Real Estate
The 2026 Trailblazers in Real Estate
Notable leaders reshaping and rebuilding New York.
City & State presents the 2026 Trailblazers in Real Estate. Keston Duke; Gotham Organization; Andrew Matusik
In late June, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board approved a controversial rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments. In early July, the conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters into residential apartments was halted due to buckling support columns and concerns about the midtown Manhattan building’s structural integrity. In late July, the Mamdani administration published a list of properties potentially subject to new pied-à-terre tax, prompting an outcry and a legal challenge.
Amid these headline-grabbing developments, significant policy changes aimed at spurring more housing production are advancing with widespread support. As part of her Let Them Build agenda, Gov. Kathy Hochul passed legislation this year streamlining the State Environmental Quality Review Act. New York City’s Expedited Land Use Review Procedure is being implemented, and the Mamdani administration has launched its Block by Block housing plan that aims to create or preserve hundreds of thousands of affordable, rent-stabilized homes.
City & State’s Trailblazers in Real Estate puts a spotlight on the key players who will determine how successful New York will be in combating the housing crisis. This list, researched and written in partnership with journalist Lon Cohen, features developers, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, attorneys and other top figures who are rebuilding New York.
Adam Leitman Bailey
Adam Leitman Bailey built his real estate litigation practice around cases that redraw the rules for owners, boards, buyers and lenders. Bailey won a ruling establishing that prospective co-op purchasers may challenge discriminatory rejections, while a later victory barred boards from rejecting buyers solely over price. He represented buyers at the Trump SoHo New York who alleged misleading sales figures, helping them recover 90% of their deposits. Bailey also relied on a seldom-used federal law during the housing crisis and founded Save Harlem, whose legal efforts produced more than $1 million for tenants.
Thomas E. Baines
Before joining Buffalo City Hall, Thomas E. Baines led housing and development work across Erie County, the Batavia Housing Authority and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. He helped lead Erie County’s $25 million affordable housing initiative and launch a $34 million regional broadband expansion. Now, Baines is advancing downtown reactivation and a stabilization-first policy redirecting about $700,000 annually from demolition toward preserving viable buildings. Baines is also pressing to return the now-closed Buffalo Grand Hotel to productivity, guiding the property through court proceedings, market analysis and the search for investment.
Adam Balasiano
Adam Balasiano has spent more than 15 years with Volunteers of America-Greater New York, including a decade leading property and asset management, new development initiatives, and other real estate and housing operations. Balasiano, who has served as a residential services manager and program director with the organization, now helps manage a pipeline of more than 1,700 affordable and supportive homes, including Hillside Grove, a former Staten Island sanitation garage being transformed into more than 200 apartments and a grocery store. Balasiano has also advocated for public funding for supportive housing.
Richard Barth
Richard Barth helped redraw New York City’s development map over two decades at the Department of City Planning, guiding the Hudson Yards development, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront rezoning, lower Manhattan revitalization and Theater District changes to support Broadway. He later shepherded affordable and mixed-income projects at the lobbying firm Capalino before joining Brown & Weinraub in 2025. Today, he applies expertise in incentive zoning and transferable development rights to projects from Inwood and Harlem to Gowanus, Long Island City and downtown Flushing, while serving on the Citizens Housing & Planning Council board.
Bruce A. Beal Jr.
Bruce A. Beal Jr. has spent three decades at Related Companies moving projects from acquisition to opening. Since joining the major real estate firm in 1995, Beal has guided development across a national portfolio that spans the Manhattan megadevelopment at Hudson Yards; the redevelopment of the New York City Housing Authority’s Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses; and Willets Point in Queens, where 880 affordable homes have welcomed their first residents. Beal also led Related into manufacturing, founding companies that supplied structural steel for the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium and facade systems for major Manhattan towers.
PJ Berg
PJ Berg has built his career putting public land to work for New York City. Berg began his career as an urban fellow at the city’s Department of City Planning and went on to shape commercial development, housing, infrastructure and open space through public sector deals. At the New York City Economic Development Corp., he led public-private transactions and helped redevelop Willets Point as a newly resilient neighborhood. Since joining the Department of Citywide Administrative Services in March, Berg has handled agency space needs, land use planning, private leases and rentals of city buildings.
