The State of Commercial Real Estate: Office, Retail and Beyond

Brian S. Waterman serves as an Executive Vice Chairman at Newmark and he has negotiated leasing transactions in excess of $4.0 billion, cementing his reputation as a leader in landlord and tenant representation.

Among the numerous high-profile building owners he has represented are AmTrust Realty; Atlas Capital; SL Green Realty; Columbia Property Trust; Vornado Realty Trust; Invesco and Nuveen; In addition, he has successfully led leasing campaigns at such properties as 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza; 731 Lexington Avenue; 100 Church Street; 125 Park Avenue; 3 Columbus Circle; One Grand Central Place; 475, 535, 545, 575 and 590 Fifth Avenue; 59 Maiden Lane and Metropolitan Tower.

Recently, Mr. Waterman represented New York City Health and Hospitals in a lease for 526,552 square feet at 50 Water Street, for which he received the Most Ingenious Deal of The Year Award from The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) for the third time.

A REBNY member, he is also involved in fundraising for numerous not-for-profits. Mr. Waterman actively supports the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and The New Renaissance Basketball Association (The Rens). He is a past Chairman, Vice Chairman and Membership chairman of the Young Men's/Women's Real Estate Association and received its award in conjunction with REBNY's Young Real Estate Man of the Year award.

David Lipson is a vice chairman in the Savills Washington, DC, office. Since 2004, he has served on the firmʼs board of directors, and has been a member of the boardʼs executive committee since 2014. To date, David has participated in real estate transactions totaling more than 92 million square feet.

He leads the Savills Public Sector Services Practice Group, which represents the General Services Administration and numerous independent federal agencies. In addition to assisting the General Services Administration with its 198 million- square- foot portfolio of leased space, David and his team have represented agencies including the State Department, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Census Bureau, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other agencies on assignments across the country. In total, his team has completed well in excess of 1,500 transactions on behalf of the U.S. Government.

David and his team also represent many of Washingtonʼs leading private sector tenants. These clients include some of Washingtonʼs most important law firms, such as WilmerHale, Williams & Connolly, Pillsbury, Arent Fox, and Blank Rome, among others. For more than twenty years, David has represented the RAND Corporation and the Institute for Defense Analyses on a national basis. His corporate and trade association clients include CVS Health and Carlyle Group portfolio companies.

Louise Guido is the Executive Director of Media Sales at The Wall Street Journal. She heads a team of 15 sales and marketing people working with the top luxury real estate brands and brokers in the world. She is also responsible for the print and digital engagements of brand clients. Her role is to engage with industry market leaders to help them deliver their message to consumers, brokers and industry professionals.

Louise is also the Associate Publisher of MansionGlobal.com, the luxury property destination for ultra-affluent global consumers. She focuses on revenue, product development, and audience generation. Mansion Global is considered the premier website that focuses on both real estate, but also the luxury lifestyle of consumers. She has created unique revenue models and streams that enhance the value of MansionGlobal to clients.

With over 30 years as a global entrepreneur, she focused on content development, mobile app development, digital technology, business-to-business sales and marketing, and long-term strategic planning. She is especially adept at creating new revenue streams that enhance the core business, and support a sustainable business model. Her unique approach to business is to always to 'lead with giving' thereby generating deep relationships with clients and inspiring team members with a "win-win" attitude benefiting everyone in the process. With business experience in over 40 countries, she is the rare executive who has both a vision and the capacity to execute unusual programs.

Louise is one of the world’s leading experts and thought leaders on how to combine social good with commercial value. She is responsible for creating programs that have measurable impact affecting the lives of millions of people around the world, as well as increasing the bottom line value for corporations looking to expand their global footprint through sustainable purpose-driven, profit-making efforts.

Meredith Darnall is a senior vice president at Brookfield Properties’ retail group leading the business intelligence and strategy team for the retail real estate company. She oversees the analysis of external market dynamics to provide strategic recommendations on its impact to retail real estate business model. Darnall established the Brookfield Properties’ proactive insights department and spearheads efforts in applying emerging technologies and trends that drive success to the company’s 163 regional shopping centers.

With a career spanning over 20 years, Darnall is a leading expert in the retail, real estate and business insights. Prior to joining Brookfield Properties (formerly GGP) in 2006, she was the Real Estate Research Manager at Nordstrom Inc., where she managed store site location strategy for all of the Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack locations. Darnall developed sales forecasting tools and conducted merchandising analysis for the company’s store base of 355 locations.