate organizations over the years and encourages Monument employees to participate in leadership roles in such organizations as the DC Building Industry Association, NAIOP, ULI, Real Estate Group and CREW DC. He is an avid skier, cyclist and kite-surfer and enjoys community outreach. He and his company have been long time supporters of the annual Real Estate Games, a charitable sports competition that supports the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and he was the co-chair for six years.

Matt Robinson has 17 years of experience in the real estate industry and pursues multi-family residential, mixed-use acquisition and development opportunities for MRP Realty. Since joining the firm in 2007, Matt has overseen the entitlement, development, and repositioning of over 3.2 million square feet including over 1,100 units. In his seven years at TCC prior to joining MRP, Matt developed a total of 1.5 million square feet comprising 924 residential units and 542,000 square feet of retail and commercial space totaling over $654 million. Before joining TCC, he was an architect with Dimella Shaffer Associates in Boston, Massachusetts focused primarily on age-restricted residential and hotel projects. Matt graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and received his MSRED from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ryan is responsible for securing and delivering Grosvenor’s DC development projects. She brings 8+ years of development management experience. Since joining Grosvenor in 2019 Ryan has overseen the entitlement and development of Grosvenor’s projects in NE DC – a multifamily site in Union Market and condominium in Eckington. Prior to joining Grosvenor, Ryan worked at Bozzuto, where she played a pivotal role in the development of more than $200M worth of residential and mixed-use property in the region. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia and Master of Business Administration from American University.

Mr. Sullivan is responsible for overall project execution of new mixed-use, office, and residential buildings in the Washington, DC region. From acquiring new sites, securing entitlements, leading design, to overseeing construction, Sean coordinates all aspects of a project’s life cycle. Sean is currently managing 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue (480,000 trophy office building), and leading the entitlement effort on a new downtown residential opportunity (in excess of 500 residential units). Prior to BXP, Mr. Sullivan served as a Development Associate with Merlone Geier Partners in San Francisco, an Investment Sales Associate for CBRE in Tokyo, Japan, and an Investment Sales Analyst at Trammell Crow Company. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the UCLA-Anderson School of Management.

As a founding principal of Lee and Associates, Inc., Mr. Lee holds primary responsibilities in all phases of planning, urban design, and landscape architectural design. His most prominent projects include new cities; public plazas; memorials; master plans for parks; open-space systems; communities; resort and recreational development; campuses and waterfront development. He is widely recognized for his specialty in green infrastructure; sustainable city design; and security sensitive site planning. His focus on design excellence is recognized by his peers and institutions and he has served on numerous design award juries. He is a graduate of University of Virginia School of Architecture with a degree in Landscape Architecture where he recently served as a member of the Board of Managers and a trustee for The Jefferson Scholars Foundation. He was the past president of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Potomac Chapter; and in 2007 was inducted into the Council of Fellows of ASLA for exceptional achievement for completed work. For more than 35 years, Mr. Lee has directed his practice based upon context-sensitive designs of the public realm while infusing his sustainable and conscious designs with ecological, historical, cultural, social, and geopolitical sensitivities. Mr. Lee has previously traveled to Liberia and worked on multiple projects in the region, contributing his experience and expertise to improve and enhance the quality of the public realm. A resident of Washington, DC since the early 1980’s, Jeff has actively participated in the renaissance and the growth of DC and the region. He was appointed by then-Mayor Anthony Williams to the DC Comprehensive Plan Task Force. His work has been published in the Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, Architectural Records, Landscape Architecture Magazine, APA Planning Magazine, as well as several other international publications.