Amdur Joins Lincoln Avenue Capital
Thom Amdur is joining Lincoln Avenue Capital as senior vice president of policy and impact in June.
He will step down as president and chief operating officer of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) following the organization’s spring developers conference.
Amdur has also served as president of NH&RA’s subsidiary councils and chapters, including the California Developers Council, and as association publisher of “Tax Credit Advisor,” a monthly magazine for tax credit and affordable housing professionals.
Lincoln Avenue Capital is a fast-growing developer, investor, and operator of affordable and workforce housing, providing high-quality, sustainable homes for low- and moderate-income individuals, seniors, and families nationwide. It serves more than 50,000 residents across 18 states, with a portfolio of 100 properties comprising 18,500-plus units.
Mission First Housing Names CEO
Thomas Queenan has been appointed CEO of Mission First Housing Group, a nonprofit affordable housing developer and manager headquartered in Philadelphia.
He joins Mission First from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., where he was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He had been leading the organization’s financial reporting, accounting, and business operations, including IT and data management, human resources, and facilities.
A Philadelphia native, Queenan has also held senior finance and operations roles at Temple University Health System, Dickinson College, and the Milton Hershey School. He’s also worked as a licensed architect.
JLL Capital Markets Boosts Affordable Housing Team
Jillian Grzywacz has been named a senior director on JLL Capital Markets’ affordable housing production team. She is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
Grzywacz will primarily be responsible for originating debt for affordable housing sponsors both locally and nationally and will leverage the JLL platform to provide comprehensive capital markets solutions to her clients.
She joins JLL after over six years with Freddie Mac, most recently as production manager on the agency’s affordable housing team. Grzywacz also served a mentor for the Project Destined program, a social impact platform that provides financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and real estate training to diverse students, and plans to continue working with the program this year.
Berkadia Adds Affordable Housing Veteran
Jay Abeywardena, managing director, has joined Berkadia, expanding the company’s affordable housing platform.
He brings more than 15 years of experience providing financing expertise to developers specializing in the construction and preservation of affordable housing. In the past eight years, he has closed over $4.6 billion in loans across 229 projects totaling 29,700 units nationwide.
Prior to joining Berkadia, Abeywardena was at Citi Community Capital and since 2014 has served as originating banker and director of the project finance team in Southern California. In this role, he was responsible for originating both tax-exempt and taxable loans for construction and permanent financing using Citi, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac products as well as various other structured lending products. His expertise includes 4% and 9% low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt and taxable bond issuance, subordinate debt, Section 8, tax abatements, and other affordable rental housing programs.
Berkadia is a leader in commercial real estate, offering a suite of services to multifamily and commercial property clients.
KeyBank Expands Team
Brad Tucker has been appointed senior mortgage banker at KeyBank Real Estate Capital, where he will expand community development lending and investment activity, with a focus on affordable housing. He is responsible for providing off-balance sheet permanent finance solutions to for-profit and nonprofit real estate owners, investors, and developers. Tucker is based in Overland Park, Kansas.
He brings more than 15 years of real estate experience in multifamily and senior housing, finance, and investment banking to KeyBank. Previously, he was vice president of loan originations at Merchants Capital, NorthMarq Capital, and Berkadia. Tucker began his career at KeyBank Real Estate Capital in CMBS underwriting.
KeyBank Real Estate Capital is a leading provider of commercial real estate finance. It provides interim and construction financing, permanent mortgages, commercial real estate loan servicing, investment banking and cash management services for virtually all types of income producing commercial real estate.
PGIM Appoints DEI Officer
Christy Lockridge has become PGIM Real Estate’s first chief diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer, based in Chicago.
The office led by Lockridge will focus on the continued refinement and implementation of the firm’s internal and external DEI strategy in support of five key areas of impact: talent, culture, industry, investing, and community. A 30-year industry veteran, she most recently serving as head of debt originations for the Midwest while also acting as the co-lead for PGIM Real Estate’s DEI talent management efforts over the last year.
She will work in conjunction with Stephanie Katz, director of strategic initiatives for DEI, and Ivy Tsui, director of program management for DEI.
PGIM Real Estate is the $209.3 billion real estate business of PGIM, the $1.5 trillion global asset management business of Prudential Financial.
NewPoint Real Estate Capital Adds to Team
Susan Mudry has joined NewPoint Real Estate Capital as senior managing director for process reengineering and strategic execution. She is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
Mudry will identify opportunities for NewPoint to refine and optimize operations within its rapidly expanding real estate finance platform, working across the organization to ensure that new product development and strategic initiatives are successfully implemented. She will also lead the company’s DEI strategy.
She has held a wide variety of leadership roles throughout her 25-year tenure at Freddie Mac. Beginning as a financial analyst, Mudry ascended to the role of vice president and chief of staff to the CEO at Freddie Mac before joining NewPoint. During her time at Freddie Mac, she spent more than 15 years in the multifamily business during a period of significant growth and innovation. She worked to direct effective operations, while also focused on aligning DEI objectives with business strategies to strengthen organizational effectiveness and workplace culture.
SDS Capital Announces Promotion
David Grunwald has been promoted to managing director of SDS Capital Group’s $150 million Supportive Housing Fund (SHF). He will leverage his underwriting and asset management skills, overseeing both project- and fund-level activities for the fund.
SHF provides land acquisition and construction financing for projects to house people experiencing homelessness in California. It is a first-of-its-kind impact fund that is a new model for alleviating homelessness through the use of private capital.
SHF is usually the sole source of capital for permanent supportive housing projects developed by RMG Housing, a Los Angeles-based developer of permanent supportive housing for those with mental and physical disabilities, providing as much as 97% of the total acquisition and construction capital. The fund’s one-stop model significantly reduces underwriting and closing time for typical PSH projects.
Grunwald will be responsible for all day-to-day management and operations of the fund and will collaborate with the SDS team to finance as many as 30 permanent supportive housing development projects over the next six years.
He joined SDS Capital Group in November 2021 as senior vice president. Prior to joining SDS, Grunwald was senior vice president, Los Angeles region, for National Community Renaissance. Previous experience includes serving as president and CEO of Affordable Living for the Aging, American Sunrise Communities, and L.A. Family Housing.
