Upstate New York Champions: Opportunities, Challenges, and the Future
Urban Land Institute New York 2008 Real Estate Seminar
Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008
Time: 4:30PM – 6:30PM
Reception to follow seminar
Location: Cornell University
198 Beck Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Cost: $30 ULI members
$50 non-members and guests
Cost includes networking reception immediately following.
Registration: Available online, by fax or by phone
Please call 1-800-321-5011 and mention meeting code 8120-0951
Please join ULI New York and the Cornell University Program in Real Estate for the first annual ULI - Cornell Real Estate Industry Seminar. Learn from real estate principals what the current market conditions are in the various upstate markets, how they have found success upstate, and what the greatest challenges are tomorrow. The event will be attended by students, faculty and staff of the Cornell Program in Real Estate along with ULI-New York Chapter members.
Panelists:
Michael J. Falcone, Chairman Emeritus and Founder of the Pioneer Companies
Douglas G. Jerum, Partner of Ferrara Jerum International
Richard Mueller, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate, M&T Bank
Patrick Tobin, President of Living Communities, LLC an affiliate of The Christa Companies
Maureen DeJure Wilson, President of Pyramid Brokerage Company
Biographies
MICHAEL J. FALCONE
Michael J. Falcone is Chairman Emeritus and Founder of the Pioneer Companies, headquartered in Syracuse, New York.
Mr. Falcone began his real estate career in 1952, when at the age of 16, he became the youngest licensed real estate salesman in the State of New York. Born into a family of contractors and real estate brokers, he is the third generation to become involved in the real estate industry. Mr. Falcone graduated from Syracuse University in 1957 with a degree in business at which time he joined a large Syracuse area real estate company as a commercial salesman.
In 1961, after serving in the Air Force Reserve for 12 months he began purchasing and re-developing shopping centers throughout upstate New York. In 1969 he and an old high school friend in the contracting business formed the Pyramid Companies and until his departure built shopping centers, warehouses, office buildings and student apartments throughout the northeast. In 1975 Mr. Falcone left Pyramid and went on to form The Pioneer Group, which quickly became one of the largest downtown office building developers in Central New York, with major projects in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.
Again in 1987, sensing a shift in industry cycles, Mr. Falcone along with his two sons Michael and Mark created a new company, Pioneer Development Company, to expand and diversify their efforts into larger geographic areas and product type. In addition to downtown office buildings, Pioneer began building suburban office parks in the Syracuse and Rochester markets and renewed efforts in the retail area with large-scale shopping centers in Michigan, New York and New England. In the early 90’s Pioneer ventured into the Senior Housing market and created a Joint Venture with the largest publicly traded Assisted Living Company in the country. In the last 5 years, in addition to its traditional lines of business, Pioneer has built over 18 assisted living and dementia care facilities throughout the Northeast.
In the summer of 1998, Pioneer transformed itself yet again and is now known as The Pioneer Companies, and now has offices and subsidiaries in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, Phoenix, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. The Pioneer Companies engages in Property Management Services, Asset Management Services, Construction Management and Commercial Brokerage through a Joint Venture with CB Richard Ellis. Its product line continues to include suburban and downtown office and mixed use projects, retail, senior housing, student housing and residential land development.
Currently Mr. Falcone serves on the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University. He is a member of the New York State Business Council and the Corporate Advisory Council for the Syracuse University School of Management. He has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of First National Bank of Rochester, the Board of Directors of Keystone Property Trust and LeMoyne College. Additionally he served on the Board of Directors of M & T Bank, the OnCenter/Onondaga County Convention Center-War Memorial Complex, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation of Central New York, the Opera Club of Syracuse, the Cayuga County Community College Foundation and the Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts. He also Co-Chaired the Capital Campaign of Hospice of Central New York in 1996.
Mr. Falcone has received numerous awards and honors including an Honorary Degree from LeMoyne College, the Mayor’s Achievement Award for Syracuse, the Syracuse University Jonathon Holtz Alumnus of the Year 1992 award; the 1995 Boy Power Distinguished Citizen Award; and the Temple Adath Citizen of the Year 1996 award. Additionally he was honored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central New York in 2005 and the Crouse Health Foundation in 2008.
He and his wife Noreen live in Skaneateles, New York. They have four children, Michael, Mark, Michelle and Melissa and 11 grandchildren.
DOUGLAS G. JERUM
Douglas Jerum is a partner of Ferrara Jerum International and a licensed real estate broker in New York State. Mr. Jerum is also a licensed salesperson in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Mr. Jerum was responsible for the Upstate New York real estate programs for Outback Steakhouse and Extended Stay America Hotels and managed the entry into the Atlanta, Georgia, market for Petco Animal Supplies. Mr. Jerum has opened over 150 units for Starbucks Coffee Company and has over 35 Wal-Mart Supercenter projects open or currently under construction. Mr. Jerum is currently involved in real estate programs of all of Ferrara Jerum International’s clients. Mr. Jerum’s experience includes leasing in New York, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Illinois and the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Mr. Jerum also has managed project feasibility and project entitlements for millions of square feet of development on behalf of clients of Ferrara Jerum International as well as for the development projects of Ferrara Jerum International.
Mr. Jerum is an alumnus of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Bachelor of Science program in Film and Video.
RICHARD MUELLER
Richard Mueller is Administrative Vice President for M&T Bank, responsible for commercial real estate finance in Upstate New York.
