development opportunities. He’s also served as a board member
for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and as treasurer and board of trustees member of NAIOP New Jersey. He is
also is a member of the New Jersey Bar Association.
CAREN FRANZINI
There aren’t many major real estate
deals that go through in New Jersey
without the stamp of approval from
Caren Franzini’s office. As head of
the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority, Franzini
has finalized more than $567 mil-
lion in financing assistance, business
incentives and tax credits, which
have supported more than $1.4 bil-
lion in investments. She’s served seven
different governors since becoming
CEO in 1994, and her influence is
poised only to expand with the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program
and its $200 million in incentives aimed at boosting economic
development in areas beyond the state’s nine Urban Transit Hubs.
CARL J. GOLDBERG
As managing partner of Roseland Property
Co., Carl Goldberg is quickly becoming
identified with Morristown, where Roseland
has opened three new properties in recent
years, including the luxury 40 Park building off the town’s historic Green. Last summer, Hartz Mountain Industries bought a
stake in Roseland—a move that locals consider a testament to Goldberg’s knowledge
of multifamily real estate. Before founding
the firm in 1994, he spent his entire real
estate career with Bertram Associates, a
prominent regional homebuilder he joined in 1979. Goldberg is
past president of the Community Builders’ Association and, until
January, was chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition
Authority, focusing on the redevelopment of the Meadowlands.
JON F. HANSON
A real estate magnate and confidant of Gov. Chris Christie, Jon
F. Hanson carries more than 45 years in real estate investment
management experience and remains a driving force behind a
series of initiatives to restart the state’s economy. His influential
Hanson Commission, extended for another year in August, was
instrumental in developing legisla-
tion to reform Atlantic City’s casino
regulatory system and establishing a
state-run Tourism District there.
The advisory board also worked on
the state tax project that helped
revive the Revel casino project. Its
mission remains to jumpstart lag-
ging industries, such as gaming, enter-
tainment and sports, that have a sig-
nificant economic impact on New
Jersey. As founder and chairman of the
Hampshire Cos., he knows nearly every
player in the investment world and was
honored in August with the B. Kenneth
West Lifetime Achievement Award
42 REAL ESTATE FORUM FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
from the National Association of Corporate Directors for his pivotal role at Hampshire and work on other boards.
ISAAC HELLER
“We focus hard, try to operate within
our means and we keep our word.
Plain, ordinary, common-sense thinking.” Those ideals have served Isaac
Heller well from his days as Remco
Toys founder to the building of his first
property—a 750,000-square-foot factory in Harrison—in the mid-20th
Century. Soon after, he established I.
Heller Construction Co. Inc., building
distribution centers for HJ Heinz and
other high-profile clients before
branching out into five other states. Today, Heller Industrial Parks
has more than 12. 5 million square feet in New Jersey’s heavily traveled Northeast Corridor, 1. 5 million feet in the Dallas/Ft. Worth
area, 420,000 square feet in rapidly expanding Houston and a combined two million feet in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
It all runs on Heller’s fundamental philosophy: to build and own all
of its buildings, guaranteeing total construction control.
MITCHELL E. HERSH
Despite the economic downturn and instability in the real estate
world, Mack-Cali Realty Corp. remains the biggest office landlord
in New Jersey. But president and CEO Mitchell E. Hersh’s influence
extends far beyond commercial real
estate. An active participant in economic
development policy, particularly in
North Jersey, Hersh was a member of
the New Jersey Real Estate Advisory
Board and served on Gov. Chris
Christie’s Economic Development and
Growth Transition Subcommittee. He’s
on the board of Montclair State University
and a founding member of Baruch
College Newman Real Estate Institute’s
Real Estate Advisory Board. Additionally,
he serves as chairman, president and
CEO of the Gale Co. and its subsidiaries.
CHARLES KLATSKIN
An industry stalwart, Charles Klatskin is
currently general partner of Forsgate
Industrial Partners, which owns more than
nine million square feet of industrial property in New Jersey. He’s also served as a
managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle
since it acquired Klatskin Associates in
2007. (As the name implies, the acquired
company began life in 1966 as the Charles
Klatskin Co. Inc.) In 1962, he became the
youngest member ever admitted into the
Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and went on to hold several
official posts there, including president of the New Jersey Chapter.
Outside of real estate, Klatskin was or is currently on the boards of
such institutions as the George Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial
Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Ohio State University and
Englewood Hospital in Englewood. Klatskin received the Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Real Estate in 2000 and
the Lifetime Achievement Award from NAIOP in 2001.
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