AKRIDGE, LERNER, SAUL, RABBITT, SMALL...
It's party season, and Bisnow's been spending a lot of money valeting his car.
Washington Business Hall of Fame dinner: 1,400 execs Tuesday night at Marriott Wardman Park to induct five Laureates into permanent pantheon of Washington business heroes.
In Development. '06 Laureate Chip Akridge with '04 Laureate Ted Lerner. The presenter noted that Chip calls himself "just a country boy," then added, "You know, nothing says country boy like 10 million square feet of high end office and mixed use product."
Scions. Ted's son-in-law Ed Cohen, left, chaired the event, which also inducted Chevy Chase Bank and Saul Centers founder Frank Saul II. Cohen's effort resulted in the most successful HOF dinner ever, raising a million and a half bucks for Junior Achievement.
Three Pointer. Is this a picture of Rand Construction Chairman Linda Rabbitt at a basketball convention? Nah, at HOF dinner she's just sandwiched in between two high flying tekkies, former AOL head of international (and now, naturally, philanthropist) Jack Davies; and former CEO of Vertical Net and current angel investor Mark Walsh.
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ULI Washington Chapter dinner: 700 honored Southern Engineering founder Albert Small Wednesday night at National Building Museum.
Small is Big. Honoree Albert Small (builder of Somerset House among others) with son Sonny Small (founded Renaissance Housing, last year sold to WCI) and son-in-law Gerry Savitsky (lawyer turned Harvard development official).
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Reception for Bob Linowes: Friends turned out to honor the superlawyer and raise money for Shakespeare in the Park at the Shakespeare Theatre, where Bob was Founding chairman.
Good Works. Arent Fox's Richard Newman, center, organized the Linowes event, which brought in Tysons' legend Til Hazel and Holland & Knight's Janis Shiff.
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Lunch Break:
It's been so warm this month, I joined Reznick Group's commercial real estate practice head Dave Kessler on the patio of Bethesda's newly rennovated Blacks Bar & Kitchen. Dave has been busy recently overseeing the firm's expansion to LA and representation of private equity funds like Eastdil Secured and City View.
