Center for Real Estate

The Ohio State Center for Real Estate is pleased to welcome John Scott, Jake Dietrich, Jennifer Stevens, Greg Tavrell, Grant Fitzpatrick, and Chris Gangl.

John C. Scott

KeyBank's Institutional Real Estate Group, Senior Vice President and Regional Executive

John C. Scott is Senior Vice President and Regional Executive in KeyBank’s Institutional Real Estate group. The Institutional Real Estate group was established to cover National Developers and Owners of Real Estate, including public real estate companies (REITS), large privately held real estate firms, real estate advisors, pension funds, and insurance companies. John manages a team of experienced real estate professionals located in Cleveland. The team’s responsibilities include marketing the full capabilities of the Bank to this client segment, including commercial banking, mortgage banking and investment banking products and services.

Prior to his current position, John spent 10 years as a Relationship Manager in the Institutional Real Estate group. In his role as a Relationship Manager, John advised clients and prospects on all areas of real estate finance including short-term and long-term project financings, corporate credit facilities, syndicated financings, mezzanine financings, and capital markets transactions.

John joined Key Bank in June 1997 and the Commercial Real Estate Division in August 1998.

Since 2013, John has served on the Board of Directors at Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. In addition to his role as a Director, John currently serves as the Chair of the Finance Committee, Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee. Since 2017, John has served on the Gifts & Memorials committee at Brecksville United Methodist Church. From 2011 to 2013, John served as a Trustees at Brecksville United Methodist Church. From 2009 to 2011, John served on the Finance committee at Brecksville United Methodist Church (Chairman in 2010). From 2001 to 2002, John served on the Building Construction committee at Mayfield United Methodist Church.

John received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a Major in Finance, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

 

Jake Dietrich

Milhaus, Vice President of Development

Jake Dietrich is Vice President of Development for Milhaus. Milhaus is an award-winning, mixed-use development, construction, and property management company that specializes in Class A, urban, multifamily residential buildings. At Milhaus, Jake leads all company activities throughout the Ohio and Pennsylvania region. Jake has led the development of more than 1800 units and $320M of mixed-use, multi-family, and for-sale residential real estate in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati urban neighborhoods.

Jake graduated cum laude from Ball State University with a Bachelor’s degree in urban planning and development and a minor in real estate development. He also graduated with a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University's McKinney School of Law.

Professionally, Jake is an active member of the Urban Land Institute both locally and nationally, and has held leadership positions in many community-based initiatives. Personally, Jake is an avid bike commuter and urbanist, lover of all things outdoors, and active in his church. He and his wife live in a historic building in downtown Columbus.

 

Jennifer Stevens

_{The Townsend Group, Partner}

Jennifer Stevens joined The Townsend Group in 2004 and is currently the lead Partner and primary relationship manager for a number of the firm’s Advisory clients.  Ms. Stevens joined Townsend’s Investment (Sub) Committee for Advisory clients in 2019.  In her tenure with Townsend, Ms. Stevens has served as the Portfolio Manager for global public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, superannuation plans, foundations, endowments and family offices. Ms. Stevens provides clients with information related to Strategic Planning, Investment Planning, Manager/Fund/Investment Due Diligence, Benchmarking, ESG monitoring and Portfolio Analytics. Programs include investments in a wide range of structures including separate accounts, commingled funds and special situations.  Before relocating to Southern California in 2018, Ms. Stevens was responsible for the management and oversight of the San Francisco office.  Ms. Stevens also leads Responsible Investment initiatives for Townsend.   

On behalf of The Townsend Group, Ms. Stevens is an Advisory Board member for the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) and served as Townsend’s signatory representative for the United Nations Principals of Responsible Investment (UN PRI) from 2011 to 2019.  Ms. Stevens represents Townsend’s investor interests on multiple Advisory Committees and is a frequent speaker/panelist at industry events. Ms. Stevens is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Membership Committee, the California State Association of County Employees’ Retirement Systems (SACRS) and Urban Land Institute (ULI). In 2019, Ms. Stevens was recognized as a Knowledge Broker by Chief Investment Officer’s Magazine.  She was also awarded the Institutional Investor/Money Management Intelligence designation for Rising Stars of Public Funds in 2013 and the inaugural GRESB Investor Leadership Award in 2016.  

