December 14, 2023

By Joshua Boren, Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting

In this episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, RCLCO’s Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives, Joshua Boren, sits down with Shelley Brindle, Mayor of Westfield, New Jersey and Doug Adams, Senior Vice President, Development at Streetworks Development, to discuss the “One Westfield Place” redevelopment project—an adaptive reuse of a former Lord & Taylor building and its adjacent parking lots—that is poised to create a vibrant mixed-use downtown, with new office, retail, and residential.

“One of the hallmarks of Streetworks is we look – always start with a larger context and how does the property or the project fit into that larger picture.”

– Doug on the importance of local context

They discuss the history and background of the project, the unique challenges and surprising benefits of repurposing large-scale retail into new office space, how the Mayor’s background at HBO as a Executive Vice President, Domestic Network Distribution and Marketing, helped prepare her for the public sector, and how they worked to incorporate resident input throughout the process.

“I would just say to any of your listeners who are developers: don’t be afraid of the public input. It only helps you get people invested in the success of the project and ultimately helps you with approvals.”

– Mayor Brindle on public feedback and collaboration

Mayor of Westfield, NJ

Shelley Brindle is currently the Mayor of Westfield, NJ, (pop 31k) elected as the first female Mayor in town history in November 2017, unseating a three term incumbent with her vision for transforming and reimagining Westfield’s historic downtown. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Network Distribution and Marketing at HBO where she was responsible for the revenue, marketing, and overall distribution and growth strategy of HBO’s $4.4B domestic subscription business where she oversaw many of HBO’s most important initiatives, including the launch of HBO’s first streaming service.

Senior Vice President, Development

Following a passion for real estate Doug Adams followed a path from banking and equity lending to being a developer for the past 25 years. Working for both large and small companies, he has developed an expertise in large scale entitlements and public-private partnerships in most asset classes.

Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives

Joshua A. Boren specializes in leading business development, marketing, and strategic initiatives for various real estate needs and solutions as part of the RCLCO team. With more than 15 years of experience, Joshua specializes in understanding how network building and relationship management is critical to organizational success, which has resulted in millions of dollars of closed engagements. At RCLCO, he has grown the business development and marketing departments, which were recognized by Globe St. in 2019 as “Influencers in Marketing”. Incredibly involved in the global real estate community, Joshua holds membership and leadership positions at Urban Land Institute Los Angeles and Jewish Federation Los Angeles’ Real Estate and Construction Division, among others. Joshua also hosts RCLCO’s monthly Round-Up Webinar Series, which dives into factors in the real estate market, in addition to other RCLCO events and features.

November 9, 2023

By Eric Willett, Managing Director; Adam Ducker, CEO, RCLCO; Ellen Klasson, Managing Director; Jim Wright, Managing Director

RCLCO announced its partnership with CEL Compensation Advisors, LLC to expand and enhance its industry-leading talent management practice, building on the CEL annual Real Estate Compensation & Benefits Survey and its compensation consulting practice.

In this special episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, listen to the recent webinar where leaders of the new partnership, Eric Willett, Adam Ducker, Ellen Klasson, and Jim Wright, discussed challenges real estate companies are facing today regarding talent management, trends in employee and executive compensation, and answered questions from the audience.

“…the two top of mind issues for people managing real estate organizations for 2024…will be optimizing NOI at the property level and maximizing talent within the organization.”

– Adam Ducker speaking on the broad consensus of topics raised that management in real estate organization have for the coming year

“The importance of talent development is going to become particularly more acute and it’s really exacerbated by all these shifts in how we work.”

– Eric Willett’s observation on talent expectations

View the full webinar and access the slide deck by logging into your RCLCO web portal account, or by filling out the form to the right of the webinar page and following the “watch” link that appears.

Managing Director, Management Consulting

Eric Willett is the Managing Director of RCLCO’s management consulting practice. Eric works with a wide variety of market-leading firms throughout the real estate industry to craft and execute organizational strategy, portfolio transformation, and corporate growth initiatives. Eric brings extensive experience in strategic planning and organizational improvement to projects that interface with client teams at all points in the development lifecycle. His collaboration with executive teams has resulted in transformational strategies for real estate companies across all industry sectors and a range of global markets.