Jeff T. Blau
Jeff T. Blau oversees Related Companies’ $100 billion portfolio after rising from being an analyst in 1990 to CEO in 2012. He helped turn Hudson Yards into a fully occupied business district that hosts Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Meta, L’Oréal and more. Hudson Yards’ next phase, atop the western portion of the rail yard, calls for up to 4,000 homes, at least 625 affordable apartments, a school and six acres of parkland. Related’s portfolio includes thousands of affordable residences across the country. Blau is helping advance the redevelopment of the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses and spearheading Related’s multibillion-dollar data center platform.
Lisa Bova-Hiatt
As the New York City Housing Authority’s CEO since 2023, Lisa Bova-Hiatt oversees a massive public housing system that provides affordable housing to more than half a million New Yorkers. She has expanded preservation efforts, launched neighborhood forums connecting residents with senior officials and steered the contested rebuilding of roughly 2,000 apartments at the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses. Previously, Bova-Hiatt spent nearly two decades with the New York City Law Department, specializing in real estate acquisition and development and also ran the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery.
Lee Brathwaite
Lee Brathwaite leads Apex Building Group, a Harlem-based, certified minority-owned business enterprise developer and contractor that has created or preserved more than 7,500 affordable housing units and completed over $1.7 billion in affordable and mixed-use developments. Its projects include Bergen Green, a 116-unit low-income development in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, in partnership with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and a $111 million, 125-home affordable Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, development in partnership with Empire State Development that includes a clinic and other services. Brathwaite previously oversaw vast portfolios at Prudential, Citigroup and Verizon.
Kelley Brine
Since taking the helm at Rose Valley Management two years ago, Kelley Brine has overseen the property management firm’s $2 billion, 10,000-unit multifamily portfolio. Managing a team of more than 200 employees, she has integrated acquisitions, streamlined operations and introduced data-driven revenue management and artificial intelligence tools. Previously, Brine directed a 10,000-bed student housing portfolio, led $800 million in acquisitions and maintained 98% occupancy for five consecutive years at HH Red Stone Properties. She also speaks at major industry conferences and advocates for fellow women leaders in real estate.
Cristin Burtis
Cristin Burtis built her consultancy around a skill every New York project needs: getting government, local communities and construction teams moving in the same direction. She spent years in New York City government, serving in the Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations, including as executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management. Burtis has spearheaded events, reshaped policies and assisted in the coordination of COVID-19 vaccination sites. She’s board chair of Sail4th 250, which marked the country’s semiquincentennial with a fleet of tall ships in New York Harbor.
Mark Caruso
Mark Caruso represents both buyers and sellers at the closing table and, when needed, in the courtroom. Caruso started at a Brooklyn firm his father founded in 1952, and now he leads the Real Estate Law Practice Group at the Long Island-based law firm Abrams Fensterman. The real estate lawyer handles commercial and residential transactions, leases and disputes involving easements, partitions and contract breaches. His work includes representation of a tenant in master leases with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority involving facilities at Grand Central, Times Square and Rockefeller Center.
Rafael E. Cestero
Rafael E. Cestero has spent 30 years shaping housing policy and securing capital to make it work. The former commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development has led the Community Preservation Corp. since 2012. He has positioned CPC as one of the nation’s largest Community Development Financial Institutions dedicated to financing multifamily housing. Cestero recently helped create Community Stabilization Partners, which oversees a $5.8 billion portfolio tied to nearly 35,000 rent-stabilized apartments. He also advocates for stronger tax incentives to restore aging buildings.
Sam Charney
After developing more than 1 million square feet for Two Trees Management and co-founding its construction arm, Sam Charney launched his own firm in 2013. Charney Companies is a vertically integrated operation with $1 billion in total capitalization and a pipeline exceeding 3,000 apartments, 1,000 of which are affordable. Its 175 Third St. project in Gowanus, Brooklyn, was one of New York City’s largest development transactions last year. Charney has also helped efforts to shape housing tax incentives and zoning reforms toward encouraging new construction and more affordable apartments.
Edwin Christian
Edwin Christian’s influence reaches from New York City construction sites to the leadership of organized labor. An International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B member since 1983 and business manager since 2004, Christian joined the IUOE board in 2021 and became chair in January. He also heads the New York City Coalition of Operating Engineers and serves as secretary-treasurer of the New York State Conference of Operating Engineers, while helping shape training, workforce and industry priorities through the IUOE National Training Fund, labor councils, Helmets to Hardhats and the New York Building Congress.
