{"id":1004133352,"date":"2015-12-09T08:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T16:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004133352"},"modified":"2022-12-08T22:18:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T06:18:54","slug":"meet-bras-new-director-of-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/meet-bras-new-director-of-real-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet BRA\u2019s New Director of Real Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1004133353\" style=\"width: 234px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1004133353\" data-attachment-id=\"1004133353\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/meet-bras-new-director-of-real-estate\/edward-odonnell\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"371,496\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Edward ODonnell\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg?w=371\" class=\"wp-image-1004133353 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg\" alt=\"Edward O'Donnell\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg 371w, https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2015\/12\/Edward-ODonnell.jpg?resize=224,300 224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1004133353\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edward O&#8217;Donnell<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Boston\u2014The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Boston Redevelopment Authority<\/a> (BRA), Boston\u2019s urban planning and economic development engine, has hired Somerville\u2019s economic development chief Edward O\u2019Donnell to manage the agency\u2019s massive real estate portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>In his new role, O\u2019Donnell will manage the disposition, sale and leasing of more than 16 million square feet of property in an effort to optimize BRA\u2019s real estate holdings and generate new revenue opportunities for the agency and for the people of Boston.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell\u2019s career spans more than 30 years, including two-and-a-half years as Director of Economic Development for the City of Somerville where he successfully directed a nationwide search and public engagement process to secure a master development partner for the planning and build out of more than two million square feet of transit oriented development in Union Square. During his tenure at Somerville\u2019s economic development agency, O\u2019Donnell also helped to attract start-ups at Greentown Labs\u2014the area\u2019s largest clean tech incubator\u2014and bring collaborative work space to Davis Square.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell\u2019s ties with the BRA goes back to the 1990s, when he spent eight years with the agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m honored and gratified by the confidence that Mayor Walsh and Director Golden have shown by offering me the newly created Director of Real Estate position,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell in a prepared statement. \u201cMy approach to the job is grounded in the fact that the real estate holdings of the BRA are assets, and they need to be managed productively, whether to provide new employment opportunities, new housing, or other uses. Our goal is to ensure that these assets reach their full potential, and I look forward to leading and contributing to this work with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell will also work with the BRA\u2019s leadership to improve transparency over asset management, with the goal of creating a publicly accessible and regularly updated report about the agency\u2019s holdings.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo courtesy of the BRA<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Somerville\u2019s economic development chief will serve as BRA\u2019s new Director of Real Estate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":757,"featured_media":1004133353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1490,21742,10,21744],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004133352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boston","category-latest","category-northeast","category-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - 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