Urban Edge Names CEO
Emilio Dorcely has been named CEO of Urban Edge and will start at the Boston-based firm at the end of September.
For 45 years, Urban Edge has offered a range of innovative programs that help low- and moderate-income families in and around Boston become economically resilient, establish homeownership, and access needed community resources. Throughout its history, the organization has developed nearly 1,500 units of affordable housing, making it one of Boston’s largest nonprofit developers of affordable housing.
Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, Dorcely has held a variety of positions in community development and philanthropic organizations. He was appointed COO of Bridge Street Development Corp., a community development corporation in Brooklyn, N.Y, in 2011 and then became the president and CEO of the organization a year later.
Michaels Opens Puerto Rico Office, Adds Regional Vice President
The Michaels Organization has opened a regional office in Puerto Rico that will be headed by newly named regional vice president Larry Padilla.
Padilla will focus on the redevelopment of Michaels’ affordable portfolio in St. Croix and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands as well as on new affordable and mixed-income development opportunities in Puerto Rico.
He has led the development of more than $4 billion in affordable and mixed-use projects over the course of his career. Prior to joining Michaels, Padilla served as the senior director of real estate and development finance for the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority. His previous roles also include COO at the Charlotte Housing Authority and COO for a real estate development and construction conglomerate in Puerto Rico.
Michaels has been in the Caribbean for more than 30 years, providing affordable housing for families at three apartment communities in St. Croix: Harborview, Canebrake, and Croixville. Michaels also owns and manages a senior living affordable community, Sugar Estates Senior Residences, on St. Thomas. During the 2017 storms that devastated the islands, Michaels communities sustained damage, and Padilla’s first focus will be on the redevelopment of these properties.
POAH Adds to Development Department
Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), a national nonprofit affordable housing owner and developer with more than 11,000 affordable rental apartments in 11 states and the District of Columbia, has hired three development team members to help oversee the organization’s major revitalization projects in four cities.
Julie DeGraaf Velazquez, vice president for community redevelopment, is working with the POAH team and partners on the redevelopment of one of POAH’s Miami properties and provides technical assistance for the organization’s public housing redevelopments in Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. She is also involved in the financing work for POAH’s future redevelopment of a new mixed-use, mixed-income redevelopment in the historic Sugar Hill Arts District in Midtown Detroit.
Previously, DeGraaf worked for McCormack Baron Salazar, where she was a managing director of development responsible for overseeing comprehensive, large-scale, mixed-income, and mixed-finance community redevelopment projects and developing facilities in low- and moderate-income communities.
Ronette Slamin is senior project manager in POAH’s Mid-Atlantic office in Washington, D.C., working on predevelopment through construction of the 432-unit Barry Farm redevelopment, a D.C. New Communities Initiative project in the Southeast section, in which POAH is revitalizing buildings formerly owned by the D.C. Housing Authority and the adjacent Wade Road Apartments (12 units). The two properties are being consolidated and transformed into a mixed-use, mixed-income community that will create 1,100 for-sale and rental apartments. The development will also contain approximately 40,000 square feet of common space for retail use, a community resource center, a 2.4-acre central park, and new public infrastructure.
Previously, Slamin was a project director with the Corcoran Co. in Boston, where she was responsible for entitlements and managing the design and construction process for large multifamily development projects.
Sophia Transtamar, senior project manager, is working on development projects from acquisition through completion of construction and lease-up, including identifying project opportunities and scope and determining a projects financial feasibility, including budgeting. She works with architects, engineers, real estate brokers, attorneys, and contractors, as well as community stakeholders on master planning, design, and permitting, and monitors design and construction in compliance with local building codes, efficiency, and principles of sound property management.
Previously, she managed affordable housing development projects in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. She also planned and co-led a resident-first approach to community engagement for a component of the Whittier Choice Neighborhood Initiative grant.
Pennrose Adds Asset Management Leader
Warren Horvath has been named vice president of asset management at Pennrose, a leader in multifamily development and management. His initial focus will be on maximizing the financial performance and value of the firm’s portfolio.
Horvath also will lend his capital markets expertise to the organization, including bringing new investment to affordable housing and market-rate transactions, ultimately expanding the overall scope of investment management capabilities of Pennrose by identifying and creating growth opportunities, cultivating partnerships, and attracting the capital to bring them to fruition.
He has more than 20 years of housing investment and finance and has significant experience with the financial, tax, legal, and regulatory implications of the multitiered financing of affordable housing, having successfully led or overseen more than $1.3 billion of transactions and over 34,000 units.
Horvath was vice president of capital markets for The Michaels Organization.
Enterprise Names Detroit Market Leader
Melinda Clemons has been promoted to vice president and Detroit market leader at Enterprise Community Partners. She will lead Enterprise’s work to create healthy, equitable communities throughout the Detroit region, which includes building and preserving affordable homes, implementing the Northwest Neighborhood Revitalization Strategic Framework, advocating for tenant protections and rights, and supporting leadership development of high school and college students of color.
Clemons joined Enterprise as senior director in April 2018, leading the first year of the Enterprise Sustainability Exchange (ESE) in Detroit. The ESE builds the capacity of community development professionals to advance environmental sustainability and resiliency. She also introduced Opportunity360 in Detroit, advancing the use of Enterprise’s online platform for understanding and addressing community challenges through cross-sector data, community engagement, and measurement tools.
