Leveraging Philanthropy into Growth: Building Success in Real Estate Dinner & Forum with Metro Loft, GFPRE, United American Land, & Northwind Group

Brian Steinwurtzel is co-CEO and Principal of GFP alongside his cousin Eric Gural.

Brian oversees all aspects of the company’s new investments, financing, leasing, asset management, development and project management.

Noteworthy recent projects include the repositioning of 4 New York Plaza to 25 Water Street, 222 Broadway, 7 Hanover Square to 100 Pearl Street and 40 Exchange Place in the Financial District; 45-18 Court Square to Innolabs, 10-27 46th Avenue, 11-05 44th Drive, and 43-01 22nd Street in Long Island City; as well as 7 Bushwick Place and 285 North Sixth Street in Brooklyn. Brian led the redevelopment of 100 Crosby/560 Broadway and 1560 Broadway to class A retail and office properties in SOHO and Times Square, respectively, and led the repositioning of The Film Center building in Hell’s Kitchen.

Nathan Berman is the Founder and CEO of Metro Loft Developers. Nathan has over 26 years of experience successfully converting buildings from commercial to residential use in lower Manhattan, having developed over 5 million square feet. Nathan personally oversees the vision and implementation of each project, both from a design and a financial perspective. He works closely with the development and construction management teams to guide the process from acquisition to completion. Nathan prides himself in taking part in the improvement of the city’s urban living experience through creative solutions in adaptive reuse.

Ran founded Northwind Group in 2008 and oversees all company investment activities. Throughout his career, Ran has executed 200+ real estate transactions totaling over $4 billion, investing in CRE properties in NYC and healthcare & senior living properties across the US. In 2017 Ran spearheaded the creation of Northwind’s credit platform including the formation of Northwind’s discretionary closed-ended debt funds with over $2 billion in AUM.

Under Ran’s leadership Northwind has evolved into a reputable institutional grade private equity firm, consistently improving its capabilities, expanding its operations, know-how and industry recognition, while adhering to strict core values of honesty and transparency. Ran is a sought-after speaker in the NYC real estate community and is frequently quoted by several real estate news outlets. Prior to forming Northwind Group, Ran led the real estate activities of a family office and invested in a portfolio of grocery anchored shopping centers of over 5 million sq. ft. located in Florida and Texas.

David Nass is a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance at UBS. In this role, Mr. Nass oversees the Real Estate Finance group’s CRE and Mortgage Finance Warehouse businesses and the CRE securitized and balance sheet lending platforms including loan origination, pricing, hedging, structuring and distribution. Prior to this role, Mr. Nass was Head of Capital Markets – Real Estate Finance for UBS. In this role, Mr. Nass
was responsible for, among other things, principal and agent CMBS new issue partnerships and the execution of new issue CMBS transactions and commercial real estate debt
advisory assignments.

Prior to joining UBS in 2011, Mr. Nass was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Head of CMBS Banking. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Nass was a Managing Director at DTZ Rockwood where he led the firm's debt restructuring and loan sale advisoryinitiatives. Before joining DTZ Rockwood in 2009, Mr. Nass was a Managing Director and Head of CMBS Banking at Lehman Brothers, where he oversaw the development and distribution of more than $95 billion of fixed and floating rate securitizations. Prior to joining Lehman in 2001, he was a Vice President at J.P. Morgan, where he securitized more than $4 billion of fixed and floating rate product.

Mr. Nass holds a BS in Marketing/Management from Syracuse University and an MBA from the John M. Olin School of
Business at Washington University in St. Louis.

Deborah E. Riegel joined Rosenberg & Estis, P.C. in 1994 and is a Member with the firm’s Litigation Department. During her tenure at the firm, Riegel has handled complex litigation before New York state and federal trial and appellate courts. Most notably, Riegel was lead counsel and successfully argued before the Court of Appeals in Matter of Regina Metro. Co., LLC v. New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, a case which is con sidered to be one of the most impactful decisions for the real estate industry in decades. The Court of Appeals adopted R&E’s arguments and found the enactment of portions of the HSTPA of 2019 to be unconstitutional in their retroactive application, saving property owners millions of dollars in poten tial rent overcharges and avoiding catastrophic underwriting and financing consequences. That victory was most recently reinforced in another case for which Riegel was lead counsel and argued before the Appellate Division, First Department: Burrows v 75-25 153rd Street, LLC. The Appellate Division again wholly adopted R&E’s arguments and definitively applied the Court of Appeals’ holding in Regina.

Over the course of her career, Riegel has successfully litigated cases of critical, industry-wide importance on a wide variety of complicated issues on behalf of some of the City’s most prominent owners and developers, including Vornado Realty Trust, The Durst Organization, General Growth Properties/Brookfield Properties and A&E Real Estate. Her practice more generally involves litigating matters related to commercial lease disputes, tort and contract actions, construction disputes, cooperative shareholder dis putes, rent regulatory issues and residential and commercial landlord/tenant matters. She also provides counsel to cooperatives and condominiums on a wide range of matters. Riegel’s client base ranges from small owners of residential property to major residential and commercial developers, and her practice has given her a broad spectrum of experience representing clients in every Court from the Civil Court of the City of New York to the New York State Court of Appeals, as well as the United States District Court, United States Bankruptcy Court, and the United States Court of Appeals. While her practice is primarily focused on litigation, Riegel works with clients on devel opment issues and has successfully vacated a number of development sites in Manhattan. Riegel also works with clients, with the support of the firm’s highly experienced Transactional Group, on purchase and sale agreements, leasing and construction management so as to provide a one-stop, integrated approach to managing clients’ legal needs with an eye toward risk manage ment and early dispute resolution.

John Vavas’ practice is focused on commercial real estate finance, where he represents financial institutions and real estate funds in connection with single-lender and agented, multi-lender transactions. John has vast experience representing clients in connection with the closing of newly originated commercial mortgage loans, acquiring existing commercial mortgage loans and negotiating loan documentation. Additionally, John is skilled at representing various lenders in the origination of CMBS, balance-sheet loans, construction, mezzanine and syndicated loans secured by real estate.

John also has significant experience as internal counsel for commercial real estate lenders. His prior in-house experience allows him to bring a different perspective to his clients and provide counsel that draws on his knowledge from those prior positions.

Max Herzog is an established real estate professional with over two decades of industry experience. His expertise spans in arranging permanent, bridge, construction, mezzanine and joint venture equity financing for an array of asset classes, including multifamily, industrial, retail, office, hospitality, single tenant and land. Prior to joining IPA Max was a Senior Managing Director for JLL, Meridian and CBRE for a combined 15-years. Max has completed billions of financing transactions over his career which has included some of the largest and most high-profile projects in New York City, Chicago and many other major markets across the US.

Max is a member of REBNY and was named a top broker under 30 and 35 years old several times. Max graduated from Vanderbilt University, completing his Bachelors of Science degree with honors, and achieved his Masters of Real Estate from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.