Razak Company

Meet the team:
Alan Razak • Karen Zinn • Michael Brookshier
Paul Maitre • Joe Freed • Farrah Thach

Alan Razak, principal of Razak Company, has 30 years of commercial real estate experience, encompassing development and project management, finance, architectural/design and consulting.

Prior to forming Razak Company in 2003, Mr. Razak was a principal with Radnor Advisors, Inc., a Philadelphia real estate consulting and investment advisory firm, which he joined in 1993. RAI subsequently was purchased by Insignia/ESG, where Mr. Razak managed the Philadelphia office’s real estate consulting group, providing services ranging from strategic real estate planning to implementation of complex transactions. In addition to strategic planning and consulting, Mr. Razak directed Insignia's Technology Practice Group, coordinating the work of strategic Insignia offices worldwide to provide real estate services for technology-related real estate assignments. At RAI and IESG, he provided project planning, development and project management-related consulting services for dozens of corporate and institutional clients, most notably managing the redevelopment of The Vanguard Group's Technical Operations Center into a 300,000 square foot Tier IV data center and print processing facility.

During the early 1990’s Mr. Razak focused on international real estate and providing technical consulting services for government and domestic financial institutions. Assignments included development management (including the first modern office building in Warsaw), real estate finance and construction-related litigation support, due diligence analysis, corporate relocations, sale-leaseback transactions, and workout assistance. For much of the 1980's, he was a partner at Rouse and Associates (now Liberty Property Trust), where he led development management of a 400,000 square foot Washington, D.C. office building project, and Rouse's 20-acre Penns Landing urban multiuse project on Philadelphia's waterfront.

Mr. Razak began his career as an architect, working on the design of multifamily residential, commercial and health care projects in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and he maintains his status as a registered architect in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Razak holds a Bachelor of Science in Arts and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington, and an MBA with a concentration in real estate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation’s Board of Directors, and has taught numerous classes in real estate finance and in performing real estate market studies. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, for which he developed the curriculum and currently teaches the workshop Construction Fundamentals for Real Estate Professionals, and for several years chaired an advanced Real Estate Development workshop.

Karen Zinn has 20 years of diverse experience in commercial real estate including property and asset management, owner / tenant representation, corporate real estate and consulting. Her broad background includes extensive experience in the modeling and structuring of complex transactions, contract negotiation, and strategic planning. At Razak Company, Ms. Zinn leads the University and Institutional client practice.

Prior to joining Razak Company, Ms. Zinn was principal of KZB Advisors, where she provided real estate advisory and technical services to universities and commercial property owners, investors and managers. Her clients include The University of Pennsylvania; George Washington University; The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Athenian Properties and Tower Investments.

From 1999 through 2003, Ms. Zinn served as Director of Real Estate Finance and Portfolio Management in the University of Pennsylvania’s Real Estate Services Department, where she provided financial oversight for all real estate acquisition, development and property management activity of the University’s off-campus assets. During her tenure, over $200 million of new commercial development and neighborhood initiatives were created, many through the structuring of complex joint venture deals. Key projects include the ground lease, development and lease-back of a 125,000 square foot bioscience research center; a $50 million joint venture fund to provide moderate cost housing to the residents of West Philadelphia through the acquisition and renovation of multi-family residential buildings, and the $55 million development of a 6 screen cinema, a 20,000 square foot premium supermarket and 700 car parking structure. Her asset management responsibilities included providing oversight and contract compliance for the outsourcing of property management for a portfolio of over 500,000 square feet of commercial space and 1,000 residential units. Subsequently, she led the transition from the outsourced partnership with the Trammell Crow Company to a new internal real estate organization structure and operating model. In addition, Ms. Zinn managed the procurement process for the leasing of all off-campus space, comprising over 400,000 square feet of office and research space leases for the University’s 12 schools and many administrative centers.

Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Zinn performed independent real estate advisory services for 8 years. Principal clients include Tactix Real Estate Advisors, a tenant representation firm in the Philadelphia suburbs, where she provided strategic advisory and transactional services ranging from new corporate headquarters leases to structuring complex off-balance sheet transactions; Right Management Consultants, where she created and managed a corporate real estate department responsible for over 100 office leases nationally; Toll Brothers, where she provided technical and advisory services, and Liberty Property Trust, where she was a member of the project team responsible for the SEC filing which created one of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) of office and industrial property in the U.S. out of the former Rouse & Associates. Ms. Zinn began her career in commercial real estate in financial management and accounting roles with Rouse, as well as with The Kravco Company, the predecessor Company to Kravco Simon.

Ms. Zinn graduated from the University of Scranton with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She is an active member of the Philadelphia Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women, where she held Board positions in 2003 and 1999, and was a recipient of Networking awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Michael Brookshier has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate as an architect responsible for 16 million square feet of construction across a wide range of product types including office, multi-family housing, hospitality, retail, government and institutional, with a development cost of over $7 billion. He has particular expertise in directing complex, fast-paced, large-scale projects involving the coordination of networks of specialist consultants.

