School of Architecture and Planning

Real Estate Development

FACULTY

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Overview
Program of Study
Faculty
Student Work

Concentration Director: Adjunct Professor Judith Meany, Ph.D., FAICP
Visiting Lecturer Ava Abramowitz, Esq.
Visiting Lecturer David K. Bowersox, Esq.
Visiting Lecturer Guy Campbell, M.B.A.
Lecturer Elisabeth B. Davidson
Professor Julius Levine, FAICP
Visiting Studio Critic John A. Nahra
Visiting Studio Critic Patrick Saavedra, OAA, RAIC, AIA, NCARB
Visiting Studio Critic William Sutton
Associate Professor of Practice Temple Washington, AIA, NCARB

Ava J. Abramowitz - Visiting Lecturer
A teacher of negotiations at the George Washington University Law School, Ava J. Abramowitz serves as a mediator. Formerly AIA deputy general counsel and vice president of Schinnerer & Company, Inc., Abramowitz is the author of The Architect's Essentials of Contract Negotiation. She is a founding fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers, where she now serves on its Board of Governors. Previously she was a member of the Governing Committee of the ABA's Forum on the Construction Industry and on the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Abramowitz lectures nationwide on negotiation and assertive practice.

David K. Bowersox, Esq. - Visiting Lecturer
Bowersox practices law as a partner with the firm of Hoffman, Comfort, Offutt & Scott, LLP. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Maryland School of Law, Bowersox has concentrated his practice in zoning, planning and land use regulation for more than 20 years. He is a member of the Carroll County Bar Association, the Maryland State Bar Association and the American Bar Association (Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law). Bowersox has handled hundreds of cases involving land use law issues, including Harrison v. Schwartz (1990), Carroll County v. Zent (1991) and High Ridge Association, Inc. v. County Commissioners of Carroll County, Maryland (1995). He is the author of "The Public Use Limitation in Eminent Domain: Poor Relation to the Constitution's Poor Relation," scheduled for publication in Current Condemnation Issues, Vol. II, by the ABA's Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law in Spring 2006. Bowersox has served as a faculty member for the Maryland Institute for the Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers (MICPEL) and the Land Use Institute and Advanced Real Property Institute.

Guy Campbell, M.B.A. - Visiting Lecturer
Guy F. (Jeff) Campbell is a Senior Vice President of Chevy Chase Bank in Bethesda, Md. and President of several real estate development subsidiaries of Chevy Chase Bank. Mr. Campbell has developed master planned communities in the Washington, D.C. area for the past 17 years with approximately 13,000 residential units and 300 acres of land utilized for retail, lodging and employment activities. The communities include the nationally award winning Kentlands in Maryland, which incorporates traditional town design principles, and locally award winning Cascades and Ashburn Village in Virginia . Amenities in one or more of the communities include a 36-hole country club, a large sports pavilion that incorporates an indoor competition pool, parks, ponds, athletic fields, large natural areas, and miles of trails. Mr. Campbell is currently managing the creation of a commercial mixed use park on 110 acres in Frederick Maryland. The ultimate build-out will be one million square feet of commercial space. On a smaller scale, Mr. Campbell has managed the creation of 300,000 square feet of office space and 600 rental apartments in other projects. Prior to focusing on real estate development, Mr. Campbell was active in the capital markets on behalf of Chevy Chase Bank. He has served in lending and credit capacities at Chevy Chase Bank as well at Chemical Bank in New York. Mr. Campbell has been a member of the Urban Land Institute since 1995. He has served on several national Community Development Councils. He has been active in the Washington , D.C. District Council as an officer and member of the Executive Committee, co-chair of the Urban Plan Committee, and a member of the Smart Growth Committee. Mr. Campbell has served as a panelist at several national meetings.

Elizabeth B. Davidson - Lecturer
Ms Davison is an urban economist with 35 years experience in the public and private sector. Currently, she is teaching and consulting in the areas of affordable housing and public private partnerships since she left of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs in Montgomery County, MD where she was the director during the Douglas M. Duncan administration. She directed a department of over 110 people and a budget of over $32 million. She successfully directed nationally recognized programs in affordable housing such as an inclusionary zoning program, a housing trust fund of over $20 million, as well as administering neighborhood revitalization and community development programs, and administering the Community Development Block Grant and HOME program. She developed many new programs and policies in revitalization and affordable housing. Her work resulted in the preservation or construction of over 8,000 affordable housing units. She was a key player in the revitalization of the commercial core of Silver Spring, MD and many residential neighborhoods in the surrounding area, resulting in new investment and stable neighborhoods. She is a strong advocate of affordable and mixed income housing, smart growth and neighborhood revitalization. She has been a speaker at many local and national forums on these topics, and is professionally active in the Urban Land Institute and the American Planning Association as well as on the board of HAND, an association of non profit housing advocates and developers. Prior to joining Montgomery County she was Vice President of two national real estate consulting firms, Hammer, Siler, George and Associates and Real Estate Research Corporation, doing consulting in market research, financial feasibility, growth management and revitalization. She is a graduate of the George Washington University, the Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Officials in State and Local Government, and she completed some graduate work in Urban Affairs at Washington University.

