Ariel Ball CBRE Financial Analyst Year joined: 2008 Recently completed CBRE’s Wheel Program.
Molly Beal Cushman & Wakefield Senior Associate, Retail Year joined: 2007 Clients include Salvatore Ferragamo, H&M, Furla, Milly, Bang & Olufsen, Taschen, DNA2050 and Burton Snowboard.
MaryAnne Gilmartin, Forest City Ratner Companies
Executive Vice President, Commercial and Residential Development MaryAnne Gilmartin’s road to real estate was indirect. “I won an urban fellowship and chose a position that let me dabble in real estate, something I had no knowledge of or interest in,” Ms. Gilmartin said. “Once I had it in my veins, I never looked back.” Mayor Ed Koch set up the program that launched her career as a means of stanching the flow of bright, ambitious young New Yorkers into the private sector. “In the ’80s, real estate brokers were one step above used car salesmen,” Ms. Gilmartin said. Shortly after that summer gig, the industry’s status and the face of New York were transformed—thanks in no small part to the seismic developments Ms.
Gilmartin oversaw after joining Forest City in 1994. New York by Gehry—Frank Gehry’s skyline-morphing residential tower at 8 Spruce Street—and the New York Times Building are among Ms. Gilmartin’s bolder accomplishments. But the unfolding Atlantic Yards project might be the signature piece of her career so far. “You know I’m partial to Brooklyn,” Ms. Gilmartin, a Queens native, said when asked what she considered New York’s most tantalizing real estate corridor. “Forest City and I have been slogging away there since the ’80s, when the money men would cross the Brooklyn Bridge to look at MetroTech in limousines with
bulletproof windows.” Now, Brooklyn is “the center of gravity,” Ms. Gilmartin said. Jay-Z christened the renewed Downtown Brooklyn this fall with eight sold-out shows at Atlantic Yards’ centerpiece, the Barclays Center. “We’re extremely satisfied with the Barclays Center,” Ms. Gilmartin said. “But we won’t stop at satisfaction.” —Billy Gray
Elyse Bandel RKF, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications Year joined: 2003 More than 20 years of experience in the marketing of commercial real estate projects and organizations.
Julie Beirman Solomon AREA Property Partners Partner; Head of Business Development and Marketing Year joined: 2006 Founding member of NYPEN Real Estate.
Luise Barrack Rosenberg & Estis PC Managing Partner Year joined: 1984 Ligitation work includes representing owners, developers, hoteliers, nonprofits and educational institutions.
Meredith Bell CBRE Specialist, Transaction Year joined: 2010 A member of the Planning Committee for Tomorrow’s Business Leaders.
Susan Bellion CBRE, Senior Contract Administrator Year joined: 2006 Responsible for drafting, reviewing and negotiating brokerage and confidentiality agreements with retail and office space clients.
Diana Biasotti Jones Lang LaSalle Senior Vice President; NY TriState Agency Leasing Director Year joined: 2011 Represented SL Green Realty Corp., SJP Properties and Eastgate Realty Corp.
Amanda Bokman CBRE Senior Vice President Year joined: 2006 Recognized as a member of CBRE’s Colbert Coldwell Circle.
Melissa Bazar Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director, Brokerage Year joined: 2005 Fifteen years of experience in tenant representation.
Karen Bellantoni RKF Executive Vice President Year joined: 1999 Won the REBNY 2005 Retail Deal of the Year Award for arranging the Apple lease on Fifth Avenue at the GM Building.
Elysa Berlin Massey Knakal Realty Services Director of Sales Year joined: 2008 Honored twice in the Annual Women in Real Estate Spotlight.
Alexandra Bogen Emerge212 Managing Director Year joined: 2005 Currently expanding the firm into new state-of-the-art facilities at 3 Columbus Circle and 125 Park Avenue.
Kathryn Bonner Welch Forest City Ratner Companies Senior Vice President; Director of Retail Development Year joined: 1985 Oversees 18 properties and all new retail development in the New York metro region.
THE COMMERCIAL OBSERVER | DECEMBER 11, 2012 | 31