Prior to Enterprise, Clemons was the Detroit market lead for Capital Impact Partners. Before that, she was responsible for lending activities at Urban Partnership Bank and JPMorgan Chase.
Housing Partnership Equity Trust Hires New Chief Investment Officer
Daniel Cunningham has been appointed chief investment officer of the Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET).
Cunningham served for six years as senior vice president at PNC Real Estate in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw all loan originations for East Coast-based owners and developers of multifamily properties.
From 2008 to 2012, he was vice president in the real estate investment group of ULLICO, overseeing originations, portfolio management, real estate owned, workouts, and asset surveillance. Cunningham has also held key management positions in affordable housing and real estate finance at Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Bank of America, and Citicorp.
HPET is a national, social-purpose real estate investment trust (REIT) founded by nonprofits to raise capital for affordable housing.
Walker & Dunlop Announces Chief Production Officer
Stephanie Wiggins has been named chief production officer of the Federal Housing Administration finance team at Walker & Dunlop.
Based out of Bethesda, Md., she will oversee the production team for the firm’s multifamily lending through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
With more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate finance and a specialty in health care, construction, and affordable housing, she is qualified in working with a broad spectrum of HUD programs.
Prior to her new post, Wiggins served as executive vice president and chief investment officer of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. Previously, she was a director and senior investment officer at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., managing the deal structure and underwriting processes for Fannie Mae multifamily affordable housing transactions. She initially joined Walker & Dunlop as a senior underwriter in 1995.
Nevada HAND Adds to Development Team
Ralph Murphy has become director of real estate development and Marc Philippi has been named real estate development analyst at Nevada HAND, the state’s largest nonprofit dedicated to the development and administration of high-quality homes and supportive services for working families and seniors on fixed incomes.
They join the organization’s real estate development team, which is charged with obtaining land, establishing and negotiating complex financing structures associated with affordable housing developments, and building the communities.
Murphy has extensive experience in real estate development, most recently as president and principal of RITT CORP and as president and owner of Circle M Development. Prior to that, he was a senior executive with Jackson Shaw, Marnell Properties, and Harsch Investment Properties.
Philippi joins the team from First Savings Bank, where he served as a real estate credit analyst and underwriter.
The Annex Group Expands With New Hires
Mike Watson will serve as project manager, and Tracy Mendez will serve as a site superintendent at The Annex Group in Indianapolis.
Watson will oversee the operational management of ongoing construction projects. He brings extensive management and supervision experience stemming from his previous role as project manager and superintendent of various complex and multimillion-dollar construction projects.
Since joining the company in May, he has assisted with the startup and buyout of the company’s first public-private partnership project in Monroe, La.
Mendez will be responsible for managing new projects to completion. He brings a range of residential, commercial, and manufacturing project management experience to his new role.The Annex Group is a leading student and affordable housing developer.
Filo Becomes President of R Home Communities
Gayle Filo has been named president of R Home Communities, a property management subsidiary of Enterprise Community Development (ECD) based in Baltimore.
ECD is a new organization that unites two leading Mid-Atlantic community development organizations, Community Preservation Development Corp. and Enterprise Homes, and will serve more than 100 properties with nearly 14,000 homes across the region. Under ECD, R Home Communities will bring a resident-first focus to more than 80 affordable housing, workforce housing, and market-rate communities in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Filo brings 30 years of experience in property management to her new role as president. She was vice president of operations for Pennrose, where she oversaw 63 properties in six market areas.
JBG Smith Names VP, Social Impact Investments
David J. Maggio has joined JBG Smith as vice president, social impact investments. In the newly created role, he is responsible for identifying investment opportunities for the Washington Housing Initiative (WHI), a partnership founded by JBG Smith and the Federal City Council to preserve or build between 2,000 and 3,000 units of affordable workforce housing in the Washington metro region.
In addition to building and maintaining relationships with brokers, land owners, and potential JV partners, Maggio will lead the underwriting and due diligence for potential projects and manage the entire acquisition process, including contract negotiation, financing, and closing.
He joins JBG Smith from the HPET, where he served as vice president of acquisitions and management for the multifamily REIT since 2013. In this role, he led joint-venture partnerships involving 14 nonprofit housing developers that collectively acquired 3,000 multifamily units valued at $300 million.Prior to HPET, Maggio spent a decade at Fannie Mae as a director serving in various capacities in their multifamily equity Investments group.
JBG Smith recently announced the first $78 million closing of its WHI Impact Pool, a social impact investment vehicle that offers low-cost, largely tax-exempt loans to nonprofit housing providers and other borrowers to acquire and develop affordable workforce housing.
DCHFA Names VP of Accounting
Essi Egbeto has joined the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) as vice president of accounting.
She will be responsible for all accounting operations and establishing and maintaining controls over disbursements and receipts activity. Egbeto will support the CFO in the preparations of quarterly and annual audited financial statements, as well as budgetary data and progress reports.
Most recently, Egbeto worked for Stoneturn, a global advisory firm, as a forensic accounting manager. While there, she advised corporate clients and counsel on matters involving asset misappropriation, claims of fraudulent misrepresentation, improper revenue recognition, audit malpractice, and interpretation and application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Earlier in her career, she worked at CohnReznick and Key & Associates.
