Real Estate Investing & Development Forum

Albert Dweck is the founder and CEO of Duke Properties. His responsibilities include oversight of all aspects of the company’s real estate activities, which include planning, acquisition, financing, marketing, sales, leasing, and maintenance. Since founding Duke in 2001, he has been the managing principal of over 40 real estate partnerships with approximately 500 units under management in the North Eastern United States.

Mr. Dweck received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from The Stern School of Business at New York University in 1994. He completed intensive training in business and management at the Sanno Institute of Management, Tokyo Japan, 1993. He is a licensed real estate agent and received a certificate in real estate investment and finance from the NYU, SCPS in 2003.

He is also a Professor at the Real Estate Institute at NYU, SCPS. He is the Vice President, Finance, and serves on the Board of Directors of Barkai Yeshivah, a private school in Brooklyn, NY.

Mr. Kurd is a Managing Director at Savanna where he is a member of the investment committee and is responsible for new investments, refinancings, dispositions and asset management. Mr. Kurd’s responsibilities include acquisition sourcing, underwriting and structuring. In addition, Mr. Kurd manages and oversees the financing, development, leasing and repositioning of Savanna properties. Prior to joining Savanna in 2010, Mr. Kurd worked as a financial analyst in the Commercial Real Estate Group at Deutsche Bank in New York. At Deutsche Bank, Mr. Kurd provided financing to public corporations, private equity groups and individuals owning or acquiring commercial real estate assets in all property types within the United States. Mr. Kurd received a Bachelor of Sciences in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Real Estate from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Schanzer has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Cedar Realty Trust since June 2011. Prior thereto and since 2007, Mr. Schanzer was employed by Goldman Sachs & Co., with his last position being a managing director in their real estate investment banking group. From 2001 to 2007, he was employed by Merrill Lynch, with his last position being vice president in their real estate investment banking group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Schanzer practiced real estate law for six years in New York. Mr. Schanzer received a B.A. from Yeshiva College, where he is now a member of its Board of Trustees, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review.

As Founder and President of The Bloomstone Group, Carole Bloom’s impressive career has spanned over 2 decades of experience in the real estate industry. Working with some of the biggest icons in Manhattan management and development, Bloom has sold over $700 million in residential properties and has directed the leasing of over 30,000 rental units. Bloom’s special expertise encompasses pre-development sales, design consultation, marketing and branding strategies, repositioning for value add, residential leasing, development, and repositioning of existing rental properties.

Throughout her career, Bloom has cultivated relationships with the major players in real estate to work on high-profile properties, including the Riverwalk Court, the Apthorp, Love Lane Mews and The Corner.

In her last role as Senior Consultant with Imperial Companies, Bloom worked on the luxury rental building Henry Hall in Hudson Yards, which achieved over 90% leased in less than ten months, and the Watermark building in Long Island City, which achieved 95% leased in less than eight months.

Her founding firm, Bloomstone Group, assists residential condominium properties sell-out at a higher price-per-square-foot, in faster timeframes, and optimizes outcomes throughout the life-cycle of residential rental properties.

Carole is a Licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of New York, broker of record for many projects, and maintains excellent working relationships with leading Manhattan brokerages. She began her real estate career at the Related Companies in 1992, where she held senior positions in both the Rentals and Sales Divisions. Carole is a member of The Real Estate Board of New York and AIPAC Real Estate.

Matthew M. Baron is the President of Simon Baron Development. Since 2005, when Mr. Baron joined forces with Jonathan Simon, their company has grown from one employee and a few hundred million of assets to over $1.5 billion of assets and 14 professionals.

Mr. Baron currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Long Island City BID, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ollie, which is a company he and Mr. Simon helped found. Mr. Baron was also an Adjunct Lecturer at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies where he taught a course on Real Estate Development.

Mr. Baron holds a BS in Finance from NYU Stern and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.

Matthew Pestronk is the President and Co-Founder of Post Brothers. Following his early-career success as a commercial real estate finance executive, Matthew co-founded Post Brothers at the age of 29, and has grown the company into one of the most prolific real estate development and investment firms on the East Coast. Matthew and his wife, Carrie, reside in Gladwyne, Pa., with their two children: Max, 9, and Zac, 6. Matthew is a recognized leader both in his industry and his community, volunteering as a passionate youth sports coach and serving on the executive board of several charitable organizations, including Beat the Streets Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, and Jewish Federation Real Estate of Greater Philadelphia.

Robert Scharf is the Executive Vice President of Real Estate for Edison Properties, a real estate development and operating company headquartered in Newark, NJ. Mr. Scharf is responsible for overseeing real estate acquisitions and dispositions and strategic planning for Edison’s portfolio of properties in New York and New Jersey. Prior to joining Edison, Mr. Scharf was the Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at Extell Development Company for nine years.

Mr. Scharf holds a BA in Economics from Yeshiva University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He lives in Teaneck, NJ with his wife and four children.