Julius Levine, FAICP - Professor
Julie Levine is a professor for the School of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America. Professor Levine was appointed to the faculty in 1964, receiving tenure in 1977. Levine focuses on the social, economic and built-environment at the neighborhood, urban and regional scale, working with private citizens, nonprofits, institutions, government and private groups on housing, commercial, retail, health and educational enterprises. He is a founding principal in Gladstone Associates, a national economic/planning consulting firm with selective foreign engagements. He also serves as an economic/planning adviser to the Jerusalem Renewal Authority. Collaborating with Moshe Safdie and other professionals, Levine helped the Mamilla area of Jerusalem become a thriving, pivotal link between the city's venerated, ancient enclave and the contemporary city beyond. Levine's work on this project extended for more than 25 years until the renewal plan was completed. Levine is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He received his liberal arts/science degree from Brooklyn College, a B.S.C.E. from City College of New York, and his master's degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Judith A. Meany, Ph.D., FAICP - Adjunct Professor, Concentration Director
Judith Meany is director of the Real Estate Development concentration and an adjunct associate professor of urban planning in the School of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America. She is the managing partner of Lozier Partners, a real estate developer focusing on urban infill projects and has extensive experience as a land use and real estate acquisition adviser to private sector developers and investors with over $300 million in closed real estate transactions. Her international urban development experience includes a year as a Fulbright Teaching Scholar in Albania where she secured funding for a Democracy Grant to the Polytechnic University for architecture/urban planning students to attend the 1996 U.N. Habitat Conference. She has completed various international consulting assignments in Eastern Europe, including consultation to the World Bank; lectured at the Institute for Public Private Partnerships; and produced a cable TV show that aired in Virginia on growth and development issues. Meany holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and an M.C.R.P. from The Catholic University of America.

John A. Nahra, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP - Visiting Studio Critic
John Nahra is an architectural designer with Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm. He is also a part time faculty associate at the School of Architecture and Planning at the Catholic University of America. Although the focus of Nahra's design work at Gensler is sustainable urban mixed-use commercial development, he considers himself a design generalist, and pursues opportunities related to all aspects of construction & architectural design. He is involved on many project teams at Gensler focusing on a varied array of project types and scales. He also has a special interest in the design-build construction process and has managed the construction of a number of his residential and small commercial building designs. He has completed numerous undergraduate and graduate teaching assignments as a studio critic at The Catholic University of America since 2006 where the focus of his instruction has been the design process. Nahra holds two undergraduate degrees: a B.S. in Architecture and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Catholic University of America (2004). He earned his Master of Architecture with Real Estate Development Concentration from the Catholic University of America in 2007.

Patrick Saavedra, OAA, RAIC, AIA, NCARB - Visiting Studio Critic
As a professional with more than 18 years of accomplished experience and currently as Director of Urban Design at Burt Hill, an international architectural firm, Patrick brings a multi-disciplinary holistic approach to all projects. Patrick has participated in numerous international architectural and urban design competitions where he has been able to lead multi-disciplinary teams while exploring new concepts in urbanism and building design. He continues to be involved with the Architectural and Planning professions by being a member of a number of committees and task groups. He has taken part in several award programs as a professional jury member. He has also been a guest critic at a number of notable architectural schools in the US and Canada. Patrick is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Program at the School of Architecture and Planning at Catholic University of America in Washington DC where he teaches about design, planning and real estate. Patrick has been featured in the Washington Post "With an Eye Towards Development" June 11, 2006 for his work with the Urban Land Institute's "UrbanPlan" initiative. As a Visiting Lecturer, Patrick teaches a design studio that explores the Architect's role and responsibility within the process of real estate development where each student examines how architecture and sustainability contribute to the success of real estate development projects throughout the world. His students follow a rigorous program of architecture studios melding design considerations with real estate issues. The concentration provides an overview of the development process with an emphasis on understanding urban issues, planning regulations, financial feasibility analysis, site and market analysis, architectural contract law, construction management and project financing Patrick understands modern architecture practice today encompasses a wide array of design challenges with a growing emphasis on real estate development projects both public and private. He believes practicing architects can significantly enhance the quality of the built environment, while at the same time taking advantage of potential business opportunities to share in market driven forces through an educational grounding in the fundamentals of real estate development, architecture and design. Patrick holds the following degrees: University of Michigan, Masters of Urban Planning, (1990). University of Michigan, Masters of Architecture, (1989). University of Copenhagen, Architecture and Design Certificate, (1989). Ryerson University, Bachelor of Technology-Architecture, (1987)