Here is what your fellow Columbia Business School Real Estate Alumni have been doing recently. If you don’t see your news mentioned, please let us know.

Congratulations to the following alumni named in the commercial real estate's 100 most powerful players of 2021 by Commercial Observer:

#9: Tommy Craig ’82 
#25: Paul Pariser ’78 
#39: Nicholas Bienstock ’96
#47: David Simon ’85 
#60: David O’Reilly ’01 
#67: Meredith Marshall ’92

BentallGreenOak Appoints Abbe Franchot Borok to Lead the Firm’s Debt Business in the U.S.
“I am tremendously excited to join the BentallGreenOak team to help build and grow the US Debt business,” said Abbe Franchot Borok, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Debt, BentallGreenOak. “BGO’s global reach and expertise across debt and equity strategies, it commitment to a vast client base, and its focus on becoming a next generation real estate asset management firm through its commitment to ESG, position the firm well to build a leading commercial real estate debt platform for the long term.“

CBRE Capital Advisors Hires Industry Veteran Roland Merchant Jr.
“I am delighted to be joining the leading real estate platform in the world. It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with an outstanding global capital advisory team that brings together unrivalled real estate knowledge with first class financial expertise,” said Mr. Merchant.

15 Smart Ways to Keep Up with Industry Tech Disruptions in Real Estate
“Keep abreast of the latest changes in the industry. Talk to your peers and look into the latest R&D that is out there. See which startup companies are receiving funding and from whom. You don't have to use them all, but having a wide knowledge of what is available will ensure you find what works best for you.”

Paramount Group Plans $250M Manhattan Tower Overhaul
Paramount Group Inc. is among the roster of landlords that have recently revealed plans to modernize properties within the borough, including 60 Wall St. in Lower Manhattan, which is slated for a more than $250 million makeover. CBRE’s Paul Amrich and Howard Fiddle will handle leasing for the renovated building.

Latham & Watkins Expands at 1271 Avenue of the America, Now Fully Leased
Latham & Watkins expanded its footprint at the Rockefeller Group’s 1271 Avenue of the Americas by about 20,000 square feet, bringing the building to fully leased. Scott Gamber and Craig Reicher of CBRE handled it for Latham & Watkins. Mary Ann Tighe, Howard Fiddle, Maher and Evan Haskell, also of CBRE, represented the landlord.

New Book by Robert Reffkin, Founder & CEO of Compass: No One Succeeds Alone
No One Succeeds Alone is filled with personal stories and entrepreneurial lessons that Robert Reffkin ’00CC, ’03CBS, Founder and CEO of Compass has learned from his mother, his mentors, and his own search for belonging

What Bosses Really Think of Remote Workers
America’s ceos have a message for people who love working from home: Your happy days are numbered. Remote work is “suboptimal,” Jonathan Wasserstrum, the CEO of the New York commercial-real-estate company SquareFoot, told me. “I believe that work is better when most of the people are in the office most of the time together,” he said. As if to prove his point, at that moment our phone connection grew fuzzy.

Quinlan Starts Work on Brooklyn Apartment Development
Quinlan Development Group has broken ground on its newest project at 230 Classon Avenue, on the corner of Willoughby Avenue in Clinton Hill. The lender for the project is CIT Bank, with Hines Realty Income Fund providing a mezzanine loan. Gideon Gil and Dan O’Brien from Cushman & Wakefield provided advisory services throughout the acquisition and financing processes. The project is expected to be brought to market in spring 2023. 

JPMorgan Chase Lends $44M for Mount Sinai Wellness Center Harlem Project
Park-It Management has inked $44 million of financing for its construction of a new Mount Sinai Health System wellness center in Harlem, Commercial Observer has learned. JPMorgan Chase provided the floating-rate loan for the planned medical office development at 160 West 124th Street, which had formerly operated as a four-story parking garage. A Cushman & Wakefield equity, debt & structured finance team of Gideon Gil, Preston Flammang and Alex Lapidus represented the borrower.