Chicago Deep Dish: Placemaking

John, founder of Phoenix Development Partners brings, substantial business development and planning experience having served as vice president of business development and acquisitions for HSA Commercial Real Estate and director of business development and strategy planning for the Walt Disney Company. While at Disney, he contributed to the development of 2,100 guest rooms; 140,000 square feet of retail and dining venues, directed the business plan for a $1 billion domestic theme park resort and participated on the development team for Disney Hong Kong. He began his career at Fifield Companies and LaSalle Partners (Jones Lang LaSalle).

With more than 27 years in the industry and a strong background in preconstruction, design-build and subcontractor management, Erik brings a wide range of experience encompassing numerous markets that includes LEED, renovation and ground-up projects. His extensive work in hospitality and adaptive reuse features some of the Chicagoland’s most impressive projects for the country’s most recognizable brands, including the Hilton Canopy and Hilton Garden Inn Hotel development, a 238,000-SF, 15-story historical renovation and conversion of the former headquarters of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and a National Historic Landmark dating back to 1904. His value-focused approach and dedication to customer satisfaction, as well as his strong leadership and effective team-building ability, make him one of the most effective leaders in the construction industry.

Scott Goldman is Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Revision Group, LLC, a Chicago-based private investment firm specializing in the development and acquisition of infill commercial real estate. The firm was formed in 2011 and currently owns a portfolio of approximately $50MM of commercial real estate with several additional projects under development. Prior to forming Revision, Scott spent 6+ years with Pine Tree Commercial Realty, a Northbrook-based shopping center development firm, where he headed the firm’s Acquisition platform that was responsible for the acquisition of $250MM of commercial real estate during Goldman’s tenure and had responsibilities overseeing investor relations, asset management, as well as debt and equity finance.

Ralph Zucker is President of Somerset Development, one of the New York Metropolitan region’s foremost pioneers of New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Design development. Throughout his career, Zucker has worked hands-on in every facet of the building and development process, and has demonstrated a commitment to working with municipalities to create innovative communities based on the principles of New Urbanism. Zucker is perhaps best known for Bell Works, the two-million-square-foot redevelopment of the former Bell Labs property in Holmdel, N.J., where he and the Somerset Development team successfully transformed the iconic Saarinen-designed research facility into a “metroburb,” a term that Somerset coined to describe the suburban building’s revival into a blossoming, downtown-style ecosystem of technology, traditional office, retail, dining and hospitality. Today, Zucker and his team are in the midst of redeveloping The Ameritech Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, originally built as the former AT&T research facility, into Bell Works Chicagoland. The 1.65-million square foot building, which has already welcomed retail and office tenants, is quickly transforming into another successful metroburb. Under Zucker’s leadership, Somerset and its projects have earned numerous industry awards and recognition for their contributions to furthering responsible development practices, including the New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award for Wesmont Station, Somerset's 70-acre transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment located in Wood-Ridge, N.J., where Somerset partnered with NJ TRANSIT to build a brand new train station that provides access to Manhattan.