Ms. Stevens received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University. Ms. Stevens was appointed to the Board of Directors of Ohio University’s College of Business Society of Alumni & Friends in 2014 and served as its elected President in her final year before being appointed to the Executive Alumni Board. 

 

Greg Tavrell

_{Huntington National Bank, Vice President of Commercial Real Estate}

Greg brings more than 10 years of commercial real estate and banking experience to his role at Huntington National Bank. As Vice President of Commercial Real Estate, Greg specializes in financial solutions for best-in-class commercial real estate clients throughout central Ohio, including construction, acquisition, mezzanine and term financing. He is responsible for the strategic management of credit and market risks within a real estate debt portfolio consisting of multifamily, retail, industrial, office, hospitality, and affordable housing assets located across the United States.  Greg is actively involved in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), and currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Lupus Foundation of America, Greater Ohio Chapter. Greg received his Bachelor of Science in Finance, Real Estate and Urban Analysis from The Ohio State University. Greg and his wife Angela reside in Columbus, Ohio.

 

Grant Fitzpatrick

_{Marcus & Millichap, Associate Regional Manager}

Grant J. Fitzgerald is the Associate Regional Manager of Marcus & Millichap’s Cleveland and Columbus offices. After attending Furman University, he moved to Washington D.C. to work in sales for Costar Group. He started at Marcus & Millichap in the sales intern program in 2012 and became an associate in January 2014 in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, specializing in multifamily sales with a particular expertise in TOPA, the District’s local affordable housing statute. Grant joined management in February 2018 in the D.C. office before joining Tampa in July 2018. After taking over the reins of the Tampa office in March 2019, he relocated to Ohio in August 2019. In his current capacity, Grant excels at supporting growth through strategic planning, team architecture and client relations.

 

Chris Gangl

_{Wexford Lodging Advisors LLC, Director of Analysis and Administration}

Chris Gangl is currently the Director of Analysis and Administration at Wexford Lodging Advisors LLC, a Columbus based hotel asset management and investment company. Chris is responsible for Wexford’s asset management analysis and support functions, including benchmarking, hotel analytics, client reporting and general support. Chris also supports Wexford’s underwriting activities. Prior to joining Wexford, Chris graduated with magna cum laude distinction from the Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business with a dual major in Finance and Real Estate and a minor in Entrepreneurship.

 

Fall 2019 Newsletter

Breakfast Series

Affordable Housing

Join us with a panel of experts to discuss trends and issues within affordable housing.

January 23rd, 2020
7:30 am - 9:00 am
Mason Hall Rotunda

Moderator: 
Kerstin Carr, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC)

Panelists: 
Catherine Cawthon, Fifth Third Bank 
David Cooper, Woda Cooper Companies
Jack Kukura, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing 
Matt Rule, National Church Residences  

See below for bios. 

Register Now!

Please contact Supaphen Niroula with any questions
at niroula.1@osu.edu. 

A special thank you to our 2019-2020 Breakfast Series sponsor Bellwether Enterprise!

 

Kerstin Carr is the Director of Planning & Sustainability at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) in Columbus, Ohio and has been with MORPC for over twelve years. Her department provides and promotes collaboration, technical assistance, and regional planning initiatives related to active transportation, the natural and built environment, transportation safety, and energy to benefit MORPC members and communities in Central Ohio.
 
Carr has nearly 20 years of experience in transportation and urban planning. She currently is a board member on the Neighborhood Design Center, serves as the Chair for the Scenario Planning Consortium of the National Association of Regional Councils, and is a recent graduate of Leadership Columbus. Carr is a graduate of the University of Regensburg, Germany with a Doctoral Degree in Geography.

 

Catherine Cawthon is President of Fifth Third Community Development Corporation. The Fifth Third CDC invests in community projects that support affordable housing, economic revitalization and stabilization as well as job creation.  The CDC’s portfolio includes low-income housing, historic and new market tax credit projects as well as investments to CDFI’s.   They invest primarily in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Since its inception, Fifth Third CDC has invested over $4 billion in more than five hundred projects. Catherine is responsible for business development, origination and asset management functions for the bank.

