New leadership at City Hall brings new policies, priorities, and uncertainties. What will it mean for development, housing, capital flows, and the future of New York City real estate?

Join BREAA NYC for a fast-paced panel featuring senior industry leaders who are actively shaping projects across the city. This conversation will go beyond headlines to examine what’s actually changing on the ground — and what it means for investors, developers, operators, and housing providers.

This event is generously hosted by Anchin and sponsored by Wexler & Kaufman, PLLC and Empire National Title Agency.

Moderator:

Robert Gilman, CPA, CGMA

Partner & Leader, Real Estate Group — Anchin

Panelists:

Helen Hwang

Senior Executive Managing Director, Meridian Investment Sales

Simon Kawitzky

Senior Vice President of Real Estate, Volunteers of America Greater New York

Laszlo Syrop

Principal & Head of Acquisitions, Hudson Companies

John Valladares

Managing Director, Affordable — Slate Property Group

Evening Schedule:

5:30 PM — Registration & Networking

6:00 PM — Panel Discussion

7:00 PM — Audience Q&A

7:30 PM — Networking Reception

8:00 PM — Program Concludes

Connect with fellow real estate professionals, alumni, and decision-makers for an evening of insight and meaningful networking in an intimate setting. Light refreshments will be provided.

Space is limited. Advance registration required.

Bios:

Robert Gilman, CPA, CGMA - Partner, Leader -Real Estate Group, 

Anchin

Robert Gilman, CPA, CGMA, is a Partner and Leader of Anchin’s Real Estate Group. He has more than 35 years of experience serving real estate owners, developers, and operators in commercial and residential spaces. He advises on day-to-day operations, tax saving opportunities, and transactional support that includes due diligence on the acquisition and disposition of real estate. His experience also extends to reviewing and analyzing operating agreements and assisting with client investor relations for both domestic and international investors.

Rob consults on constantly changing compliance, accounting, and tax issues and advises clients on financial and estate planning, budgeting, tax planning, and cash flow strategies. Additionally, since many of his clients’ projects are built from the ground up and require intensive reviews of construction and ancillary costs, he is well placed to advise on financial planning for ground up builds.

Rob is consistently named as an award winner by respected industry publications including Crain’s New York’s Most Notable in Real Estate for 2022 and 2021, Long Island Business News – Business and Finance Award for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021, Long Island Business News –

Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024, Real Estate Power Player by Long Island Press in 2023 and Globe St.’s CRE Best Bosses for 2022 & 2021. Considered an industry thought leader, he is also frequently quoted by various publications including Commercial Observer, The Real Deal, Globe St., and the Wall Street Journal.

Rob is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)

Helen Hwang - Senior Executive Managing Director, Meridian Investment Sales, LLC

Helen Hwang is the Head of Institutional Investment Sales at Meridian Capital Group. Ms. Hwang has executed over 100 institutional sales, recapitalization, ground lease, and joint venture transactions exceeding $30 billion in value. Prior to joining Meridian, Ms. Hwang spent 16 years at Cushman & Wakefield as an Executive Vice President, where she worked on several unprecedented complex assignments, including 1865 Broadway, 22 River Terrace, 101 Murray Street, One Court Square, 510 Madison Avenue, 511 Fifth Avenue, the MetLife Building at 200 Park Avenue, 666 Fifth Avenue, the portfolio sale of Park Avenue and 850 Third Avenue, and the ground leases under 625 Madison Avenue, 2 Herald Square and 75 Rockefeller Center. For the sale of 88 Leonard Street, Ms. Hwang was honored with the Real Estate Board of New York’s highest achievement, the 2012 Most Ingenious Sales Deal of the Year (Robert T. Lawrence Memorial Award). Ms. Hwang was awarded the Top Broker of the Year by Real Estate Forum Magazine, a leading trade publication, and won CoStar’s prestigious Power Broker of the Year award from 2010 through 2014. The Asian American Business Development Center named her one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business in 2011.

Simon Kawitzky - Senior Vice President of Real Estate, 

Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY)

Simon Kawitzky is Senior Vice President of Real Estate at Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY), a leading housing and homeless services provider. Prior to joining VOA-GNY, Simon served as Vice President at the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA), where he was responsible for advancing public-private partnerships to rehabilitate and rebuild public housing communities. Previously, he was an Assistant Commissioner at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), where he directed comprehensive neighborhood housing plans and redevelopment projects.

Simon began his career in housing development and urban planning at Jonathan Rose Companies. He holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute and a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College. In 2022, he received the Ibo Balton Community Planner Award from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council in recognition of his leadership embedding new community planning processes into NYCHA’s real estate work.

Laszlo Syrop - Principal & Head of Acquisitions, Hudson Companies

Laszlo’s passion for real estate development stems from his deep appreciation of urban life and lifelong pursuit of multi-disciplinary challenges. His diverse professional background – which has included private equity investing as well as roles in business strategy and operations – informs his work evaluating new acquisitions and opportunities for Hudson. Laszlo received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Brown University and his Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

John Valladares - Managing Director, Affordable Slate Property Group

John joined Slate in 2018 and serves as a Managing Director of Development and Affordable at Slate Property Group. John oversees Slate’s affordable, supportive and homeless housing initiatives. He also manages many of the company’s projects involving land use actions and in particular, rezoning. Prior to Slate, John was at BFC Partners and was responsible for the rezoning of the Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights and oversaw the successful submission to NYCHA’s next Generation Ingersoll RFP. John spent 10 years in the commercial real estate banking industry with Bank of America and TD Bank in multiple roles including Underwriter, Loan Workout Officer, and Relationship Management. He began his career at Columbia University as the Assistant Director of Campus Planning during their Manhattanville expansion. John received a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and a Master of Real Estate Development from Columbia University.