More broadly, Eric regularly contributes innovative client-focused research and solutions across industry topics including risk management, alternative investment structures, and evolving consumer demographics. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events and is regularly cited as a commercial real estate expert by national and regional media including The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and others. In addition, Eric is adjunct professor of Business Economics at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business where he leads a course on commercial real estate strategy.

Eric previously worked as the Director of Research and Thought Leadership at CBRE, where he oversaw the delivery of forward-looking insights spanning all major property sectors. Eric graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Adam Ducker is Chief Executive Officer of RCLCO and oversees the firm’s Real Estate Economics and Management Consulting Practices. Adam joined RCLCO in the mid-1990s as an associate directly after graduate school and learned the trade with the firm. He is a recognized expert in strategic planning for real estate companies, investment analysis, market and financial analysis, and marketing of real estate assets. He has particular depth of expertise in high-density housing, retail/entertainment, and hotel development.

Adam is a member of the Executive Committee of RCLCO, which manages shared resources and oversees overall company strategy. He also sits on the board of the RCLCO Foundation.

Adam is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from place-making, urban redevelopment, retail trends, and in-town housing. His writing has been widely published and quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Urban Land, Real Assets, among others. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), vice chair of the Redevelopment and Reuse Council, and a board member of the Terwilliger Center for Housing. A native of the New York metropolitan area, Adam received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Columbia University.

Managing Director, Executive Search

Ellen Klasson is a Managing Director in RCLCO’s Management Consulting practice, working out of the Washington, DC office. Ellen leads executive search engagements for leadership roles at development, investment, and land use companies across all asset classes. Ellen’s consultative nature has enabled her to identify and attract talent for both traditional and nuanced roles, and her deep understanding of the business lends itself to a more analytical approach of a candidate’s viability. Working for twenty years in the real estate industry has allowed Ellen to forge long-lasting relationships with and earn the trust of both clients and candidates.

Before joining RCLCO, Ellen spent five years as a Managing Director at Terra Search Partners, a national boutique executive search firm focused exclusively on the real estate industry. Previously she worked at the Urban Land Institute as the Senior Director of Leadership, overseeing the leadership programs for the organization’s 40,000 members worldwide. Prior to joining ULI, Ellen co-directed CohnReznick’s Real Estate Development Advisory practice, analyzing real estate opportunities for developers and municipalities. She is also a former Vice President of Economic Development at Central Atlanta Progress, where she attracted new investment into Downtown Atlanta. She began her career consulting to developers while a project manager at RCLCO.

Ellen continues to be actively involved with the Urban Land Institute. She is the Past Chair of the Americas of its Women’s Leadership Initiative and now serves as Governance Chair. She is also DEI Chair of the Urban Revitalization Council (Gold Flight) and a Management Committee member of ULI Washington. She volunteers with UrbanPlan, a program for high school and college students that introduces them to the complex trade-offs of real estate development.

Ellen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University and a Master of City & Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Managing Director, Compensation Consulting

As Managing Partner – CEL Compensation Advisors, Jim Wright brings over 35 years of experience in all sectors of the real estate industry stemming from an Executive career encompassing engineering, finance, management consulting, financial restructuring, project management, and business development in private and public sector environments.  Mr. Wright has provided insightful and valuable management counsel to corporate CEOs, Senior Management, Boards of Directors, Investors, Advisors and their intermediaries.

Jim has particular expertise and is a nationally known leader in the area of executive compensation program design, plan structuring, market benchmarking, and policy for the real estate industry.  Mr. Wright works with Compensation Committees, Boards of Directors, CEOs and Senior Management on a variety of compensation, performance, management, and governance related issues.  His career has involved assignments with over 300 clients including public/private REITs, national/regional development companies, investment management firms, private equity funds, national/global brokerage/service firms, and advisors in all sectors of commercial and residential real estate.

Jim has proven strategic, analytical, operational, organizational and management skills in creating, directing and implementing successful business solutions to challenging and complex company issues.  Jim has an MBA from Case Western Reserve University; an MA (Economics) from the State University of New York; and a BS from Bradley University.  Jim is the author of articles published in Real Estate Portfolio, Boards & Directors, Real Estate Review, Urban Land, Units, and other real estate publications.

