A growing interest and awareness in fresh, local food is spurring innovation when it comes to development projects.

From rooftop gardens supplying food to adjacent restaurants, to edible landscaping, to industrial places that are hosting food markets and pop-up restaurants, to food-based entertainment destinations and master planned communities built around farms—how are new and creative approaches to food driving healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable outcomes in cities and communities?

What do savvy real estate leaders need to know about trends in food and development?

To answer these questions, the ULI Building Healthy Places Initiative and the ULI Center for Sustainability convened developers, property owners, investors, restaurateurs, policy-makers, and others in the culinary destinations of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Tarrytown, New York. During these small, invitation-only, discussion-based gatherings, these experts came together to learn, share, and eat good food. At the Forums, attendees met with like-minded people and potential partners, and enjoyed a unique culinary and professional experience.

About the New York Forum

At our Food and Real Estate Forum in Tarrytown, New York, we explored the interplay of agriculture, sustainability, food systems, and real estate. We toured the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, explored food trends and issues in the region and beyond, and enjoyed a private dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, home to Executive Chef Dan Barber.

Partners

ULI is grateful to the Colorado Health Foundation and the Leichtag Foundation for their support of this project and the Building Healthy Places Initiative. ULI is also grateful to the Shaw Family for its support of the ULI New Orleans Food Forum and to the Shops at Canal Place and O’Connor Capital Partners for their sponsorship of that forum.

Download Full Agenda

Forum Chair

Ken Hubbard
Senior Managing Director
Hines
Chair, New York Forum

Ken Hubbard, formerly the CEO of Hines’ East Region, is a senior managing director working on special regional projects. He joined Hines in 1974 and was an original member of the firm’s Executive Committee. In 1975, he led a division to develop bank headquarters around the U.S. Mr. Hubbard co-led the firm’s East-West division from 1979 to 1984. In 1980 he started the Hines East Region, focusing on the acquisition, development and management of commercial properties, as well as the development of mixed-use projects in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Today, he participates on various initiatives and ventures on and outside the East Coast. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law School.

Speakers

Dan Barber
Executive Chef
Blue Hill

Dan Barber is the co-owner and executive chef of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and the author of The Third Plate (May 2014, The Penguin Press). His opinions on food and agricultural policy have appeared in the New York Times, along with many other publications. Appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, Dan continues the work that he began as a member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture’s board of directors: to blur the line between the dining experience and the educational, bringing the principles of good farming directly to the table. Barber has received multiple James Beard awards including Best Chef: New York City (2006) and the country’s Outstanding Chef (2009). In 2009 he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

Richard Coraine
Chief Development Officer
Union Square Hospitality Group

Richard is the Chief Development Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, charged with innovating, incubating, and developing a fresh generation of award-winning restaurants and other groundbreaking ventures for the USHG family of businesses.

Most recently, he oversaw the relocation of Union Square Cafe after 30 years on 16^th Street, and spearheaded the re-opening of Untitled at the new Whitney Museum of American Art downtown. Throughout his 20 years at USHG, Richard has been integral to the conception and opening of some of the group’s most beloved restaurants, including Maialino, Blue Smoke, and North End Grill, as well as Eleven Madison Park and Shake Shack, former members of the USHG family. In 2009, Richard launched Hospitality Quotient, an organizational consulting business that partners with leading organizations to activate the transformative power of hospitality as a sustainable competitive advantage.

Prior to his current role, Richard was Chief Operations Officer, in which capacity he was responsible for the performance of all USHG operations, directly supervised the executive chefs, general managers, and directors, and trained the restaurants’ management teams to provide guests with USHG’s renowned cuisine and hospitality.

Richard joined USHG as a partner in 1996, following a decade of leadership with Wolfgang Puck Group, and the launch of his own restaurant, Hawthorne Lane, which he opened in San Francisco in 1995. Richard is a Boston native, a graduate of the New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business, and holds an AOS in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America.

Theresa Frankiewicz
Vice President of Community Development
Crown Community Development

Teri (fran-KE-vich) has worked in the real estate development field for over 30 years with primary professional experience in developing large-scaled master plan communities. She specializes in land acquisition and entitlement, as well as overall project development, asset management and equity investment. She possesses additional skills in homebuilding, club and golf course management, strategic planning and civic engagement.

Teri has worked the last 22 years as a Vice President for Crown Community Development and has traveled extensively, analyzing and facilitating property acquisitions and development in the Chicago, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Washington and Tennessee markets. Some of the recent communities which she has been engaged with include the 2,000-acre Seven Oaks community in the Tampa Bay Area, 2,000 acre Black Diamond community in Seattle, the 80 acre Singleton Property in Nashville and several properties in the Austin and San Antonio MSA.  Teri recently concluded the master planning and entitlement efforts for a 6,800 acre long-term agricultural Crown family partnership in the Tucson Arizona area and manages a 3,000 acre agricultural asset in Santa Barbara, California. She continues to look for investment and development opportunities for the Crown Family throughout the U.S.

