In-Person Fireside Chat: Maintaining High Standards for Investors & Community with Kenneth Bernstein, CEO & President of Acadia Realty Trust

Kenneth F. Bernstein is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Acadia Realty Trust, which he co-founded in 1998. Acadia Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust specializing in the acquisition, redevelopment and management of open air retail properties. Acadia owns, or has ownership interest in over 100 properties totaling approximately $3.5 billion dollars in value.
Acadia is also the manager of a series of discretionary institutional acquisition funds. Acadia is currently investing on behalf its Fund V, which is capitalized to acquire $1.5 billion dollars of retail properties.
Along with his responsibilities at Acadia, Mr. Bernstein is a past Trustee of the Board of Trustees of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and served as the 2017/2018 Chairman. In addition to being a member of the World President’s Organization (YPO-WPO), where he was the founding chairman of the Real Estate Network, he currently sits on the Board of Advisors. He serves as a 2021 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Governing Trustee. He also is a member
of the Board of Trustees of Golub Capital (NASDAQ:GBDC).
Previously, Mr. Bernstein served as Chief Operating Officer of RD Capital until its merger with Mark Centers Trust in 1998, creating Acadia Realty Trust. Prior to that, Mr. Bernstein was an associate with the New York law firm of Battle Fowler, LLP. Mr. Bernstein received his BA from the University of Vermont and his JD from Boston University School of Law.

Jonathan Mechanic routinely counsels developers, owners, investors, REITs, and lenders in all aspects of major commercial real estate transactions throughout the country.

Chair of our Real Estate Department, Jon represents his clients on some of the largest and most complex transactions, including: JPMorgan in connection with its redevelopment of 270 Park Avenue into a new 2.5-million-square-foot headquarters building, CWCapital Asset Management in its sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Blackstone Group and Ivanhoé Cambridge, Citadel and Ken Griffin, Citadel’s founder and CEO, in connection with numerous transactions to facilitate the development of a new 1.7-million-square-foot office tower at 350 Park Avenue that will serve as Citadel’s New York headquarters; Brookfield Asset Management’s real estate fund in a $3.8 billion acquisition of Watermark Lodging Trust and its portfolio of hotels and resorts located in 14 states; JP Morgan in a $2.2 billion construction loan to complete the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and a $325 million construction loan to Jamestown for the redevelopment of One Times Square in New York City; Bally’s Corporation in connection with its designation as the developer of the first casino in the City of Chicago; and Metro Loft, GFP Real Estate (the Gural family) and Rockwood Capital on the financing and redevelopment of 25 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, the largest office-to-residential conversion in US history.

Jon became a partner in 1987, when he rejoined the firm after serving for five years as general counsel and a managing director of HRO International Ltd., a real estate development organization responsible for the development of more than 2.5 million square feet of office space in Manhattan.

Jon has taught a real estate transactions course at Harvard Law School for more than 12 years. He also lectures regularly for NYU Law School, the Real Estate Board of New York, and the Practising Law Institute. He is a co-author of The Commercial Office Lease Handbook: Second Edition published by the American Bar Association.

In 2016, Jon was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from New York University and the Chambers USA Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession Award. For a decade, Jon has been recognized by Chambers USA as a "Star Individual" in real estate. He is consistently included on Commercial Observers “Power 100” list.

Over the years, Jon has been honored for his numerous philanthropic activities. In 2019, he was honored at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 24th Annual Real Estate Council Benefit, which raises funds to support the museum's educational programs and in 2018, he was honored at the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center Annual Gala.