September 22, 2023

By Adam Ducker, CEO, RCLCO Real Estate Consulting

In this episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, RCLCO’s CEO, Adam Ducker, sits down with Ellen Dunham-Jones, a Professor of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology and director of the MS in Urban Design.

An award winning co-author of two books, Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges (2021) and Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (2009) as well as the podcast host of REDESIGNING CITIES, Ellen gives us academic perspective on what it means to be an urbanist and the future of real estate practitioners.

“The biggest difference between urban planning and urban design is that urban designers draw a lot. Most urban planners in the U.S….do great analytical research, they write papers, they do a lot of community engagement…but it’s not drawing the actual layout of neighborhoods…and really integrating at that larger scale.”

– Ellen on the main difference of urban planning vs. urban design

In addition, the Adam and Ellen discuss retrofitting suburbia and what the suburbs represent in the current real estate market space.

“…the supply of sites that are ripe for some kind of retrofitting just keeps growing.”

– Ellen’s optimistic outlook on re-imagining suburbia

Ellen Dunham-Jones is a professor of architecture and directs the MS in Urban Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  An authority on sustainable suburban redevelopment, she maintains a unique database of over 2,500 suburban retrofits, hosts the REDESIGNING CITIES podcast series, was Architectural Record’s 2018-19 Woman Educator of the year and was recognized in 2023 and 2017 by Planetizen as one of the 100 most influential urbanists.

She is co-author with June Williamson of two award-winning books: Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Strategies for Urgent Challenges (Wiley, 2021) received the Place Book of the year award from the Environmental Design Research Association. And Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs, (Wiley, 2009, 2011, Mandarin 2013) received a PROSE award as best architecture and planning book of 2009. These books document how successful retrofits of aging shopping centers, strip mall corridors, office parks, etc. are helping their communities disrupt automobile dependence, improve public health, support an aging population, leverage social capital for equity, compete for jobs, and add water and energy resilience. The work has been featured in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, PBS, NPR, TED and other prominent venues.

She is a Fellow of the Congress for the New Urbanism as well as the Brook Byers Institute of Sustainable Systems, lectures widely, and conducts workshops and research on the many co-benefits of retrofitting – as well as on the potential urban design impacts of autonomous vehicles. She serves on several national committees, has BS and M.Arch degrees from Princeton University, practiced architecture for 20 years, and taught at UVA and MIT before being recruited to direct the Architecture Program at Georgia Tech in 2000.

CEO, RCLCO

Adam Ducker is Chief Executive Officer of RCLCO and oversees the firm’s Real Estate Economics and Management Consulting Practices. Adam joined RCLCO in the mid-1990s as an associate directly after graduate school and learned the trade with the firm. He is a recognized expert in strategic planning for real estate companies, investment analysis, market and financial analysis, and marketing of real estate assets. He has particular depth of expertise in high-density housing, retail/entertainment, and hotel development.

Adam is a member of the Executive Committee of RCLCO, which manages shared resources and oversees overall company strategy. He also sits on the board of the RCLCO Foundation.

Adam is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from place-making, urban redevelopment, retail trends, and in-town housing. His writing has been widely published and quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Urban Land, Real Assets, among others. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), vice chair of the Redevelopment and Reuse Council, and a board member of the Terwilliger Center for Housing. A native of the New York metropolitan area, Adam received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Columbia University.

April 28th , 2023

By Adam Ducker, CEO, RCLCO

In this episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, RCLCO’s CEO, Adam Ducker, sits down with Jon Paul “JP” Testwuide and Andrew Lang of Alterra Mountain Company, a curator of a family of destinations including recreation, hospitality, real-estate development, food and beverage, and retail businesses.

The group discusses Alterra Mountain Company’s positioning in the mountain resort market and the strategies leading to their successes at Winter Park Resorts and Steamboat Springs in Colorado. A particular focus includes Alterra’s strategic planning of the mixed-use base villages that emphasizes creative placemaking providing for a great guest experience.

“We have the hat of an operator and the hat of a developer.”

– Andrew Lang on Alterra’s charter

In addition, the group discusses trends in mountain resorts from the last 10 years including how the rise and falls have impacted the market and what the future holds.