She is a Past-District Council Chair for the Urban Land Institute in Chicago and a Past Chair of the national Community Development Council Silver.  Teri also serves as an Urban Land Institute Trustee and sits on The Advisory Board for the Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership.  Teri was recently appointed a Trustee for the Chicago Public Broadcasting Station in Chicago, WTTW/WFMT.

On a more personal note, Teri has a strong allegiance to the University of Virginia as she has received both her B.A. in Economics and Communications and her M.B.A. (Darden) from the University. She has been married 20 years to her husband, Chuck, and delights in raising her two children Michael, 19, and Emma, 17. She desperately attempts to stay in the outdoors through hiking and gardening, has developed a keen interest in yoga and travels whenever humanly possible.  And most recently, realized a life-long dream of acquiring a small hobby farm in Wisconsin.

Robert K. Futterman
Chairman & CEO
RKF

Robert K. Futterman is the founder and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of RKF.  Headquartered in New York, with additional offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Northern New Jersey, San Francisco and Toronto, RKF has been responsible for $20 billion in aggregate real estate transactions since its inception in 1998.

Robert has more than 25 years of retail real estate experience and has personally been involved in transactions totaling in excess of $10 billion. He has successfully created one of the leading retail real estate firms in the US and the dominant player in the New York metro area.  With unparalleled expertise in landlord and tenant representation, new construction, leasing, sales and market analysis, he is unrivaled in the industry.

Amaya Genaro
Director, Community Services
Rancho Mission Viejo

Amaya serves as the Director, Community Services for Rancho Mission Viejo a privately owned development company in South Orange County, California. Rancho Mission Viejo has owned land for 130+ years and has developed communities for the past 50 years. The new ranch community is comprised of more than 17,000 acres of permanent open space and 6,000 acres of residential and mixed use development. Rancho Mission Viejo is both Orange County’s last working ranch and the largest new planned community in California. Amaya leads the Community Life team in strategic direction and implementation of lifestyle services and programs. Rancho Mission Viejo is bringing to life a community that challenges the status quo by integrating Age Qualified neighborhoods and All Age neighborhoods with an overlay of ageless amenity design and programming. The “agrihood” program and a communal approach to gardening have continued to gain momentum with a community following of all ages.

Previously, Amaya worked in community management for 15 years with The Merit Companies (now known as FirstService Residential) and supporting developer clients of large master planned communities in the development of soft infrastructure. Amaya earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Irvine. She resides with her husband in the City of Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

Lara Hermanson
Principal/Founder
Farmscape LLC

Lara Hermanson is a Principal/Founder at Farmscape, LLC, the nation’s largest urban farming company. Since the company’s founding in 2008, Lara has overseen the construction and maintenance of 400 commercial, residential, and restaurant farms in the western United States. Some highlights include the garden at AT&T Park, and the rooftop farm at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles.  She is a sustainable agriculture consultant on Agrihood developments for Pulte Homes, Newhall Land, Northwestern Mutual, and the Core Companies. In addition, her firm has installed farms for the Michelin-starred Providence in Los Angeles and the Bon Appetit restaurants in San Francisco.

Jill Isenbarger
Executive Director
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture

Jill Isenbarger is the Executive Director of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.  Prior to her appointment in March 2009, she served as Chief of Staff for the Nature Conservancy, the world’s leading conservation organization with over 3,500 employees in 34 countries and an annual operating budget exceeding $1 billion. Jill held top leadership positions with The Nature Conservancy for more than ten years, including Chief of Staff for three top-level executives and Director of Marketing Programs. While at The Nature Conservancy, Jill worked to advance climate change initiatives, bring the Last Great Places to urban dwellers through innovative marketing programs, and build support for eco-system services and eco-regional planning. Previously, Jill worked for Harvard University, United States Senator Carl Levin, and an international architectural firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Christopher Jaskiewicz
Chief Operating Officer
Gotham Organization, Inc.

Christopher Jaskiewicz is Chief Operating Officer of Gotham Organization, Inc. Gotham develops, builds, owns and operates distinctive real estate properties. Chris is responsible for the operations of Gotham’s portfolio of approximately three million square feet of residential and retail properties, and also heads the company’s retail and commercial portfolio. He was the executive in charge of developing Gotham West Market, a first-of-its-kind day-and-night market spanning a full city block. Gotham West Market offers a well-curated list of artisan vendors and restaurants, the Club Room for private events, as well as a bicycle porter and shop, and has been named “one of America’s best food halls” by Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, and more. As a leader in the emerging gourmet food hall trend, Chris is frequently called upon as an expert source for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit and more.

John Mandyck
Chief Sustainability Officer
United Technologies Corporation

John Mandyck serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for United Technologies Corporation. A global leader in the aerospace, food refrigeration and commercial building industries, United Technologies provides high-technology systems and services that set the standard for performance, reliability and energy efficiency, with well-known global brands such as Pratt & Whitney, UTC Aerospace Systems, Carrier and Otis.

John chairs the Corporate Advisory Board of the World Green Building Council, and serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for the Urban Green Council in New York City. He is a member of the Corporate Council at the Harvard University Center for Health and the Global Environment. John is the co-author of the book Food Foolish, which explores the hidden connection between food waste, hunger and climate change.

