Real Estate and Development Power Players

Geoff Flournoy, Co-founder and Managing Partner
Mr. Flournoy is responsible for overseeing all aspects of BRP’s real estate activities, including acquisition, finance, development, construction, and property management. Mr. Flournoy’s leadership has resulted in the completion of approximately $1.1 billion in real estate investments with over $2.8 billion currently in development. Prior to co-founding BRP, Mr. Flournoy was a vice president in AIG’s Global Real Estate Investment Group.

Meredith Marshall, Co-founder and Managing Partner
Mr. Marshall is responsible for executing BRP’s investment strategy, including deal origination, acquisition, finance, and development. He has also led the firm’s strategic partnership initiatives such as the firm’s decade-long partnership with Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and BRP’s active relationships with all of the New York City agencies. Prior to co-founding BRP, Mr. Marshall was a managing director at Musa Capital Advisors, an emerging markets private equity and financial advisory firm based in New York City.

Manny founded BTN Consulting in 2013 to leverage his experience in affordable housing policy, data gathering, and government contracting and reporting, and is now the area’s leading diversity contracting compliance firm, with clients spanning city and state housing and commercial developers, and construction contractors. BTN Consulting’s recent publication, Diversity Contracting: A Guide for Developers, Builders, and Contractors, has been well-received by industry professionals and government agencies alike, defining — and redefining — the concept of MWBE contracting.

What is your favorite landmark in New York State?
The Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY.

What has been your favorite development project and why?
All the East New York-based new developments and rehab projects that our firm has been involved in, because our work has directly benefited local individuals, contractors, and suppliers.

What is the current state of commercial real estate in New York? What impact has the pandemic had?
As a diversity consultant, my opinion is based on MWBE contracting in construction. The pandemic had a dramatically disproportionate impact on MWBE contractors. In 2022, there are signs that this segment of the industry is bouncing back, but it still faces serious obstacles. The current state of MWBE contracting is precarious but I remain optimistic of the future. Government can and should do more to recognize their challenges and adapt changes in policy and services to meet these needs.

How did you become interested in architecture, real estate, or construction?
My interest in construction diversity contracting began during my employment with the state. I knew in 2011 that major changes were coming, and there were few firms available to meet the needs of what is now a significant industry of its own. I left the state to capitalize on the changes in public policy and to provide a grounded view on the matter as a minority myself. Eight years later, our firm continues to be the leading provider of diversity contracting and has now — literally — written the book on the subject.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever lived?
The Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn. Words cannot do justice to this truly magical place.

Donald Capoccia is an urban developer in the fullest sense, combining his career of building in New York City with civic activities devoted to public arts and architecture initiatives. As the managing principal of BFC Partners, Capoccia spearheads the firm’s focus on constructing affordable housing in emerging neighborhoods. Under his guidance, BFC Partners was the first developer in New York City to mix low- and middle-income restricted apartments with market-rate rentals. To further encourage this building trend, Capoccia was a founding member in 1998 of the New York State Affordable Housing Association. Today, his association works to increase affordable housing programs and subsidies.

What is your favorite landmark in New York State?
The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Martin House in Buffalo. It’s extraordinary.

What has been your favorite development project and why?
The Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center, New York City’s very first health and wellness community, which opened in October 2021. It was a team effort, and a challenge. But it’s so satisfying to see a single project help so many people in the Crown Heights neighborhood and the greater Brooklyn community.

What is the current state of commercial real estate in New York? What impact has the pandemic had?
The multifamily market is on fire. On the office and retail front, it is still extremely challenging, but our hope is that companies in New York will continue to encourage employees to come into the office. It’s critical our businesses understand the importance of returning. It’s the only way to lead to major change and growth.

How did you become interested in architecture, real estate, or construction?
My father was a small general contractor in upstate New York. I’ve been on construction sites since I was kid, and have been looking at blueprints ever since. That is what spurred my interest.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever lived?
No question, NYC. I’ve been a resident of NoHo for decades, and that’s my favorite place to live.

Adolfo Carrión, Jr., has spent his professional career working to build and improve communities in the Bronx, New York City, and nationally. Carrión’s extensive career in public service includes serving as New York City councilmember, Bronx borough president, regional administrator for Region II of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, and director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs. Prior to joining HPD, Carrión founded Metro Futures, a real estate development and consulting firm focused on affordable housing and mixed-use and economic development projects in the New York Metro Area.

What has been your favorite development project and why?
Via Verde – a cutting-edge, green, mixed-use, mixed-income project in the South Bronx. It was a GAME CHANGER that triggered many more similar investments.

How did you become interested in architecture, real estate, or construction?
When I was a schoolteacher, I had the great opportunity to meet Dr. Mario G. Salvadori, founder of the Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment at City College. Mario helped me ignite love of learning and the built environment in my students. This led me to pursue my Master’s Degree in Urban Planning. The rest is history.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever lived?
City Island, The Bronx.