Andrew Chung
In March, Andrew Chung joined Extell as president and co-CEO as the major developer expands beyond its luxury condo roots into commercial, hospitality and mixed-use projects. Chung brings an unusual blend of institutional investing and ground-up development: 14 years at The Carlyle Group, including a decade leading its New York office, followed by founding Innovo Property Group in 2015 and pioneering New York City’s last-mile warehouse boom. His 1 million-square-foot Bronx industrial project, partly leased by Amazon, reflects that record. Chung now helps direct Extell’s strategy, pipeline, capital relationships and long-term growth.
Jeff Cook
Jeff Cook turns overlooked properties into attainable paths to homeownership. Since entering multifamily housing in 1997 and buying his first mobile home park in 2008, Cook has built a portfolio exceeding 100 communities, making his Rochester-based firm New York state’s largest operator in the sector. With manufactured homes costing about $100 per square foot, compared with $300 or more for conventional construction, Cook is advancing a lower-cost infill model while challenging zoning barriers and making the case for what he calls “quality housing at an attractive and attainable price point.”
Sandhya Espitia
Sandhya Espitia has made data a driving force behind a cornerstone of New York City real estate. Since joining the Real Estate Board of New York in 2017 and becoming its first chief operating officer, Espitia has centralized the 14,000-member association’s once-fragmented data to sharpen membership campaigns, financial planning, fundraising, digital marketing and residential listings. Earlier roles at the International Council of Shopping Centers and Harvard University prepared Espitia for modernizing the 130-year-old association. In January, she joined the advisory board of the NYU Stern School of Business’ Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance.
Timothy Foley
Timothy Foley works the policy side of Hudson Valley real estate. Before joining the Armonk-based Building & Realty Institute of the Hudson Valley, Foley directed political work for a health care union across six states. He now leads BRI, an 80-year-old trade group; runs the affiliated Building and Allied Construction Industries; and serves as government relations chair for the New York State Builders Association. Under Foley, BRI launched Welcome Home Westchester and Hudson Valley Women in Construction. This year, his state-by-state analysis helped inform proposals to speed environmental reviews for projects on already developed sites.
Tina Gagliano
Tina Gagliano advises financial institutions, investors and developers on complex real estate financing and transactions, while drawing on decades of experience in the commercial real estate industry. She has helped close multimillion-dollar deals on luxury apartment buildings, hotels and resorts, multifamily housing projects, and co-op and condominium conversions, some of which involve negotiations with New York City government agencies. She also guides clients through foreclosures, mentors younger lawyers and encourages women in commercial real estate to seek mentorship and collaborate to advance their careers.
MaryAnne Gilmartin
Since founding her certified women-owned real estate development company in 2018, seasoned industry executive MaryAnne Gilmartin has assembled $4.5 billion worth of development projects. MAG Partners recently struck a partnership for 122 Varick, a residential and retail project in Hudson Square in Manhattan, and fully leased and refinanced the Anagram Turtle Bay and Mabel rental buildings in Manhattan. Earlier, Gilmartin led Forest City Ratner Companies’ portfolio and projects, including Pacific Park and Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Gilmartin also serves on the Real Estate Board of New York.
Peter Greenspan
Peter Greenspan is helping write WeWork’s second act as the coworking company reemerges after Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Greenspan is an 11-year company veteran who joined as its first real estate lawyer after earlier roles at NBCUniversal and the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He now oversees more than 600 locations and, over the past year, helped add 200,000 square feet, including more than 150,000 in New York City, where its occupancy rate is 87%. Under Greenspan’s leadership, WeWork’s first new city outpost since 2019 at 250 Broadway is 94% occupied.
Jeffrey Gural
Jeffrey Gural learned real estate from the ground up, overseeing more than 1 million square feet of office construction at Morse-Diesel Construction Co. before joining the family firm in 1972. Now, GFP Real Estate’s chair and principal, Gural leads a portfolio totaling 13 million square feet. The company launched a development arm in April to pursue large-scale projects, office-to-residential conversions and adaptive reuse, including work at 25 Water St., 222 Broadway and 40 Exchange Place. The legacy portfolio recently secured a $95 million refinancing for three NoHo office buildings, while Gural stewards the iconic Flatiron Building’s restoration.
