New York City –Avison Young has announced that industry veteran Shari Krasnow-Renzi has joined the firm's project management office here, as a director of project management. She comes to the firm after 15 years with Turner & Townsend, where she managed build-out and construction assignments for many known clients, including KKR & Co., Bloomberg LP, BMW, the Gap and Societe Generale.
Krasnow-Renzi will continue to oversee KKR's present and future projects after presiding over the firm's numerous build-outs and other real estate programs over the last 13 years. Her experience and relationships open up the doors of the finance world to Avison, an appealing entre for the firm, which in general is trying to grow its project management operation, Edward Walsh, principal and managing director of project management, tells GlobeSt.com.
“Shari's experience and contacts get us into the financial world more,” he says. “It's different from traditional office,” he notes, with the need for trading floors and the like. Plus, firms in that sector look for experience, Krasnow-Renzi notes.
“I have done a Bank of America build out and the majority of my work has been with financial institutions, capital venture companies, etc.,” she says. “They like to see that experience.”
When asked if Krasnow-Renzi's background was a key reason for the hire, he responds, “Absolutely. “We didn't have a Bank of America or Bloomberg on our resume, and now we do.”
Avison Young—which of late has been in full growth mode on the brokerage side too—is looking to grow its project management platform significantly, Walsh says. “We have eight people right now and we'd like to get to 20 to 25,” including both people to work on business development and, once clients are retained, to oversee the management of those accounts, he explains.
Having approximately two dozen employees would make the project management operation a compelling one, adds Krasnow-Renzi. That makes for a great group of professionals to work together and handle a good number of projects and not fumble without adequate staff for each project.
Walsh appears focused on securing new clients of all types. “We're working in retail, we're working on 40 TD Bank stores around the city and we just finished a restaurant and nightclub on the Bowery for EMM Group,” he says.
And Walsh isn't the only ambitious member of the staff. “I would love to get my hands into the West Side Yards area,” adds Kransnow-Renzi. “There's a lot going on there.” Her wish likely won't be too difficult to fulfill: Avison Young is already involved with 3 Hudson Blvd., a part of the West Side's Hudson Yards project, Walsh notes. However the project mamagement group has not yet been enlisted to work on the property.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
