The ACREL Files

The ACREL Files

by American College of Real Estate Lawyers

Season 5

The ACREL Files - Cia Buckley Marakovits

Welcome to the 5th season of the ACREL Files. We are pleased to open with Cia Buckley Marakovits, the Chief Investment Officer and President of Dune Real Estate Partners. With a breadth of experience in finance, fund management and real estate investing through multiple market cycles over a more than 36-year career, Cia is an accomplished professional in institutional real estate investing. She is responsible for the management and performance of Dune’s investment activity and operating business and drives the development and implementation of the firm’s strategy. Before joining Dune, Cia was the President of the U.S. Fund Business for JER Partners, an affiliate of the J.E. Robert Companies. She started her career in in the real estate finance group at Bankers Trust. Cia is a full member and former trustee of the Urban Land Institute, serves on the Board of Directors of the Pension Real Estate Association, and currently serves as a Director for Kilroy Realty. She is also a trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy and a member of the board of directors of SparkYouth NYC. Cia received an M.B.A. from Columbia University Business School and a B.A. from Lafayette College.

Season 4

The ACREL Files - John Santora

Season 4 of the ACREL Files continues with John Santora, CEO of WeWork. With more than 45 million square feet in over 600 locations around the world, WeWork is the leading provider of co-working spaces and flexible work solutions. John became CEO of WeWork in 2024, stepping into the role just as the company entered its next chapter of cost-conscious growth and operational discipline, and is guiding the company toward long-term stability and profitability. Before joining WeWork, John spent 47 years at Cushman & Wakefield, where he started as a building engineer and rose to become the Global Chief Operating Officer, helping steer the firm through strategic expansions around the world and key transactions. Along the way, he built a reputation for a pragmatic approach to leadership that transcends market cycles. Join Jay Epstien as John describes the real estate cycles that defined the industry during his amazing career along with the future of the co-working industry and the importance of flexible space to companies of all shapes and sizes.

The ACREL Files - Al Rabil

Season 4 of the ACREL Files continues with Al Rabil, CEO of Kayne Anderson Real Estate – one of the leading investors in alternative real estate sectors including medical office, high-end seniors housing, off-campus student housing, and self-storage. Al co-founded Kayne Anderson’s real estate private equity platform in 2007. He is responsible for setting strategic direction, overseeing investment activities and leading fundraising for all real estate investments. Prior to joining Kayne Anderson, Al was Head of Real Estate Banking for the Americas and Europe at UBS for almost ten years. In 2012, he was one of the co-founders of The Headstrong Project, a non-profit mental health organization providing confidential, barrier-free and stigma-free PTSD treatment to our military veterans and their families. Mr. Rabil graduated Cum Laude with a BA from Yale University and later earned an MBA in Finance from Columbia University. Join Jay Epstien as Al describes his years of experience in the world of alternative assets which exhibit strong demographic trends and historical resistance to economic downturns, and his commitment to building capabilities with conviction and courage. For those interested in learning more, we encourage you to listen to Al’s recent remarks at the 2026 Kayne Anderson Investor Conference here.

The ACREL Files - Shobi Khan

Join us for Episode #35 of the ACREL Files with our first international guest. Jay Epstien interviews Shobi Khan, the Chief Executive Officer of Canary Wharf Group. Located on 97 acres in East London in an area that served as a shipping hub for almost 200 years, Canary Wharf is now one of the main financial centers in the United Kingdom and the world. It is the ultimate mixed use project containing major global companies and bank headquarters, together with a booming residential component and extensive shopping, dining, green spaces and cultural events, all of which have been developed in the past 30 years. Prior to joining Canary Wharf in 2019, Shobi was President and Chief Operating Officer of General Growth Properties. In his seven years at GGP, he led approximately $13 billion in transactions including the $1.5 billion Rouse company stock spin-off in 2012 and was closely involved in the $43 billion company sale to Brookfield in 2018. Earlier in his career, Shobi served as Senior Vice President of Investments at Equity Office Properties Trust, where he helped complete more than $20 billion of global property and merger and acquisition transactions. Shobi held direct responsibility for all US investment activity and led the underwriting of $16 billion in office REIT mergers involving Beacon, Cornerstone and Spieker, among others. In addition, he played a key role in EOP’s market-changing $39 billion sale to Blackstone in 2007. Shobi is a board member of the British Library. He has an MBA from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from the University of California at Berkeley.