Throughout his career, John has worked with governments, universities and organizations to accelerate environmental sustainability in an increasingly urbanizing world. He has presented energy efficiency, sustainability and future of food strategies to audiences around the globe.

He blogs on sustainability issues at SustainabilityView.com and can be found on Twitter @JohnMandyck.

Sarene Marshall
Executive Director, Center for Sustainability
The Urban Land Institute

Sarene Marshall is Executive Director of the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Sustainability. In this role, she oversees ULI’s activities in the areas of climate change, energy, sustainability, and resilience, including the Greenprint Center for Building Performance and ULI’s Urban Resilience Program.

Sarene came to ULI from The Nature Conservancy. As a Senior Advisor at TNC, she addressed the Conservancy’s own environmental footprint by managing carbon, waste, water, and recycling. She also helped develop new initiatives on food security, water security, and smart infrastructure in Latin America. Previously, Sarene served as managing director for TNC’s global Climate Change program and led change management, globalization and strategic planning projects on behalf of TNC’s executive team.

Dr. Bill McKinney
Director of Research and Evaluation
The Food Trust

Bill works to evaluate the impacts of The Food Trust programs on healthy food access and obesity. Bill has a master’s degree in applied anthropology and a Ph.D. in anthropology. He is an urban gardener and also a music lover; Bill enjoys playing reggae/soul music with his band the West Kensingtons.

Steve Nygren
President and Founder
Serenbe

Steve Nygren is the President and Founder of Serenbe, a wellness community created as a model to demonstrate that preserving 70% of green space interlaced with agriculture, housing and retail is not only economically viable but the future of community wellbeing. Looking for a sustainable solution to urban sprawl, the community is designed with nature and the environment at the top of mind, but without compromising the luxuries and sophistication of the 21st century – dubbed by the New York Times as a “utopian experiment in New Urbanism.”

Steve currently serves on multiple national boards dealing with children, agriculture and environmental issues including The Ray C. Anderson Foundation, Children & Nature Network, Chattahoochee Now, The Biophilic Institute and Wholesome Wave.

Peter Peterson
Vice President
Related Urban

Peter Peterson is a Vice President of Related Urban. Mr. Peterson leads the restaurant leasing team for Related properties nationwide. In this roll he is responsible for spearheading all future growth of the company’s food and beverage businesses, managing all facets of the development process. Prior to joining Related Urban, Mr. Peterson worked for American Food Management in Boston managing their flagship restaurant Grill 23 & Bar and also held positions within The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. Mr. Peterson holds a Master’s in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Roger Platt
Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning
Green Business Certification, Inc. GBCI

Roger serves as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning for GBCI, the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally. [GBCI exclusively administers project certifications and professional credentials relative to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and six other green building related rating and assessment systems.] Mr. Platt brings 30 years of experience with the U.S. and global real estate industry to help ensure GBCI provides top quality customer experience and can competently — and strategically — compress the period of time necessary to positively impact buildings and related infrastructure in over 150 countries.

Prior to taking on this role, Roger served as President of the U.S. Green Building Council where he singularly focused on market development, stakeholder engagement and strategic relationship management of all USGBC’s constituencies. Earlier in his six year tenure with USGBC, he held the position of Senior Vice President, Global Policy and Law where he was responsible for overseeing the policy aspects of the increasingly global adoption of green building and sustainable urban development practices.

Before joining USGBC in 2009, Roger spent 15 years as a senior executive and policy counsel with the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Platt served as an urban land use and real estate transactional lawyer in San Francisco, CA, focusing on the city’s two largest neighborhood-sized development projects. A longtime member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), he serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Wendy Rowden
President
42nd Street Development Corporation

Ms. Rowden is the President of 42nd Street Development Corporation (42SDC), the developer and operator of the theaters, restaurants and apartments known as Theater Row. Ms. Rowden’s mandate is to expand the depth and scope of the organization’s reach (which is not limited to 42nd Street), using arts as a catalyst to economic development. Ms. Rowden comes to 42SDC with 30 years of experience in the real estate industry. Prior to joining 42SDC, she led Jonathan Rose Companies’ Investments where she was responsible for all aspects of the firm’s investment management business. Prior to Jonathan Rose Companies, Ms. Rowden served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of The Rockefeller Group, the U.S. Subsidiary of Mitsubishi Estate Co.

Ms. Rowden serves as Global Chair of Urban Land Institute’s Women’s Leadership Initiative and is also an adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, where she teaches Real Estate Development. She is a past President of WX (Women Executives in Real Estate), a former member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Cushman & Wakefield and a former member of the Board of Trustees of Maimonides Medical Center.

Ms. Rowden is the recipient of numerous awards including, Bisnow’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Real Estate”, United Way’s “Women United in Philanthropy Award” and Real Estate Weekly’s “Top 100 Women in Real Estate.” She holds degrees from Brown University, University of Michigan and New York University.

Questions?

Email [email protected] for more information.

To learn more about the Food and Real Estate Forum in New Orleans, please visit uli.org/neworleansfood.

Read more about the forum here.