Washington DC State of the Market: Part II

Bob Kettler is the Chief Executive Officer and owner of Kettler, one of the D.C. region’s largest private companies and a leading real estate development and property management enterprise. Mr. Kettler began his career in the early 1970’s renovating apartments and retail stores, as well as building new homes in D.C. neighborhoods. In 1977 he formed Kettler (under the name Kettler and Scott) as a home building company and later transitioned from home builder to planned community developer in the early 1980’s. Utilizing capital from institutional investors and banking institutions, Kettler experienced rapid growth and became the leading planned community developer in the D.C. region. In over 25 projects, Kettler has provided 46,000 developed lots to both public and private home builders, 15 shopping centers, 10 million square feet of planned commercial uses, and 8 eight championship golf courses. Examples of these developments in Virginia include Cascades, Brambleton and Piedmont. Currently, Kettler has over 2,000 lots in development, primarily in infill locations, on a total of 10 properties from Baltimore, MD to Fredericksburg, VA. Kettler has been successful in developing several notable commercial mixed use projects of approximately 5 million square feet including the 1.4MM square foot Village at Leesburg and the 2MM square foot Trinity Center. Beginning in 1988, Kettler entered the apartment development industry building over 24,000 multifamily units in garden, mid-rise, high-rise and mixed-use properties. These developments also include award winning luxury apartment communities such as Metropolitan Park in Pentagon City as well as 2,500 condominium homes with a gross sales value of nearly $1 billion. Examples of these communities are Midtown Alexandria Station and Midtown Reston Town Center. Additionally, Kettler has developed 7,000 tax credit and bond financed apartments in 40 properties. Currently ranked as the 16th largest multifamily developer in the nation and the 2015 development firm of the year by MHN, Kettler’s development pipeline includes over 5,000 total units. Projects currently under construction in the D.C. metropolitan area are The Acadia at Metropolitan Park, Element 28 in Bethesda, m.flats Crystal City, 2101 Champlain Street in Washington D.C. and Highgate in McLean, VA. Additionally in 1988, Kettler established Kettler Management, the property management division of the organization. Recognized for its excellence and named the 2008 Property Management Company of the Year by NAHB, Kettler Management provides best in class management, marketing, and pre-development services to its clients. The company currently manages over 30,000 apartments in 100+ communities throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South East and Texas for both Kettler affiliates and third-party clients. Recognized as a leader in the real estate development industry, Mr. Kettler has been the recipient of the Building Industry Association’s Monument Lifetime Achievement Award, the Developer of the Year award given by the National Association of Home Builder’s as well as appearing on the Washington Business Journals Power 100 list for the last three consecutive years. Currently, Mr. Kettler serves on the board of the Trust for the National Mall, the Tysons Partnership board, the Kennedy Center corporate board and Wesley Seminary board. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Kettler served on boards for George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association, and the National Methodist Church. He has also served as a Trustee at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School in Washington, D.C., and the Potomac School in McLean, VA. Mr. Kettler and his wife, Charlotte, co-chaired a successful $50 million capital campaign to redevelop the Potomac School in McLean, VA. Kettler also sponsors an annual scholars program at the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis for the study of multifamily housing. Additionally, Kettler is the official apartment management company of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, and has been the sponsor of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, the state of the art official training center for The Washington Capitals since its grand opening in 2006. Mr. Kettler has been married to his wife Charlotte for 31 years. The couple has four adult children and resides in McLean, VA.

Ronald D. Paul is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Bancorp, Inc. and EagleBank, a community bank established in 1998 in Bethesda, Maryland. He has been involved in community banking for 28 years. Mr. Paul is one of the founding board members of the Bank, and has been instrumental in the growth of the Bank’s size to over $5.5 billion in assets and over 20 offices. EagleBank is the largest community bank headquartered in the Washington DC Area. Rated BBB+ by Kroll Bond Rating Agency, EagleBank is a member of the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Maryland Bankers Association and the Virginia Bankers Association. EagleBank has consistently been cited for its excellent overall financial performance by recognized bank rating services such as IDC Financial Publishing, Veribanc and BauerFinancial. For 2014, EagleBank was one of 40 banks named to the Honor Roll of Banks by Keefe, Bruyette and Woods and was named a Sm-All Star Bank by Sandler O’Neill & Partners. Eagle Bancorp, Inc. is a public company and its shares are traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol EGBN. The Company is in the Russell 2000® Index, which measures the performance of the largest 2000 U.S. companies based on total market capitalization. EagleBank is the presenting sponsor of “EagleBank Presents the Bisnow Morning Brief,” an email subscription service providing daily news stories related to Washington, DC area commercial real estate. A founding board member of the Prince George’s National Bank in 1987, Mr. Paul continued to serve as director when the bank merged with Montgomery National Bank in 1991 and changed its name to Allegiance Bank. He was a director of Allegiance Bank from 1991 until September 1996, and a director of Allegiance Banc Corporation from 1991 until its acquisition by F&M National Corporation in 1996. Mr. Paul was born and raised in Oceanside, New York, and came to the Washington, D.C. area to attend the University of Maryland, where he received a B.A. in Accounting. In 1980, he began his career in real estate investment as a bookkeeper, and in 1987, formed his own investment company, Ronald D. Paul Companies, Inc. Mr. Paul’s real estate holdings include office buildings and multi-family apartment projects throughout the Washington Metropolitan area, as well as in Texas, Florida and Iowa. Mr. Paul was a director, as well as Chairman of the Audit Committee, of Republic Properties Trust, a New York Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust, until it was sold in 2007. He is active in private investments, which includes serving as Chairman of Bethesda Investments, Inc., a private venture capital fund. As President of RDP Management, Inc., he is also engaged in the business of real estate management. Very active in several charitable organizations, Mr. Paul serves on the Board of Directors of the Washington Hospital Center Foundation and, since 1987, on the Board of Directors of the National Kidney Foundation of the National Capital Area (“NCA”). Mr. Paul’s involvement with the National Kidney Foundation began in the 1980’s when he was diagnosed with kidney disease; he received a kidney transplant from his brother, Steven B. Paul, at the Washington Hospital Center in 1990. Nineteen years later, he received a second transplant from Kathy McCallum, Chief Financial Officer of Ronald D. Paul Companies. Mr. Paul served as Chairman of the Board of the National Kidney Foundation of the NCA from 2002 – 2003, and he also chaired the National Kidney Foundation’s Annual Kidney Ball—the largest one-day fund-raising event of the Foundation—in 1993 and 2000. In 2002, Mr. Paul founded the National Kidney Foundation’s Annual Ronald D. Paul Companies Kidney Walk, which has grown from approximately 40 to over 900 walkers and has raised over $900,000. While attending the University of Maryland, he was active in many community events and became the youngest member ever to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society. As Chairman of Eagle Bancorp, in 2005, Mr. Paul founded the EagleBank Foundation, which annually raises funds for breast cancer research, patient services and education. To-date, the Foundation has raised in excess of $2.1 million.