Louise Carroll is a real estate partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. Carroll has over 20 years of experience in public service, including serving as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and chair of New York City’s bond issuer, the New York City Housing Development Corporation. She is a prominent leader in the affordable housing community, and has additional focuses in community development, mixed-income housing, public finance, and government relations.

With over 25 years of proven experience authoring and implementing visionary urban architecture, Vishaan Chakrabarti is the founder and creative director of PAU and the author of the highly acclaimed book, A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America. Vishaan served as the William W. Wurster Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to Berkeley, Vishaan was a professor at Columbia University for a decade.

What is your favorite landmark in New York State?
The TWA Flight Center at Kennedy Airport, designed by Eero Saarinen, is arguably one of the most stunning pieces of architecture we have in New York State. The thin shell concrete structure soars while the glass and railings shimmer below, a celebration of a lost age of glamorous air travel that has been beautifully resurrected as a breathtaking hotel.

What has been your favorite development project and why?
I have been working on the Domino project for almost a decade now — the park designed by JCFO and built by our client Two Trees is glorious. Together we are now in the process of designing and building the jewel of the project, the historic Sugar Refinery, which is being restored into a unique creative office building with a porous and public ground floor and a shimmering glass barrel vault at its crown.

What is the current state of commercial real estate in New York? What impact has the pandemic had?
New York is doing great compared to most cities, a testament to our resilience — I was Manhattan’s planner after 9/11 when we mustered a similar tenacity. Like we did with Lower Manhattan back then, we need to consider what our business districts need given remote work, including the ability to convert obsolete office buildings into vibrant new affordable housing that will help make our entire metropolis 24/7. We must build more affordable housing citywide.

How did you become interested in architecture, real estate, or construction?
My intrepid late parents, a scientist and a singer, took us to cities all over the world on a shoestring budget. As a kid I loved the architecture of museums, public squares, bridges, train stations and airports, and soaring skylines . . . I still do.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever lived?
New York City, because the only religion it truly practices is change.

Ofer Cohen is the founder and chief executive officer of TerraCRG, the “Only Brooklyn” commercial real estate firm. Since starting the company in 2008, Cohen has led the company to become a true market leader in Brooklyn’s residential and commercial transformation. Prior to founding TerraCRG, Cohen was a senior broker at Massey Knakal, was a partner at a boutique marketing agency, and was involved with a number of tech-startups. He still remains involved in various tech-startups as an advisor and angel investor, as well serving on a number of civic boards dedicated to helping the Brooklyn community.

Louis Coletti is the president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers Association, an organization founded to give a voice to New York’s construction industry, and currently representing 26 contractor groups. Coletti has over three decades of experience as a leader in New York’s construction industry. In addition to his position at BTEA, he also sits on numerous governmental and organizational boards, including the NYC Comptroller’s M/WBE Advisory Council, the Mayor’s Commission on Construction Opportunities, and the New York Building Congress.

Steven H. Cymbrowitz was elected in 2000 and represents Brooklyn’s 45th AD as a full-time assemblyman. His district includes Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, Manhattan Beach, Gravesend and Brighton Beach. Assemblyman Cymbrowitz is chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, where he addresses issues that directly affect low- and middle-income New Yorkers, including public housing, Mitchell-Lama and rent regulation protections. Assemblyman Cymbrowitz’s district office is a “one-stop” help center where constituents turn for information, guidance, entitlement forms and help in navigating bureaucratic channels. He has full-time Russian-speaking staff. A child of Holocaust survivors, Assemblyman Cymbrowitz is a vocal advocate for Holocaust education.

What is your favorite landmark in New York State?
Statue of Liberty. My parents, of blessed memory, survived the Holocaust and came to this country after enduring the worst that mankind has to offer. The Statue of Liberty remains a potent symbol of hope and opportunity for all who possess the will to work hard and chase their dreams.

What has been your favorite development project and why?
The beginning of public housing in the 1930s demonstrated the enormous potential that existed to house New Yorkers in need. NYCHA’s first housing development, First Houses, opened on the Lower East Side in 1935 — two years before the passage of the federal Public Housing Act. As usual, New York led the way for the rest of the nation.

What is the current state of commercial real estate in New York? What impact has the pandemic had?
When tourism, conventions, business travel, and in-person office work came to a halt during the pandemic, the effect on hotels and office buildings in New York City was enormous. At the same time, the housing crisis deepened when people lost their jobs and couldn’t pay rent. The passage of the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) will allow the state to convert vacant hotel properties and distressed commercial properties into permanent, affordable housing, alleviating the pressure on commercial real estate. This year’s budget includes $100 million for HONDA.

How did you become interested in architecture, real estate, or construction?
I’ve been in the housing field for more than three decades, including developing housing for not-for-profits and working at NYC HPD as a deputy commissioner prior to my career as a full-time legislator. Serving as Assembly Housing chair has given me the opportunity to use my expertise to work with nonprofit and government partners to create more affordable housing for New Yorkers — a commodity that is desperately needed.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever lived?
Brighton Beach. Great food, great people, and a beach and boardwalk outside your door. What more do you need?