Kevelyn Guzman
As Coldwell Banker Warburg becomes Warburg at Compass, Kevelyn Guzman is still steering the brokerage through transition. She led Coldwell Banker’s 2021 acquisition of Warburg Realty and recruited more than 30 experienced agents while expanding the firm’s New York City footprint. Guzman helped establish WarburgU, an agent training program; launched the New York City chapter of What Moves Her, supporting women in real estate; and pens a regular industry column. Guzman sees a recalibrating market, citing nearly 20% quarterly inventory growth as pricing and discounting hold steady.
Marc Holliday
Since Marc Holliday joined SL Green Realty Corp. in 1998, he has helped build New York City’s largest commercial property portfolio, with interests in 54 buildings totaling more than 30 million square feet. His strategy extends beyond offices into retail, debt and preferred equity, while courting global capital as overseas appetite for New York real estate shows renewed strength. Holliday notched a record first-quarter leasing performance this year and is advancing a more than 650-unit office-to-residential conversion at 750 Third Ave. and a new tower in development at 346 Madison Ave. in Manhattan.
Jonathan Iger
Jonathan Iger represents the fourth generation of his family in New York real estate, but his strategy is pointed toward the future. Since becoming CEO of Sage in 2014, Iger has recast the company’s nearly 3 million-square-foot Manhattan portfolio around hospitality, flexible workplaces and engagement initiatives such as Sage Connected, Sage Social and Member Rewards. Recent projects include Oasis at 437 Madison Ave., while a flagging model brings Sage’s brand and operating platform to third-party properties. Iger is also president of the Meatpacking Business Improvement District board.
Howard Kingsley
Howard Kingsley has spent more than three decades litigating disputes that decide who controls, occupies and profits from major New York properties. The Tannenbaum Helpern partner represents owners, lenders, borrowers, landlords and tenants, working across commercial, construction, foreclosure and bankruptcy disputes while helping investors turn distressed assets into valuable development sites. Kingsley helped win a state Court of Appeals reversal in a major class-action rent overcharge case and recently represented the owner and landlord of 745 Fifth Ave., occupied by Bergdorf Goodman, in securing a lease assumption through bankruptcy.
Stephanie Knight
Only months into her new role, Stephanie Knight is already helping shape Summit Residential’s approach to long-term ownership. After nearly eight years directing lease management at Choice New York Companies, Knight joined Summit in February, bringing with her vast experience in rent-regulated and affordable housing. When the firm acquired a New York City multifamily portfolio in April, she established operational standards, strengthened property oversight, advanced capital planning and created systems for more consistent repairs and resident service. Her work supports strategic investments to preserve housing stock and improve execution across the portfolio.
Emily Kurtz
Emily Kurtz has helped expand RiseBoro Community Partnership into a major affordable housing developer whose pipeline has grown to exceed $1 billion. During her 22-year tenure at the nonprofit, she has guided the development and preservation of thousands of homes. Her recent work includes Baisley Pond Park Residences, the first project to open under the state’s Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, converting the former JFK Hilton into 318 permanently affordable apartments, 60% for formerly homeless households. Kurtz also oversaw Bethany Senior Terraces, a 57-unit, all-electric modular development in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Emily Levin
Emily Levin is translating more than a decade on the front lines of affordable housing and homelessness prevention into a technology venture aimed at the industry’s paperwork problem. A licensed social worker and therapist, Levin co-founded Axcces to automate lease-ups, eligibility reviews, recertifications, waitlists and compliance. With more than 40,000 units live or under contract, the artificial intelligence-powered platform has helped thousands of residents access or remain in affordable housing. Selected for Robin Hood’s Blue Ridge Labs Catalyst accelerator program, Levin is making housing operations faster and more efficient.
Jonathan Mechanic
Jonathan Mechanic has spent decades helping shape the legal architecture behind some of New York City’s largest real estate deals. At the law firm Fried Frank, where he chairs the Real Estate Department, Mechanic has advised JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 270 Park Ave. and Citadel’s 350 Park Ave. headquarters, American Express’ 2 World Trade Center headquarters, 25 Water St.’s housing conversion, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village’s sale and five Greenpoint projects. Starting Jan. 1, Mechanic will become the first practicing attorney to serve as chair of the influential Real Estate Board of New York.
