Apr 23 2007
Forest City Residential Development, a Cleveland-based public real estate company whose successes include the largest infill project in the country, has been named the Multifamily Development Firm of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
The award, which is sponsored by Freddie Mac, is the top honor in NAHB's prestigious Pillars of the Industry Awards program, which annually recognizes excellence in multifamily housing development, design, marketing and management. Ron Ratner, the president and CEO of Forest City Residential, accepted the award last week in Hollywood, Fla., at a gala celebration hosted by NAHB in conjunction with its annual conference for apartment and condo developers.
"Forest City is a very deserving recipient of this award--they not only build great projects, but also great places to live," said Leonard Wood, managing partner of Atlanta-based Wood Partners, LLC, and chairman of NAHB's Multifamily Leadership Board. "They are in every sense of the word, master builders."
Forest City Residential currently owns interest in almost 40,000 apartment units and has another 5,500 units under construction. Another 13 properties are currently in the company's development pipeline. Forest City specializes in complex developments, often in communities with regulatory barriers that make new development extremely challenging to undertake. Its portfolio includes apartment communities--most with an affordable component--as well as mixed-use, retail, and other commercial properties throughout the United States.
The Pillars of the Industry Awards judging panel noted that Forest City projects particularly stand out for their scope. The judges cited as examples the company's work on the new city of Stapleton, Colo., where 30,000 people are expected to live when the project is complete, as well as its 20-year effort to build University Park at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. That project replaced a declining industrial park with apartments, retail, a hotel, and 2.3 million square feet of office and lab space.
Yet, even while building on a grand scale, the company has a tremendous focus on innovation, according to Wood. "Forest City is leading the industry with its developments that are a model of sustainability, smart growth, mixed-use and diversity," he noted.
In addition to taking the top honors in the 2007 Pillars of the Industry Awards, Forest City Residential also won four other awards for individual building and marketing projects. Coveted as the most prestigious in the industry, the Pillars awards are considered a showcase of future trends, innovation, and leadership.