By Verity Sylvester ‘19 and Ricki Shenfeld ‘18

On Wednesday, March 28th 2018, members of the Real Estate Association (REA) were hosted by L+M Development Partners for a private tour of their groundbreaking Essex Crossing development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The day started at the corner of Clinton and Broome Street in the heart of the development site with Jayda Shanks, Project Manager at L+M Development Partners. Having worked at Essex Crossing from its initial planning phases, Jayda was able to give the group a firsthand look in to her experience with the development process. Jayda walked the group through the history of the site, the RFP and bidding process, the financing of the project and the unique experience of working for the tri-venture between L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, and Taconic Investment Partners. Jayda guided the group through the impressive 1.9 million square foot development, explaining how different architects were used for each site to make the development seem more organic and seamless within its LES context.

The tour continued with Beth Lieberman, Director of Operations for The Market Line at Essex Crossing. Beth gave the group a tour through the Market Line construction site, the future home to more than 100 food, art, music and fashion retailers. During the tour, Beth explained her vision for the market: an embodiment of the Lowest East Side cultivated by sourcing only local vendors. Soon to be the largest market in New York City, the scale and unique offering that this market will provide is sure to make the Market Line a prominent city attraction. 

The group finished at 175 Delancey Street, the development’s first affordable apartments available for seniors. After being shown the building’s 55,000 square foot NYU medical facility, which was still under construction, the group was brought through the property’s amenities offerings for the 99-unit apartment building.  As Essex Crossing broke ground in 2015 and is planned to be completed by 2024, the impressive developments the group was able to tour were only a fraction of what the area will be in when it is complete 

On behalf of Columbia Business School’s Real Estate Association, we would like to thank the team at Essex Crossing for giving us a memorable tour of their development. The site tour allowed us to get a glimpse into the future of the Lower East Side and the impressive scale of the development that is being undertaken. 

Ricki Shenfeld Tishman ’18 is the VP of Site Tours for the Real Estate Association at Columbia Business School. She is a second year focusing on real estate. Prior to enrolling at Columbia, Ricki worked in Acquisitions & Capital Markets at DDG, a luxury real estate developer in Manhattan with offices in San Francisco and Palm Beach. Ricki spent her summer at Silverstein Properties in Acquisitions & Development. 

Verity Sylvester ’19 is the AVP of Site Tours for the Real Estate Association at Columbia Business School. She is a first year focusing on real estate development and finance. Verity previously worked for Manulife Real Estate based in Toronto in asset management and development functions.