Jay Neveloff
Last year, Jay Neveloff helped negotiate Kramer Levin’s merger with the London- and Sydney-based firm Herbert Smith Freehills, creating a 2,700-lawyer, $2 billion global firm, where he now leads its U.S. real estate practice. Neveloff recently represented Vornado Realty Trust in leasing more than 1 million square feet at 770 Broadway to New York University and led condominium offerings valued above $5 billion. He’s also board chair of the affordable housing nonprofit Phipps Houses and serves on the Real Estate Board of New York board of governors.
John O’Hare
For nearly three decades, John O’Hare has helped shape the labor agreements and contractor priorities behind major development across the New York region. Elevated to managing director of the Building Contractors Association in 2017 after 18 years as assistant managing director, O’Hare now represents more than 180 firms, from major construction managers to specialty subcontractors. He oversees labor negotiations across New York City and surrounding counties while advancing broader industry priorities, including HOPE/LIVES, which brought opioid education and lifesaving Narcan on to construction sites.
David L. Picket
David L. Picket has built his career taking the long view, noting that “development does not afford immediate gratification.” Since joining his family’s business in 1991, the fourth-generation real estate executive has been an early mover in New York City’s multifamily housing revival. Recognizing the potential in Manhattan’s Midtown West, Picket has reshaped an entire Hell’s Kitchen block with the mixed-use Gotham West development. His public-private partnerships pair incentives with affordable housing and public benefits. Picket also co-founded Project Parachute to help keep vulnerable New Yorkers housed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michele Pincus
At the Long Island-headquartered H2M architects + engineers, Michele Pincus guides private projects across four states and champions adaptive reuse and multifamily housing. Her recent work includes the $1.2 billion Station Yards transit-oriented development and Bethpage Black’s improved driving range. She serves on the board of The Real Estate Institute at Stony Brook University and is active with Women Economic Developers of Long Island and the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island. Pincus brings 35 years of real estate experience to her work.
Stephen Powers
After leading nonprofit advisory work at the commercial real estate firm Transwestern New York, Stephen Powers co-founded OPEN Impact Real Estate, where he has helped complete more than 10 million square feet of transactions for schools, human service providers and cultural institutions, including new construction and adaptive reuse. Recent work includes Graham Windham’s move to a 9,833-square-foot Morningside Heights office. A certified woman-owned business, OPEN Impact Real Estate combines boutique service with national reach. Its salary and bonus model prioritizes collaboration over competition, while a portion of earned fees goes to charity.
Frank Ricci
For the several decades that followed his hiring in 1986, Frank Ricci was a powerhouse at the Rent Stabilization Association, leading lobbying in Albany and New York City on behalf of New York City landlords and weighing in on more than 100 bills and the regulations behind them. Following the 2024 merger of RSA and the Community Housing Improvement Program, Ricci became senior vice president for business operations of the merged entity, the New York Apartment Association. In April 2025, he joined Fontas Advisors, where he is expanding the lobbying firm’s real estate advocacy and electoral strategy.
Walter Roberts
Walter Roberts has guided housing projects across the New York metropolitan area as the longtime leader of Hope Community Inc., a community-based nonprofit affordable housing organization in East Harlem. This summer, Roberts’ nonprofit and Apex Development plan to close on a NYCHA PACT project that would preserve 398 affordable housing apartments. He also has updated the organization’s finance and technology functions. During his 21-year tenure at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Roberts rose to assistant commissioner for planning services and redeveloped thousands of affordable apartments.
Samantha Rudin Earls
Starting at an assistant’s desk when she joined the family business in 2007, Samantha Rudin Earls learned Rudin’s operations before becoming its first female chief executive in 2024. Rudin Earls, who is co-CEO alongside her brother Michael Rudin, is responsible for 19 Manhattan residential buildings totaling more than 4 million square feet and 2,352 apartments. She also oversees design, marketing, human resources and philanthropy at the firm. She steered Rudin into its second century through a rebrand last year. She also serves on the Association for a Better New York board.
Stuart Saft
Stuart Saft has helped expand Holland & Knight’s New York real estate, capital markets and construction practices from five lawyers to about 60. Saft leads the law firm’s New York Real Estate Practice Group and is co-chair of the global Condominium Development and Conversion Team. He is advancing a first-of-its-kind “springing condominium,” which will convert from cooperative to condominium ownership upon future land acquisition. Saft brings dealmaking experience into policy debates, arguing that New York must remove barriers to construction and helped launch a co-op and condo advocacy group so owners can “speak with one voice.”