Prior to joining Razak Company in 2007, Mr. Brookshier directed the design team for the LEED-certified Stayer Hall at Millersville University, a classroom building for the School of Education. He also led a joint venture of two Philadelphia architectural firms in the completion of the $400 million, 40-story Water Club resort hotel in Atlantic City. Working with the executive management of the Borgata Hotel and Casino, Mr. Brookshier coordinated the work of 23 consultant teams in developing the concept and design for the Water Club, which represents a new standard in luxury accommodation for the Atlantic City market. Subsequently, he directed the design team in the negotiation of environmental and construction entitlements, analysis of contractor bidding, logistical planning and initiation of the construction process, and in the administration of the contract for construction.

Previously Mr. Brookshier practiced in Los Angeles for 16 years, where he held leadership positions in the three largest global architectural firms: Gensler, HOK and Perkins & Will. Highlights from this period include directing HOK’s strategic occupancy consulting engagement with Fortune #35 WellPoint Health Networks to consolidate 135 office properties across the United States into 20 key cities following two rounds of corporate acquisition. Mr. Brookshier was instrumental in the start-up, development and marketing of Gensler Information Solutions, an occupancy-tracking facilities management software practice which continues as a successful business unit for the firm. At Perkins & Will, as head of an 18-person architectural team supported by twelve specialty consultants nationwide, he negotiated all aspects of interior design approval for the $1 billion, 1.2 million square foot Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. This project was termed “a visionary and innovative institution…representing the future of medical advancement and progress” by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at its opening ceremony in 2007. While working in Los Angeles Mr. Brookshier was actively involved in the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and completed a multi-unit housing development with them.

Having previously received undergraduate degrees in both Architecture and Finance from Kansas State University, Mr. Brookshier recently returned to school and earned a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University. He is active in the Philadelphia Chapter of the Urban Land Institute and maintains architectural registration in the State of California.

Paul Maitre has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate in various roles, ranging from facilities to project management; having been involved in managing over one million square feet of construction across a wide range of product types including office, healthcare, data center, call center and retail space. At Razak Company, he specializes in development project management of commercial and data processing/telecom facilities.

Prior to joining Razak Company in 2008, Mr. Maitre managed the design and project management process for Physicians Endoscopy, a healthcare company that specialized in the development and management of ambulatory surgery centers nationally. During his time with Physicians Endoscopy, Mr. Maitre managed the design and construction of 12 ambulatory surgery centers throughout the United States.

Mr. Maitre spent several years with Comcast Business Communications, where he managed the construction of a 70,000 SF office and technology building, including a Network Operations Center, data center and telecom switch and hub. In addition, he managed the construction of a 40,000 SF call center, along with several smaller regional offices. In his role as Facilities Project Manager, Mr. Maitre was responsible for the planning, management and execution of all phases of employee relocation related to the construction of the new facilities.

Mr. Maitre’s time prior to working with Comcast was spent working with Triton PCS, an affiliate of AT&T Wireless, where he managed their real estate program, including the construction of a 40,000SF corporate headquarters fitout. In addition, Mr. Maitre managed the design and construction of a new 75,000SF regional headquarters in Glen Allen, Virginia, and also oversaw the opening of over a dozen retail sales offices.

Joseph Freed has eight years of experience in real estate development and project management and is responsible for financial analysis across Razak’s development and consulting projects. Prior to joining Razak Company, Mr. Freed worked on the project management of a $35 million, ground-up luxury condominium development in downtown San Diego for Turner Construction. While with Turner, Mr. Freed was responsible for managing the financial budget, engineering process and design coordination.

Previously, Mr. Freed worked for Whiting-Turner where he was responsible for facilitating the design and construction cost controls for various retail projects, such as a $32 million shopping mall re-development in Cincinnati and a $4 million shopping center development in Philadelphia.

Mr. Freed has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in Finance with distinction from New York University’s Stern School of Business. During his time at NYU, Mr. Freed worked in the development group of Boston Properties and was the Co-President of the NYU Stern Real Estate Club. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional and an active member of the Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Group of Philadelphia.

Farrah Thach joined Razak Company in February 2009. Ms. Thach has ten years of combined experience in administrative, office and project management. Her responsibilities include co-ordinator and administrative support to the Razak development team. She has earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix in Philadelphia, PA.

Prior to joining Razak Company, Ms. Thach spent six years with Jones Lang LaSalle, a full service commercial real estate company, where she held several positions in the Philadelphia cor-porate office. She assisted the Project Management and Development Service group with the coordination of multi-site retail and office projects. Her responsibilities included ven-dor/consultant selection, coordinating team meetings, project schedule, vendor invoice review, budget tracking and move management. Prior to her coordinator role, Ms. Thach supported the brokerage group and was responsible for the administrative staff, office services, and ad-ministrative support.