Catherine has served on boards including Affordable Housing Investor Council, United Way, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Ohio Community Development Finance Fund. Currently, Catherine serves on the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Ohio Housing Council, Cinnaire, Council for Rural Housing in Ohio’s Advisory Board and Chairs the Joint Columbus and Franklin County Housing Advisory Board.

Catherine graduated from Illinois State University and earned an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University.

 

David Cooper, Jr. serves as a Director and an Officer of Woda Cooper Companies, Inc., which owns Woda Construction, Inc., Woda Management & Real Estate, LLC, and Woda Cooper Development, Inc. Woda Cooper Companies has developed over 300 affordable housing communities in 15 states and currently owns and manages over 11,600 apartment units. In conjunction with Jeffrey Woda, Mr. Cooper oversees day-to-day operations of Woda’s business units and is involved with all aspects of each entity’s operations.  Mr. Cooper was previously a partner at Squire Sanders LLP, an international law firm, and the Director of Acquisitions and Corporate Counsel for Alliance Holdings, Inc., a privately held investment company. As a practicing attorney, Mr. Cooper represented syndicators, lenders, and developers in hundreds of tax credit and other affordable housing transactions. Mr. Cooper received his B.A. from Wittenberg University, and his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.  Mr. Cooper is the past chair of the Housing Credit Group of the National Association of Home Builders and has served on the boards of directors of several manufacturing, service, and financial companies, as well as serving as a trustee and officer of numerous community and charitable organizations.

 

Jack Kukura joined Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) in 1996 as Vice President, Underwriting and Development and in 2017 was promoted to the role of Chief Investment Officer.  In this capacity, he is responsible for the investment decisions of projects at Ohio Capital Corporation and manages over the Fund Management Department.  The Fund Management Department is responsible for closing transactions, structuring and management of equity funds. Mr. Kukura is responsible for the underwriting, structuring, and management of 45 low-income housing tax credit equity funds totaling more than $4.4 billion. Mr. Kukura has over 29 years' experience in the affordable housing industry. Prior to 1996, he was a Community Development Lender with KeyCorp's Community Development Corporation. Prior to KeyCorp, he worked for a law firm that provided development advisory services on LIHTC projects for both nonprofit and for-profit developers. Mr. Kukura currently serves on the Board and the Asset Management Committee of St. Mary Development Corporation, a nonprofit developer in Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Kukura is currently on the Advisory Board for The Center for Real Estate at The Ohio State University.  Mr. Kukura also previously served on the board of the Grandview Heights / Marble Cliff Education Foundation for 6 years where he was the President of the board for 4 years.  Mr. Kukura held the Public Office of Council Member for the Village of Marble Cliff for 10 years.  Mr. Kukura has a Bachelor's Degree in Business from The Ohio State University.

 

Matt Rule is Senior Vice President of Housing Development at National Church Residences.  Matt leads NCR’s acquisitions, development finance, originations, and construction teams.  In the past five years his team closed over 30 LIHTC transactions, purchased over 3,000 affordable senior units and closed over $100,000,000 of new market rate senior housing production.  In 2015, Affordable Housing Finance (AHF) named Matt as one of six Affordable Housing Young Leaders. Prior to joining NCR, Matt was a transactional attorney at Squire Sanders, LLP (currently known as Squire Patton Boggs) where he served as legal counsel for a variety of low income housing tax credit developers, syndicators, direct investors and lenders.  Matt is a graduate from The Ohio State University Michael E Moritz College of Law where he graduated with distinction as Summa Cum Laude, Order of the Coif.  Matt is active at Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio and serves on the Board of Directors of National Affordable Housing Trust, the Executive Committee of the Ohio Housing Council and the Board of Directors of Upper Arlington Rotary Club. In 2019 Matt also served as a member of the Upper Arlington Citizen Financial Review Tax Force.  Matt is married and has four very energetic children.

 
Founded in 1961, National Church Residences is one of the country's largest non-profit owners and developers of senior affordable housing.  National Church Residences owns over 19,000 units of affordable housing designed to serve the elderly, low-income families and persons with disabilities.   National Church Residences’ mission also includes assisted living facilities, nursing homes, home health care, hospice, specialized Alzheimer’s care, and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. National Church Residences has been a leader in integrating services into affordable housing through its service coordination program.  Currently service coordinators provide social work assistance in over 200 National Church Residences properties.