The ACREL Files - Abbe Borok

Season 4 of the ACREL Files continues with Abbe Franchot Borok, the Managing Director and Head of US Debt for BGO. With $89.7 Billion of AUM spanning 25 offices in 12 countries, BGO (formerly Bentall Green Oak) is one of the leading investment, lending and property management companies in the world. Join Jay Epstien as Abbe describes her years of experience with core, core-plus and high yield debt strategies. Prior to BGO, Abbe was Managing Director and Head of CRE & Debt Strategies at The Amherst Group, and before that was a senior member of the commercial real estate lending team at CapitalSource. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the CRE Finance Council (CREFC) and an active member of WX, which promotes the advancement of women in commercial real estate in NYC. Abbe holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.

The ACREL Files - Joseph Gyourko

Join us for the first episode of 2026 of the ACREL Files with Joseph Gyourko, the Martin Bucksbaum Professor of Real Estate, Finance and Business & Public Policy at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to being a past Chair of the Wharton Real Estate Department, Professor Gyourko has served as the Director of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton for more than 25 years. Professor Gyourko’s research interests include housing markets in the United States and China, real estate finance and investments, and urban economics. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and is a co-editor of the Journal of Urban Economics. Professor Gyourko is a past Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and a past member of the Board of Directors of the Pension Real Estate Association. He holds a BS in Economics from Duke and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

The ACREL Files - Christopher Merrill

Season 4 of the ACREL Files continues with Christopher Merrill, Co-Founder and Global Chief Executive Officer of Harrison Street Asset Management, interviewed by Jay Epstien. Under Chris’s leadership, Harrison Street has grown into one of the world’s largest and most innovative investors in alternative real assets, managing more than $100 billion across real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies. As Global CEO, Chris is responsible for the firm’s overall strategy, culture, and growth initiatives, pioneering new approaches to real assets investing and powering the next generation of opportunities across the platform. Chris is a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award in 2025 and was named Industry Figure of the Year: Global by Private Equity Real Estate in 2022. He serves on multiple industry and nonprofit boards and holds a B.A from Roanoke College and an M.B.A. from Bayes (formerly Cass) Business School, London.

The ACREL Files - Ken Himmel

The fourth season of the ACREL Files continues with Ken Himmel, President of Related Ross, hosted by Jay Epstien. Ken is a nationally recognized leader in the development of successful mixed use projects that combine architectural design and urban planning with dynamic shopping, entertainment, residences, offices and world-class restaurants to bring forth the energy and vitality of an urban destination with resonance to the local lifestyle and culture. Get ready for an insider’s look at some of the most iconic mixed-use developments in the US, including Columbus Circle’s Time Warner Center (now Deutsche Center), Hudson Yards, Chicago’s Water Tower Place, Copley Place in Boston, Reston Town Center in Virginia and the current repositioning of office, retail and multi-family markets in West Palm Beach. In addition to these dynamic retail developments, Ken has curated a number of iconic restaurants, including Grill 23 in Boston and Per Se in NYC with Chef Thomas Keller, among others. Ken currently serves on the board of the Kravis Center for Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, and has B.S. degrees from both the College of William and Mary and the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

The ACREL Files - Jeff DeBoer and Ryan McCormick of the Real Estate Roundtable

Welcome back to Season 4 of The ACREL Files. In our first episode of the season, Jeff DeBoer (CEO) and Ryan McCormick (VP, Tax) from The Real Estate Roundtable join host, Jay Epstien, to unpack The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act and what it means for real estate investors and operators. They discuss Fannie & Freddie, solar tax credits, the future of terrorism risk insurance and opportunity zones, and emerging plays in data centers and single-family rentals. Essential listening for anyone in CRE.

Season 3

The ACREL Files - Anthony (Tony) Malkin

Season 3 of The ACREL Files closes (before a summer break) with an interview by our host, Jay Epstien, of Anthony E. Malkin, Chairman, President and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. The “World’s Most Famous Building” is part of the more than 8.7 million square feet of office and retail space owned by ESRT in New York City. At a time when most observers in the world of commercial office space focus on newly developed, trophy buildings, Tony provides insights into the transformation of the Empire State Building and other buildings in the portfolio into high performing, low vacancy assets. Much of that transformation derives from ESRT's leadership in existing building energy efficiency retrofits. Among other things, Tony has led the development of standards for energy efficient office tenant installations which is now known as the Tenant Energy Optimization Program at the Urban Land Institute. Tony is a board member of APi Group Corporation, the Real Estate Roundtable and Chair of its Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee, a member of the Climate Mobilization Advisory Board of the New York City Department of Buildings, and a member of the Partnership for New York City’s Innovation Council. He received a bachelor’s degree cum laude from Harvard College.

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