The 29th Annual Real Estate Finance Association Gala and upcoming fall programming

Boston, MA The 29th Annual REFA Gala was held on Wednesday, October 4 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Stephen Karp, chairman, New England Development and Steven Fischman, vice chairman, New England Development were awarded with the 2017 Robert S. Swain Jr. Award, REFA’s Distinguished Service Award.  

Karp and Fischman joined an elite list of Robert S. Swain Jr. Distinguished Service Award honorees, all of whom have made outstanding contributions to real estate in Greater Boston. Over 500 members and guests gathered for one of the industry’s premier networking events.

On October 11, REFA will be hosting a 101 Fundamentals program on equity with guest speaker Greg LaBine, managing director, HFF. LaBine will deliver a presentation on the basics of equity, including common equity, preferred equity and mezzanine debt. Case studies will supplement the presentation by providing recent examples of each of the equity types. The program will take place at Holland & Knight, 10 St. James Ave. Registration will begin at 7:45 a.m. and the program will take place from 8-9:15 a.m. 

Matt Pullen, executive managing director, Newmark Knight Frank will moderate a “E-Commerce: The Present and Future of ‘Last Mile’ Industrial” panel on November 14 as part of REFA’s Education program series. The panelists for this program will include Scott Gredler, senior director, Cushman & Wakefield; Robert Provost, founding partner, Longpoint Realty Partners; Stephen J.T. Murphy, partner & principal of acquisitions, Campanelli and Patrick Ryan, executive vice president, investments, Cabot Properties. The program will take place at WilmerHale, 60 State St., from 8 – 9:15 a.m. 

Interested in learning more about East Boston’s transformation? REFA will be hosting a Members-Only Breakfast regarding the growing neighborhood the morning of December 5. The program will take place at Nutter, 155 Seaport Blvd., from 8 – 9:15 a.m. The panel will include moderator Sue Hawkes, managing director, The Collaborative Companies and speakers Matt Edlen, director of acquisitions and development, Gerding Edlen; Joel Kadis, partner of leasing & development, Linear Retail; Nick Islen, general manager- development, LendLease.

Don’t miss REFA’s Holiday Networking Night on Thursday, December 7! The event will be held at Central Wharf Co. from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.