BOSTON – Core Investments, Inc. has hired two new executives to help guide growth of its On the Dot® development project near Andrew Square, as the company expands its operations in South Boston and elsewhere in the city.
Gary Lilienthal, with decades of experience in real estate law, has been named General Counsel of Core Investments. Brought on as Vice President of Asset Services for Core Investments is Steven Brooks, with more than 20 years of experience in real estate asset management.
“The Core Investments team welcomes Gary and Steve to our growing enterprise,” said David Pogorelc, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Core Investments. “We’ve been building a team over the last decade to realize our Washington Village project and launch On the Dot®, a new and exciting project that will bring a new mix of jobs, residences, and recreational activities to this neighborhood of South Boston.”
In January, Core Investments created a new subsidiary under the Core umbrella, called Core Development, and named Brett Lazar as President of Core Investments and John C. Cissel II as President of Core Development.
Lilienthal has extensive experience in the legal aspects of sophisticated commercial real estate acquisition, development, land use, leasing, joint ventures and financing.
Brooks comes to Core Investments with asset class experience in multifamily, office, retail, industrial, research and development, and mixed-use types. He has handled acquisitions, dispositions, leases, pre-development work, and refinancings in his work as commercial real estate asset and portfolio manager.
The two new executives, along with other recent additions to the Core Investments team, will further the company’s growth and the ongoing and future development of other significant Core properties in South Boston and elsewhere in Greater Boston.
Core Investments, Inc. and Core Real Properties LLC were founded by David Pogorelc, who has been active in Boston real estate for 30 years.
Lilienthal was a partner at Bernkopf Goodman LLP, a premier Boston law firm where he practiced for 46 years. During the last 10 years of practice at Bernkopf, Lilienthal represented Core. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Boston College Law School.
Lilienthal served for over 20 years on municipal boards, including Zoning Boards of Appeal and Planning Boards. He has written and lectured on various aspects of commercial real estate law and land use and was an instructor in Land Use at Boston College Law School.
Brooks previously was Vice President of Asset Management for Plymouth Industrial REIT in Boston, where he managed an eight-million-square-foot portfolio of industrial and warehouse properties in the Midwest. Before that, he was Vice President of Asset Management at JKL Ventures of Sudbury, MA, a privately held commercial real estate investment and consulting company. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Asset Management at Berkeley Investments, in Boston, which acquired or developed more than 17 million square feet of property of all types of uses.
Brooks earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Lehigh University and a Master of Business Administration from UMass Amherst. He has served as a Certified Public Accountant.
Under the leadership of Pogorelc, the strong team at Core Investments has concentrated on the transformative development of Washington Village, a million-square-foot mixed-use project on five acres in South Boston. With partner Samuels and Associates, that transformative project will get under way later this year.
The Core team has overseen current operations within and planning for On the Dot®, a future development of formerly industrial, underused land along the west side of Dorchester Avenue in South Boston. It is highly accessible by public transportation and has great potential for growth including housing, hotel, laboratory and office space. It would also feature a park, lake and a meeting house, which would feature a church, civic and arts programs. Retail stores and community spaces would be another important part of the park and surrounding commercial uses.
The property currently has about 40 small to medium-sized tenants.
On the Dot®’s future is being planned with a vision consistent with existing residents’ 21st century needs and preferences, in active collaboration both with the neighborhood and the City of Boston.