Alterra prioritizes its resort operations, and in doing so they recognize that fostering good culture, providing great recreational and entertainment opportunities and maintaining a strong resort identity is paramount to success.

“How do we create the asset that speaks to where the place is and how do we define that in connection with the resort and guest experience at the top of mind?”

– JP Testwuide on what to ask when considering how to best create a successful resort with guest satisfaction in mind

Director of Development, Alterra Mountain Company

Jon Paul Testwuide serves as the Director of Development for Alterra Mountain Company. Mr. Testwuide leads development related activities for select resorts to grow and scale. Major initiatives include master land planning, entitlement pursuits, repositioning of existing assets, land acquisitions and dispositions, and horizontal and vertical development in resort product types. Prior to AMC, Jon Paul spent 5 years at KSL Capital Partners, a Denver based private equity firm with nearly $10 billion in assets under management, where he was responsible for leading large capital projects and repositioning’s within the hospitality space. He graduated from the University of Denver with a concentration in Real Estate & Finance. During his time at DU he played D-1 hockey for the Pioneers.

Vice President of Strategic Planning and Development, Alterra Mountain Company

Andrew Lang serves as the Vice President of Strategic Planning and Development for Alterra Mountain Company and are part of the Financial Strategy team within the Finance Department.  In addition, since 2013, Andrew has been a Co-founder and Partner at HLR Group, Inc., an investment management and holdings company dedicated to capital growth via applied statistical methods and factor-based investing across a range of assets. Prior to AMC, he spent a year at Genworth Financial as a Senior Manager. Andrew is an alumni from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA and is currently based in Denver, CO.

CEO, RCLCO Real Estate Consulting

Adam Ducker is Chief Executive Officer of RCLCO and oversees the firm’s Real Estate Economics and Management Consulting Practices. Adam joined RCLCO in the mid-1990s as an associate directly after graduate school and learned the trade with the firm. He is a recognized expert in strategic planning for real estate companies, investment analysis, market and financial analysis, and marketing of real estate assets. He has particular depth of expertise in high-density housing, retail/entertainment, and hotel development.

Adam is a member of the Executive Committee of RCLCO, which manages shared resources and oversees overall company strategy. He also sits on the board of the RCLCO Foundation.

Adam is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from place-making, urban redevelopment, retail trends, and in-town housing. His writing has been widely published and quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Urban Land, Real Assets, among others. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), vice chair of the Redevelopment and Reuse Council, and a board member of the Terwilliger Center for Housing. A native of the New York metropolitan area, Adam received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Columbia University.

March 16, 2023

By Joshua Boren, Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting

In this episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, RCLCO’s Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives, Joshua Boren, sits down with the President of Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, Bryant Park Corp., and 34th Street Partnership Dan Biederman, a trailblazer in urban planning and development, whose Bryant Park’s restoration is used as a case study to many in the industry for those looking to make change at the community level.

In addition to discussing Dan’s career overview into real estate and past and future projects, the pair discuss how family plays a role into shaping career pathways and run ins with historical figures like American publisher and philanthropist Enid Haupt, David Rockefeller and Andrew Heiskell.

“I only have two strengths. I’m not smarter than everybody else [but] I have discipline and intellectual curiosity.”

– Dan Biederman on his strengths contributing to his successful out-of-the-box thinking

President of Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, Bryant Park Corp. & 34th Street Partnership

Dan Biederman began his career creating real estate value in New York, where he founded Bryant Park Corporation, the nation’s most successful park privatization effort, in 1980. He then set up the country’s largest complex of Business Improvement Districts: Grand Central Partnership (1985) and 34th Partnership (1989).

During his career, through these and other entities, he has revived or built twelve privately-funded and managed urban parks and turned around five troubled neighborhoods, eliminating thousands of annual crimes, and creating directly 2,500 jobs and over $10 billion in real estate value.

His consulting firm, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures Corp. (BRV), has represented many of the nation’s largest office, retail, and residential developers and owners on public space work, in 30 states and nine countries. Among the professional sports franchises that BRV has helped with place-making are three NFL teams (Jets, Packers, and Falcons), and the San Francisco Giants (in their Mission Rock development with Tishman Speyer).