After graduating from Hobart College in Geneva, New York with degrees in Economics and Urban & Regional Studies, Mr. Mueller began his career with Erie Savings Bank, Buffalo, NY in 1979. With deregulation of the thrift industry, Erie quickly grew to become one of the 10 largest thrifts in the country with banking operations in New York, Florida, Michigan and Texas.
Mr. Mueller joined M&T Bank in 1984 as a commercial real estate lender based in Buffalo. At the time, M&T was a small community bank with $2 billion in assets. Today, through organic growth and acquisitions across New York State, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, it has grown to $65 billion in assets, and is the 18th largest commercial bank holding company in the country. M&T has been a wonderful investment for its shareholders with an average compounded annual growth rate in earnings of 19 percent since 1983.
Mr. Mueller was part of the due diligence team evaluating bank acquisitions in Upstate New York, and was responsible for establishing M&T’s Loan Production Offices in Rochester and Syracuse. In 1992 he moved to Rochester to manage commercial real estate lending in that region. He is currently responsible for commercial real estate lending in the bank’s Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, and Syracuse regions.
M&T is a leading commercial real estate lender, with a portfolio of commercial real estate loans totaling over $9.5 billion, of which over $1.6 billion is in Upstate New York. M&T, through its affiliate, M&T Realty Capital Corporation, is a leading mortgage banker, originating over $1.4 billion in investment real estate loans for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several insurance companies.
Mr. Mueller serves on the boards of Rochester Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), the Greater Rochester Housing Partnership, Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, Rochester Management, and the Alzheimers Association.
PATRICK TOBIN
Mr. Tobin is President of Living Communities, LLC and has over 30 years of real estate development and financing experience. Living Communities, LLC is affiliated with The Christa Companies. The Christa Companies’ largest affiliate is Christa Construction, LLC, an $85M revenue based construction firm. The Christa product has a wide expanse, including housing, health care, commercial, educational, municipal and industrial work.
In 2001, Mr. Tobin joined the Christa Organization, headquartered in Rochester, New York, as an active partner to head up their residential development division under an affiliated company, Christa Development Corporation. Mr. Tobin’s primary responsibilities included the development of residential products with the focus on Senior Housing (via Living Communities LLC), development of market rate residential products, as well as student housing products. As a result of, and at the time of this collaboration, Mr. Tobin helped form Living Communities, LLC and became its Executive Vice President. His primary responsibilities included land acquisition, budgets, and project management.
During his 13 years at Fleet Bank, Mr. Tobin served in numerous management positions. During the last eight years of his tenure with Fleet, he served as the Corporate Manager for their Upstate New York Corporate Real Estate Division overseeing the $400M market from Buffalo to Albany, New York which included lending groups and staff. Upon his departure from Fleet Bank, Mr. Tobin joined The DePaul Group, a $50M not-for-profit organization based in Rochester, New York, as its Director of Development. In his eight years with DePaul, Mr. Tobin directed the development of more than $100M in senior housing, which focused primarily on assisted living. This work also included strategic planning, of which Mr. Tobin participated in establishing, to develop and acquire property in North Carolina. His responsibilities relative to this development and acquisition were to increase DePaul’s portfolio of senior housing beds to over 1,600, oversee the initial site acquisition, manage the respective projects’ development and secure the appropriate financing. Mr. Tobin’s funding initiatives included the utilization of creative financing vehicles such as medical care bonds, revenue bonds, local Housing Finance Agency funding and New York State Dormitory Authority support.
Mr. Tobin was appointed President of Living Communities in 2007 and is responsible for the backlog of five projects with the potential of $100M in development work. Mr. Tobin was instrumental in establishing Living Communities as a noteworthy regional active adult and senior housing development firm and instrumental in creating the operations, management and consulting arm of the company.
MAUREEN DeJURE WILSON, CCIM, SIOR
Maureen Wilson joined Pyramid Brokerage Company in 2000 after spending 14 years with a predecessor company and became President of the Binghamton/Corning/Ithaca offices in 2001. Maureen’s background includes work in systems development for IBM and in regional health planning. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bucknell University and has a Master of Arts and an MBA from Binghamton University. She holds both the CCIM and SIOR designations. As an SIOR, Maureen holds dual designation in office and industrial brokerage. Maureen has handled a broad range of commercial property transactions including industrial, retail, office and investment. Maureen has been instrumental in organizing the Pyramid Investment Properties Group, along with Kevin Besser, Executive Director. The New York State Commercial Association of REALTORS® recognized Maureen as their REALTOR® of the Year for 2004.
Licensed in New York and Pennsylvania, Maureen has worked with numerous clients, including IBM, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Kason Industries, Victory Markets, LLC, Willow Run Foods, Foamex, Chase Bank, Millenium Chemical, Newman Development Group, Coolidge Equities and Stratford Management. Maureen’s professional affiliations include the following: New York State Commercial Association of REALTORS® (2007-2008 President), New York State Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of REALTORS®, Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS® (SIOR), New York State Chapter SIOR (2007-2008 Secretary-Treasurer), Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), Upstate New York CCIM Chapter (2005-2006 President), and International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Active in her community, Maureen is affiliated with the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Broome Community College Foundation Board, Harpur Forum (Binghamton University Foundation), Broome County Habitat for Humanity (Board President), Association for Vision Rehabilitation & Employment Foundation Board, Binghamton Downtown, Inc. (Board Member) , The Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation and Planned Parenthood of South Central New York (Board Treasurer).