On Tuesday, December 10th, WX hosted a breakfast event featuring a panel of industry leaders who advised on how to navigateand implement New York City’s new building emissions regulation, Local Law 97. Speakers included Adriana DeAlcantara, Managing Director, Nuveen Real Estate; Colleen J. Wenke, Chief Development Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC; Mallory Taub, Senior Sustainability Specialist, Gensler; and Ian Graham, Principal, Vidaris. WX Member Suzanne St. Pierre, Chair, NY Real Estate Development, Venable LLP, moderated the sold-out event, welcoming more than100 attendees.
Throughout the panel, the speakers discussed the groundbreaking environmental law which will require significant reductions in emissions for New York City Buildings and will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on the development and construction industries.Attendees learned about the new requirements of the law, what regulations building owners will need to comply with and the ways the law may shape investment, development and operating decisions in the future.
The law aims to reduce city-wide emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and by 80 percent by 2050.The speakers shared several energy saving initiatives that are applicable new and old buildings. For example, View Dynamic Glass, a form of conventional glass in which layers of tinting are applied to control translucency, is an effective form of energy conservation, as the tinted glass maximizes natural light while reducing heat escape, lowering the overall amount of energy used to heat the interior of a building. The speakers introduced a range of progressive emissions reduction methods to attendees at the breakfast, and discussed the effects these measures will have on the construction of new projects over the next 30 years.
About the Speakers:
Adriana DeAlcantara, Managing Director, Nuveen Real Estate
Adriana is a Managing Director on the Nuveen Real Estate Portfolio Management, the investment manager of TIAA. She is the Portfolio Manager for both the New York City Property Fund which focuses on value-add and opportunistic real estate investments in NYC, and the Real Property Fund, an open-end, core real estate fund investing across the U.S. Both funds are sector-diversified, targeting office, retail, multifamily and industrial assets.
With over 20 years of experience in the financial and real estate industries, Adriana joined the organization in 2009 as Head of Asset Management for the European platform and has held several positions including Head of the U.S. Separate Accounts team focusing on large institutional clients. Prior to joining the company, she held positions at other prominent real estate organizations including Lehman Brothers Global Real Estate Group and O’Connor Capital Partners.
Adriana has a BS in Business Administration from UniversitatInternacional del Catalunya (UIC) Barcelona, and has the European designation of Certified Financial Analyst (CEFA) and is a Certified Financial PlannerTM (CFP®). She is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, German and French.
Colleen J. Wenke, Chief Development Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC
Colleen leads Taconic’s Development and Construction practice. She manages all aspects of the development timeline including strategic planning, zoning and entitlements, predevelopment, project budgeting, design management, construction oversight, procurement, risk management and insurance, community relationships, brandingand marketing through sale or lease-up.
In her 18 years of experience, Colleen has planned and overseen both ground-up and restoration projects in the commercial, residential and mixed-use sectors, totaling over 7 million square feet of commercial space and 1,500 units of housing. Several of these projects contributed significantly to the evolution of the Meatpacking District, and most recently, Essex Crossing is part of a new phase of the Lower East Side. In addition, she leads Taconic’s development advisory business, which focuses on key partnerships for client-led development and construction projects. Colleen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Boston College where she graduated magna cum laude. She also earned a Master of Science degree in real estate development and finance from New York University. She is an active member of ULI’s Program Steering Committee, NYPEN, Professional Women in Construction, and sits on the Fordham Real Estate Executive Advisory Council.
Mallory Taub, Senior Sustainability Specialist, Gensler
As a sustainability specialist in the Gensler New York office, Mallory collaborates across disciplines to improve the built environment from both the ecological and health perspectives. She brings a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to developing sustainability strategies for high performance buildings and portfolios. Mallory has experience in the application of the LEED, WELL, and Fitwel rating systems and has also supported the delivery of projects against project-specific sustainability frameworks.
Ian Graham, Principal, Vidaris
Ian is a Professional Engineer and has managed and performed energy analyses for millions of square feet of office buildings, hospitals, government facilities, educational institutions, and more for over 25 years. He has also been responsible for energy audits of commercial and industrial facilities across the country and has performed HVAC sustainable design consulting for commercial, multi-family residential and institutional buildings. He’s authored and provided technical content for various high-performance building publications, including the General Services Administration (GSA) LEED Cost Study (2004), the GSA’s Whole Building Design Guide, the New York State Green Building Tax Credit and the New York State and NYC Energy Codes. His energy code work began in 2000 for NYS Energy Code with the NYS Department of State, and NYSERDA. In 2009, he began working with the NYC Department of Buildings on Energy Code enforcement and code development. During this time, he developed and delivered Energy Code training for the NYC DOB, Urban Green (Cracking and Conquering the Energy Code), and trained professional in our industry through NYSERDA, AIA, and ASHRAE meetings and conferences.
Recently Ian and Vidaris have been working with clients to estimate the impact that recent NYC Local Laws like 33 (Building Performance Grades), 97 (Carbon Limits) and 94 (Green Roof) will have on new and existing projects. Vidaris has taken this experience and developed a presentation for the architects that explores how envelope design can help improve efficiency and limit the penalties under the Carbon Limit Law (LL97-2019).
About the Moderator:
Suzanne St. Pierre,Chair,Venable’s New York Real Estate Group
Suzanne is a trusted advisor to U.S. and multinational institutional investors, developers, nonprofits, and other organizations in complex commercial real estate transactions. Suzanne advises clients with respect to development and construction projects, ranging from cultural and educational facilities to mixed-use developments and infrastructure. She also represents clients in connection with real estate investments, including the structuring and negotiation of various types of ownership vehicles, such as limited liability companies, partnerships and real estate investment trusts (REITs), as well as acquisitions, dispositions, and leasing of real property, fund investments, and co-investment structures. Suzanne is the immediate past president of WX and served for many years as a member of its board of directors. She is a trustee of the Venable Foundation.
About WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate
WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate is an association of executive-level women actively engaged in the commercial real estate industry in New York. The mission of WX is to promote the advancement of women in commercial real estate; to enhance public perception about the role of women in the industry; and to promote the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and integrity in the field. Through educational seminars, breakfasts with industry leaders, mentoring programs, scholarships, and special events, WX provides members with a forum for visibility and exchange, spotlights the accomplishments of individual women in the industry, and paves the way for the next generation of women in the field. For more information, please visit www.wxnyre.com.