He graduated from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, magnum cum laude, in 1975, and from the Harvard Business School with distinction in 1977.

Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting

Joshua A. Boren specializes in leading business development, marketing, and strategic initiatives for various real estate needs and solutions as part of the RCLCO team. With more than 15 years of experience, Joshua specializes in understanding how network building and relationship management is critical to organizational success, which has resulted in millions of dollars of closed engagements. At RCLCO, he has grown the business development and marketing departments, which were recognized by Globe St. in 2019 as “Influencers in Marketing”. Incredibly involved in the global real estate community, Joshua holds membership and leadership positions at Urban Land Institute Los Angeles and Jewish Federation Los Angeles’ Real Estate and Construction Division, among others. Joshua also hosts RCLCO’s monthly Round-Up Webinar Series, which dives into factors in the real estate market, in addition to other RCLCO events and features.

November 09, 2022

By Taylor Mammen, CEO, RFA

October 28, 2022

By Adam Ducker, CEO, RCLCO

June 15, 2022

By Cyndi Thomas, Managing Director, RFA

May 24, 2022

By: Charlie Hewlett, Managing Director

In this episode of Conversations with the Best Minds in Real Estate, Managing Director Joshua Boren welcomes Ellen Klasson to the firm with an in-depth interview. They discuss Ellen’s 20-year career journey from Atlanta to Washington, DC, including lessons learned from her time at Central Atlanta Progress, CohnReznick, the Urban Land Institute, and Terra Search Partners. Learn how Ellen leveraged her background in real estate analytics to now focus on the human capital aspects and become one of the country’s leading recruiters for the real estate industry.

Ellen Klasson is a Managing Director in RCLCO’s Management Consulting practice. Ellen leads executive search engagements for leadership roles at development, investment, and land use companies across all asset classes. Ellen’s consultative nature has enabled her to identify and attract talent for both traditional and nuanced roles, and her deep understanding of the business lends itself to a more analytical approach of a candidates’ viability. Working for nearly twenty years in the real estate industry has allowed Ellen to forge long-lasting relationships with and earn the trust of both clients and candidates.

Before joining RCLCO, Ellen spent five years as a Managing Director at Terra Search Partners, a national boutique executive search firm focused exclusively on the real estate industry. Previously she worked at the Urban Land Institute as the Senior Director of Leadership, overseeing the leadership programs for the organization’s 40,000 members worldwide. Prior to joining ULI, Ellen co-directed CohnReznick’s Real Estate Development Advisory practice, analyzing real estate opportunities for developers and municipalities. She is also a former Vice President of Economic Development at Central Atlanta Progress, where she attracted new investment into Downtown Atlanta. She began her career consulting to developers while a project manager at RCLCO.

Ellen continues to be involved with the Urban Land Institute, where she is the Americas Chair of its Women’s Leadership Initiative and a member of the Urban Revitalization Council. She is also a volunteer with UrbanPlan, a program for high school and college students that introduces them to the complex trade-offs of real estate development. Ellen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University and a Master of City & Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

LEARN MORE ABOUT RCLCO’S EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND RECRUITING SERVICES

Joshua A. Boren specializes in leading business development, marketing, and strategic initiatives for various real estate needs and solutions as part of the RCLCO team. With 15 years of experience, Joshua specializes in understanding how network building and relationship management are critical to organizational success, which has resulted in millions of dollars of closed engagements. Incredibly involved in the global real estate community, Joshua holds membership and leadership positions at Urban Land Institute Los Angeles and Jewish Federation Los Angeles’ Real Estate and Construction Division, among others. Joshua also hosts RCLCO’s monthly Round-Up Webinar Series, which dives into the ever-changing impacts of major trends in the real estate markets. As part of the RCLCO sales and marketing team, he was recently recognized as a 2021 Marketing Influencer by Globe St.

RCLCO is proud to be the “first call” for real estate developers, investors, the public sector, and non-real estate organizations seeking strategic and tactical advice regarding property investment, planning, and development. RCLCO leverages quantitative analytics and a strategic planning framework to provide end-to-end business planning and implementation solutions at an entity, portfolio, or project level.

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