Adam Salgado
Adam Salgado has spent two decades turning public policy into housing, parks and transit-oriented growth. After overseeing grants at New York City’s transportation and housing agencies, Salgado joined New Rochelle in 2014 and created its first long-term capital improvement program. He helped build a pipeline exceeding 11,000 homes, nearly one-fifth affordable, contributing to a 2% rent decline from 2020 to 2023. His agenda includes expanded down-payment assistance, a 126-unit affordable condominium project, a train station redesign tied to Penn Station Access and downtown zoning changes that aim to accommodate 2,800 more homes.
Raymond A. Sanseverino
Raymond A. Sanseverino works both sides of the negotiating table, representing major landlords and tenants in deals shaping how companies occupy New York City buildings. His recent matters include the sports platform Fanatics’ 214,000-square-foot expansion in the West Village and Brookfield Properties’ 460,000-square-foot lease to Moody’s, and Sanseverino has also represented SL Green Realty Group, The Carlyle Group and Uber. He also comments on policy debates, recently warning that a New York City pied-à-terre tax could discourage investment and slow construction.
David Schwartz
David Schwartz has spent his career moving between finance, development and construction. Since co-founding Slate Property Group in 2013, he has completed 13,000 homes, with a growing emphasis on affordable and supportive housing. His projects include New York’s first hotel-to-affordable housing conversion under the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act. Slate’s 980-home The Orion will be the first development using the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Mixed Income Market Initiative. Schwartz led the Stewart Hotel acquisition for conversion to affordable and supportive housing, which was highlighted in the Mamdani administration’s housing plan.
Dwayne Scott
Dwayne Scott stepped into one of New York’s most demanding housing operations in December, helping lead Co-op City, the nation’s largest housing cooperative and a state Mitchell-Lama development with 15,372 apartments, more than 800 employees and more than 50,000 residents. Scott brought experience overseeing New York City Housing Authority developments and managing portfolios at Cushman & Wakefield and Fairstead. At Riverbay, the corporate entity of Co-op City, he is strengthening accountability, resident service and coordination across a budget exceeding $200 million.
Ahmed Tigani
Ahmed Tigani was appointed in January to lead the New York City Department of Buildings, and this summer, he guided the response when the former Pfizer building in midtown Manhattan was at risk of collapse amid an office-to-residential conversion project. Tigani, who was a staffer at the department earlier in his career, returned to the agency after leading the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, where he helped finance and preserve 44,000 housing units. He’s now advancing the administration’s Block by Block housing plan and seeking to expedite complex developments through city review.
Maria Torres
After spending two decades in the U.S. General Services Administration, where she guided strategy for more than 1,600 federally controlled properties, Maria Torres joined the Gateway Development Commission in April. She directs acquisition, relocation and federal compliance for the Hudson River rail tunnel project as well as coordinating with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit across New York and New Jersey on a massive effort to expand and improve commuter rail capacity. The new tunnel is slated for 2035, with rehabilitation of the existing tunnel completed in 2038, increasing reliability for about 200,000 daily passengers.
Elizabeth Velez
Elizabeth Velez grew up on job sites before rising to lead the Velez Organization, which her family founded in the early 1970s. Velez, the firm’s president for more than three decades, has delivered more than $50 billion in public and private sector projects while championing diversity in the industry. She serves on the boards of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, New York City Economic Development Corp. and the New York Building Congress, where she is a past board chair. Velez has warned of oil and material costs squeezing construction projects, especially for affordable housing, while pressing for supplier diversity and workforce access.
Adam Walters
Adam Walters guides projects through zoning, historic preservation, environmental review and permitting processes involving New York state regulators, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, helping clients move from planning to construction. His work spans subdivisions, commercial and industrial sites, wetlands, telecommunications and enforcement matters, along with Clean Air Act permitting for energy generation facilities and issues involving wind energy, coal gasification, greenhouse gas regulation and carbon sequestration. Walters chairs the Western New York regional satellite of the Urban Land Institute.
Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this post incorrectly described the Community Preservation Corp. as one of the nation’s largest housing institutions served by the federal Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. In fact, CPC is one of the nation’s largest Community Development Financial Institutions dedicated to financing multifamily housing.
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