David Kessler serves as Managing Partner of CohnReznick's Real Estate Industry practice. He has over 30 years of experience providing audit, tax, and management advisory services to the real estate and financial services industries, representing clients nationally. David represents developers, private equity funds, institutional investors such as life insurance companies and pension funds, lenders, asset management companies, property management companies, REITs, and loan funds. His clients operate and develop hotels, office, multifamily, industrial, retail, nursing and assisted living, land projects, military housing, and student housing units. David's services for commercial real estate clients involve audit and management advisory services including assisting new and existing private equity funds with structures, compliance, and asset or portfolio due diligence. He works with RIA’s, fund managers, and is proficient with real estate accounting and reporting as well as real estate operations. David frequently works with the Firm’s Advisory Practice. David designed and has taught a real estate accounting graduate-level course at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies and the University of Maryland’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation as part of each university’s graduate degree program in real estate development. He speaks frequently at real estate industry conferences throughout the country. David serves on the Board and is Treasurer of Junior Achievement of Greater Washington and is a Board Member of Barker Adoption Foundation.

Matt Kelly is the CEO of JBG Smith and a member of the board of trustees. He previously served as a Managing Partner and a member of JBG's Executive Committee and Investment Committee. He previously was co-head of the firm's Investments Group and was primarily responsible for JBG's investment strategy and the investment and acquisition activity of the JBG Investment Funds. Prior to joining the JBG Companies in 2004, he was a co-founder of ODAC Inc., a media software company, and worked in private equity and investment banking with Thomas H. Lee Partners in Boston and Goldman Sachs, & Co in New York. Mr. Kelly currently serves as a Trustee of the Federal City Council and is a member of the Economic Club of Washington! D.C. He is Vice-Chair of the Medstar Health Washington Hospital Center Board of Directors. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Ayuda, an immigrant focused non-profit organization in the D.C. metro area. He is also a member of The Urban Land Institute and The Real Estate Group and has lectured at Georgetown University and The University of Notre Dame. Mr. Kelly holds a B.A. with honors from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Bob Milkovich is the CEO of rand* construction, and is responsible for developing, leading and communicating the company’s short and long-term strategies. This includes oversight of all major operating businesses within rand*. He is responsible for creating and implementing the company’s vision, mission and culture.   Bob brings over thirty years of commercial real estate experience and leadership experience to his role at rand* construction. Prior to joining rand*, Bob was the CEO and Trustee of First Potomac Realty Trust, a publicly traded REIT. His experiences include serving as the President of Spaulding & Slye Investments, a JLL wholly-owned private equity investment merger, as a Regional Director of Goldman Sachs, investing in all aspects of the capital structure in commercial real estate and leadership positions with CarrAmerica, a publicly traded office REIT and its predecessor, the Oliver Carr Company.  His vast knowledge of the industry and active participation in the community over the years has helped him to build deep relationships locally and nationally within the industry. He currently serves as a Director and Vice Chair Investment Committee for the University System of Maryland Foundation, overseeing the endowment. He also serves on the Membership Committee for The Economic Club of Washington, DC and was a past President of The Real Estate Group of Washington, DC.  Bob received a BS in Business Administration from the University of Maryland where he attended on a full-scholarship and played varsity football.

Mark Katz is Chairman of Arent Fox. His principal areas of focus are commercial real estate matters, private equity transactional work, joint ventures, finance, loan workouts and restructurings.

Jason is a trusted advisor to developers, bankers, and investors in all types of commercial real estate transactions. He has a national practice and handles a range of deals from acquisitions and dispositions, leasing and development transactions to financing, loan workouts, corporate structuring, and joint ventures. Jason has extensive experience with a variety of asset classes, including office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, retail, mixed-use developments, and condominiums, and represents clients in transactions ranging from under five million dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. Jason works with his clients to determine the most practical, cost-effective way to meet their goals. His clients describe him as a highly responsive problem solver who understands their business and provides sound advice to help them execute their strategic objectives. Jason also represents several non-profit organizations and has received numerous awards for outstanding pro bono service.