Cornerstone Names New CIO; APL Opens US Office

Zammitti has 20 years’ experience with Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers.

HARTFORD, CT—A pair of top-level appointments by real estate investment managers speaks to the US’ supremacy among global commercial property markets. Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, headquartered here, has promoted company veteran Mike Zammitti to CIO of US equity investments, while Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Land has hired William Scully to head a newly opened office in New York City. Zammitti has been with Cornerstone since 1996, and succeeds Drew Williams, who is retiring at month’s end after 22 years with the company. Williams and Zammitti have co-led the US equity investments team since this past June, when Zammitti was promoted to deputy CIO. Before joining Cornerstone as VP of asset management, Zammitti was an investment officer with the real estate division of Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. “Mike has shown exceptional commitment to the company and we are confident in his ability to expand Cornerstone’s US commercial real estate portfolios,’ says CEO Scott Brown. “I would also like to thank Drew for his dedication and two decades of service to Cornerstone. On behalf of global colleagues and clients, I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.” In global REIT research published in January, Cornerstone says the US is “likely to remain the growth leader in 2016,” and expects strong same-store NOI growth domestically, led by hotels, self-storage and apartments. Cornerstone also has operations in Europe and Asia. To date, APL has concentrated primarily on investing and capital raising in key markets within Asia. The office that Scully will lead as managing director for US investments will be APL’s first in North America. A 30-year veteran, Scully has experience in real estate investment, development and asset management in both the US and Asia, PERE reported Monday. Before joining APL, he was a managing director at Cerberus Capital Management and a partner at Apollo Real Estate Advisors. Scully will lead APL’s efforts to source and execute investments in select real estate markets in this country.