Wood Partners Announces Changes to Board of Directors, Executive Team, Investment Committee

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Ryan Dearborn, Wood Partners

Wood Partners, one of the nation’s top multi-family developers, is planning more than $1 billion in development this year, but will do it with some leadership changes, including a new chairman of the board and president.

The Atlanta-based real estate company said Jerry Durkin, one of its founders, is stepping down as chairman but will remain on the board. Taking over as chairman is CEO Ryan Dearborn. Joseph Keough, the former COO and CFO, becomes the new president while retaining the CFO title and duties.

Keough has been with Wood Partners since 2008. Previously he was COO of Fuqua Capital and CFO of Weeks-Robinson, an operating company of Fuqua Capital. Keough had also been a senior vice president in the office and multi-family division of Cousins Properties.

Two other company founders, Leonard Wood and Jim Simpson, will be leaving the board during 2014. The expected dates of their departures were not released.

Joe Keough, Wood Partners

Replacing Wood and Simpson on the board will be Central Region Development Director Patrick Trask and Western Region Development Director Frank Middleton.

In other changes, General Counsel Sean Reynolds will join the company’s Investment Committee. Reynolds has been with the company since June 2012.

“The vacancies created as Leonard and Jim step down create growth opportunities for our future leaders,” Dearborn said in a news release. “Based on their impressive track records building out their respective businesses, I believe Patrick Trask and Frank Middleton will contribute greatly to the Board of Directors.”

Trask moved to Houston in 2001 to help open Woods Partners Texas division. He has been a principal in the finance and development of more than 35 multi-family projects totaling more than 10,000 units and $1.2 billion. Trask now also oversees the Colorado, Arizona and Chicago offices. Middleton, who joined Wood Partners in 2005, opened a Northern California office in 2008 and Seattle in 2010.

Dearborn said the company expects to start more than $1 billion in development this year and the firm has identified at least $1.7 billion in new development opportunities. One of those new projects was announced Tuesday -Alta Dadeland, a $128 million mixed-use project with 431 apartments and 2,000 square feet of retail that will be built next to the Dadeland Mall in Miami. The three-acre community will include 477,117 square feet of residential space and 663 parking spaces. The apartments will be built in two towers ranging from nine to 12 floors connected by a pedestrian footbridge. Construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Earlier this month, Wood Partners said it was beginning work on Alta Tempe, a 296-uniut apartment complex in Tempe, Ariz. The seven-acre community should be completed by mid-2015. The firm already owns Alta Park West, Alta Phoenix Lofts, Alta Ravenwood and Pietra in the Phoenix area.

Wood Partners ended a busy 2013 by breaking ground on Alta Liberty Mill, a $60 million 304-unit apartment complex in Germantown, Md., in late December. In November, Wood Partners opened a $75 million luxury apartment community called Warner Park in the Los Angeles area. The upscale development in the San Fernando Valley featured 298 units on a four-acre site.

Founded in 1998, Wood Partners currently owns 77 properties with a combined value of more than $7 billion with more than 20,200 units. The firm has offices in 16 major markets – Atlanta, Baltimore, Delray Beach/South Florida, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Houston, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Washington, D.C.