REFA kicked-off its busy fall season on Friday, September 6th at their Annual Fall Conference. Held at the Westin Waltham, the conference provided attendees with valuable insight and a discussion on the Boston suburban markets. Hans Nordby, managing director of Property & Portfolio Research opened the program with his annual keynote address, which contained the latest suburban market trends and statistics to set the stage for the panel program that followed. The panel discussion was moderated by real estate editor Thomas Grillo from the Boston Business Journal. Panelists include Brian Kavoogian, president of Charles River Realty Investors; Steve Murphy, partner and principal of acquisitions at Campanelli; Ken Narva, co-founder and managing partner of Street-Works; and Claudia Piper, senior vice president at Webster Bank.
REFA's Upcoming Events
On September 19th, REFA will be holding a Fundamentals of Real Estate program on the topic of Massachusetts Zoning. It will cover the basics of zoning in Massachusetts, as well as comparing and contrasting the differences of zoning in the city versus the suburbs. The program will feature three speakers, including Kathy Bachman, a partner at WilmerHale LLP; Robert Fishman, a partner at Nutter, McClennan & Fish LLP; and Ted Tye, managing partner at National Development.
On September 25th, REFA will hold their fourth education program of the year, titled, Forum on Interest and Cap Rates Forum - Expected Changes and Strategies to Deal with Them, and will feature a panel program moderated by Tod McGrath, chairman at the MIT Center for Real Estate. The program will focus on how rising rates will affect the real estate market, and how different types of real estate investors will deal with this challenge. Panelists will include Mike Acton, managing director of AEW Capital Management LP; Jeffrey Barclay, managing director at Goldman Sachs; Michael LaBelle, CFO of Boston Properties; and Alan Brand, a partner at TA Realty.
A highlight of the fall events calendar is the 25th Annual REFA Gala on October 17th at Westin Copley Place. REFA will honor mayor Thomas Menino with the Robert S. Swain Jr. Distinguished Service Award, in addition to recognizing past honorees throughout the years. This is sure to be the real estate event of the fall - please visit our website to find out more about how to attend!
In October, REFA will be hosting their fourth Members Only Luncheon of the year, titled, City vs Suburbs: Insights into Tenant Location Decisions. T3 Advisors' CEO Roy Hirshland will moderate the program, which will feature a diverse group of panelists that will provide insight as to the most significant drivers for tenants moving to the city or to the suburbs. Panelists will include Gleb Nechayev, senior managing economist at CBRE Econometric Advisors; Mark Norman, president of Zipcar; and David Provost, a senior vice president at Boston Properties.
For more information about REFA programs and events, please visit our website at www.refa.org.

Shown are panelists (from left) Brian Kavoogian, president of Charles
River Realty Investors; Steve Murphy, partner and principal of Campanelli;
Ken Narva, co-founder and managing partner of Street- Works; and Claudia
Piper, senior VP of Webster Bank. On the far right is REFA president
Mike Hussey of US Bank. Not pictured is panel moderator Thomas Grillo,
real estate editor, Boston Business Journal.