Sharif El-Gamal is the Chairman & CEO of Soho Properties, a New York City real estate investment and development firm - a market leader in the ownership and development of premier residential, hospitality, office, retail and mixed-use projects. Founded in 2003, Soho Properties employs a belief that people are the most valuable asset and is comprised of skilled problem solvers that believe challenges can be opportunities. With over 18 years of experience in NYC real estate, Sharif has a deep understanding of all aspects of the business and specializes in capital structuring, creative financing solutions, and the successful identification, evaluation and execution of opportunistic real estate investments.

Soho Properties is currently executing two high-profile developments in Manhattan – 45 Park Place in Tribeca and 560 Seventh Avenue in Times Square. 45 Park Place is a highly-anticipated boutique condominium tower at the epicenter of the New Downtown and Tribeca. 560 Seventh Avenue is a mixed-use development that will feature three stories (over 25,000 square feet) of new retail space in Times Square, a Margaritaville hotel and a permanent home for the Garment Center Synagogue.

A charismatic public speaker, Sharif has appeared on NBC, CBS, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, NY1 and the BBC and been quoted in the New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, The Real Deal, and Financial Times.

Sharif is a founding board member of the Islamic foundation Park51, a board member of Stella Adler Studio of Acting and serves on the Corporate Leadership Council for Search for Common Ground.

Susi Yu is a Managing Director and the Head of Development at L&LMAG responsible for overseeing and executing the development investment strategy.

Previously, Susi served as EVP of Development for Forest City Ratner Companies leading the Residential Development team on execution of Pacific Park Brooklyn. Susi has been with Forest City since 2001, except for a 20-month stint from 2013-2015 with the Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) as Senior Vice President of Development. Prior to HHC, Susi spent 12.5 years at Forest City Ratner Companies leading the development of large scale, mixed-use urban projects such as 8 Spruce Street by Frank Gehry.

Trained as an architect at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, Susi previously worked for 10 years as an architect, most recently as a Project Architect for Robert A.M. Stern. She is a graduate of Columbia University’s Masters of Science in Real Estate Development Program and is a registered architect in New York State. Susi emigrated from Seoul, Korea to Richmond, Virginia at the age of 10.

Susi also serves on an advisory board of the Goldman Family, is a director of Apple Bank and YMCA’s Real Estate Committee.

Ari Davis is an associate in Tannenbaum Helpern's Real Estate, Construction and Environmental Law practice. He concentrates in enabling commercial real estate transactions, including sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, leasing and financing. Ari has counseled a diverse set of clients, from family-owned businesses and single member limited liability companies to Fortune 500 companies. He negotiates retail and office leases and subleases on behalf of landlords and tenants for spaces ranging from small offices to entire industrial buildings. Ari frequently works with developer clients that sell and purchase multifamily developments, shopping centers and office buildings throughout the U.S., and he represents lenders and borrowers in various loan structures.

Some of Ari’s work has included the following:

- representing a developer that acquired a controlling interest in a joint venture with a church, which was formed to acquire and develop the church property and multifamily units above it and

- representing a car dealership client on a construction loan that it obtained from its national franchisor

Prior to joining the firm, Ari was an associate in the Real Estate, Development and Land Use Group of Chiesa, Shahinian and Giantomasi PC (formerly known as Wolff & Samson PC), one of the largest and most respected New Jersey law firms.

Outside of work, Ari enjoys spending quality time with his family and is an ever-suffering Cleveland sports fan.

Eric Hantman is the CEO & Founder of Prime NYC. He started Prime NYC at the end of 2008 after many years experience in the industry. Eric has a passion for making introductions, building relationships and putting large deals together. Eric proved to be a huge asset to Homestead, running the office as Managing Director at Homestead NY and producing results as one of the top sales agents in 2007 & 2008. Hantman's vast knowledge of the inventory paired with his relationship building skills make the buying/renting process seamless from start to finish. Eric instills his energy and work ethic into all the agents at Prime NY, building a team of well-rounded professionals.

Prior to Eric's career in Real Estate, he excelled in the Commercial Printing industry, heading up Suniland Press' New York Office. Quickly, Hantman became a force in the NYC upscale catalog business providing the highest level of service. After Eric graduated with Honors from University of Maryland Business School in 2003, he pursued a 3 year career in the Wine & Liquor Industry. Eric's hard work and motivation always put him at the top of his sales team.

Joshua Brenner is the Assistant Vice President of Commercial Lending at PSG Lending.

Mr. Brenner joined Eyzenberg & Company in 2017 as a Business Development Associate. His primary focus is identifying and interacting with potential clients who are seeking debt and equity solutions for their commercial real estate transactions.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Brenner was an insurance and investment advisor with Fifth Avenue Financial in New York City. He also has experience in corporate middle-market investment banking and served in the U.S. Navy as a SONAR Technician.

Mr. Brenner holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Economics from Columbia University.

Ori Foger is a shareholder with Kensington Vanguard National Land Services. Ori is a veteran of the title insurance business since 2007 with a diverse national client base focusing on all asset classes.

Outside of his career in title Ori owns a portfolio of properties in Jersey City including a 122 unit journal sq development site set to break ground this fall. Ori lives in Brooklyn with his wife and 2 kids.