CRE News Hour 10/25/2019: Foreign CRE Investment, 10 Year Office Trends, and Marine Container Construction

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In this episode of the CRE News Hour, we’ll chat with Stroock attorneys Chris Griner and Tatiana O. Sullivan about proposed regulations on foreign investment in commercial real estate; CommercialCafe writer Patrick McGregor will report the results of a ten-year study of office growth across the US, and we’ll talk with SGBlocks CEO Paul Galvin about building commercial and residential properties out of marine cargo containers.

About the Guests

As Chair of Stroock’s National Security/CFIUS/Compliance Practice Group, Chris Griner helps foreign and domestic companies negotiate the maze of government regulations involved in acquiring or investing in companies considered U.S. national security assets. He is widely recognized as a leader in the field of national security/CFIUS and played a key role in the development of the Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (“FOCI”) mitigation arrangements used by the U.S. government today.

Foreign and domestic companies across diverse industries turn to Chris for advice on all phases of the CFIUS process, from assessing potential areas of national security concern to preparing filings and working with the government to achieve favorable outcomes. He has handled transactions worth millions to multiple billions of dollars involving CFIUS or other national security obstacles and is renowned for structuring mitigation arrangements to obtain successful results.
Chris has been awarded many accolades, including the highest ranking by Chambers Global and as a Washingtonian “Star of the Bar.” He has been invited by the U.S., British and Italian governments to address CFIUS and other regulatory aspects of foreign direct investment in the United States, and has been quoted in prominent publications including The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Deal, China Legal Review and American Law Daily.

Prior to joining Stroock, Chris served as an attorney advisor in the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense and is a Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, Retired. He is a certified pilot and enjoys flying his own plane on the weekends.

As the Department of Defense (DoD) lead for Foreign Investment Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) negotiations and regulatory implementation, Tatiana was responsible for developing DoD recommendations relating to foreign acquisitions of U.S. businesses before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). She conducted numerous, substantive evaluations of CFIUS transactions to identify critical technologies, supply chain, co-location and product integrity risks while engaging with stakeholders, the intelligence community and the private sector.

Tatiana crafted mitigation strategies to resolve national security risks including working closely with the authorities related to Export Administration Regulations (EAR), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), International Emergence Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), as well as negotiating CFIUS national security agreements. Under the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), she represented DoD at the Operating Committee and prepared senior leadership positions on licensing matters before the Advisory Committee on Export Policy (ACEP). Tatiana also served as primary support for a myriad of national security compliance programs.

Tatiana’s experience and insight into federal regulation and enforcement matters allows her to provide unique counsel and practical solutions to clients’ legal challenges. Her focus on national security reviews of foreign investments, U.S. technology transfer and export control policy allows her to bring creative and cost-effective solutions to regulatory issues involved in international business transactions.

Paul M. Galvin was appointed as a director and the Company’s Chief Executive Officer upon consummation of the reverse merger among CDSI Holdings Inc., CDSI Merger Sub, Inc., SG Blocks, and certain stockholders of SG Blocks on November 4, 2011 (the “Merger”). Mr. Galvin is a founder of SGBlocks, LLC, the predecessor entity of SGB. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of SGB and its predecessor entity since April 2009 and as a director of such since January 2007. Mr. Galvin has been a managing member of TAG Partners, LLC (“TAG”), an investment partnership formed for the purpose of investing in SGB, since October 2007. Mr. Galvin brings over 20 years of experience developing and managing real estate, including residential condominiums, luxury sales, and market rate and affordable rental projects. Prior to his involvement in real estate, he founded a non-profit organization that focused on public health, housing, and child survival, where he served for over a decade in a leadership position. During that period, Mr. Galvin designed, developed, and managed emergency food and shelter programs through New York City’s Human Resources Administration and other federal and state entities. From November 2005 to June 2007, Mr. Galvin was Chief Operating Officer of a subsidiary of Yucaipa Investments, where he worked with religious institutions that needed to monetize underperforming assets. While there, he designed and managed systems that produced highest and best use analyses for hundreds of religious assets and used them to acquire and re-develop properties across the U.S. Mr. Galvin holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from LeMoyne College and a Master’s Degree in Social Policy from Fordham University. He was formerly an adjunct professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Welfare. Mr. Galvin previously served for 10 years on the Sisters of Charity Healthcare System Advisory Board and six years on the board of directors of SentiCare, Inc. In 2011, the Council of Churches of New York recognized Mr. Galvin with an Outstanding Business Leadership Award. Mr. Galvin’s pertinent experience, qualifications, attributes, and skills include his managerial experience and the knowledge and experience he has attained in the real estate industry.

Patrick McGregor is a senior writer at COMMERCIALCafé, covering the commercial real estate industry and overall economic trends in the United States. He also holds an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. Before joining COMMERCIALCafé, Patrick was a senior writer at PropertyShark and a commercial real estate analyst at Yardi Matrix for five years.

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Correction, 10/26/2019, 7:27 a.m.: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story misspelled the name of one of the guests. She is Tatiana O. Sullivan, not Tatiana O’Sullivan.

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