By Joshua Burd
Advance Realty has bolstered the team at its Bridgewater headquarters with four new hires, including two executives in asset management and accounting.

The new hires include Angela Tsai, who joins Advance’s executive team as a director of asset management, the firm announced. Her role includes supporting the company’s continued growth and high-profile project portfolio, in part by overseeing the day-to-day operation of its regional assets.
She will focus on multifamily and mixed-use projects, Advance said. She will develop and implement property-specific value enhancement strategies for both the company’s current projects and acquisition pipeline.
Tsai joins Advance from Eastdil Secured, where she was a senior vice president, according to a news release. During her time with Eastdil, she was responsible for valuing and closing more than $11 billion in multifamily rental assets in the New York City metro area. She also oversaw aspects of the company’s real estate investment banking activities.

Prior to joining Eastdil, Tsai was an assistant vice president at Red Stone Partners, a division of Prudential Real Estate Investors.
Also joining Advance’s executive team is Diane Pellegrino, who serves as financial controller, the news release said. As a certified public accountant, she will oversee financial matters such as development and construction project oversight, project funding and compliance, as well as budget preparation, tracking and reporting.
Pellegrino brings more than 25 years of experience as a controller and accountant at real estate, investment and financial firms in the New York metro area, Advance said. Most recently, she served as both chief financial officer and controller at the White Plains, New York-based real estate development firm Cappelli Organization Inc.
“This is an exciting time for Advance, as we pursue the careful and strategic acquisition, development and value enhancement of our portfolio in New Jersey and beyond,” said Kurt Padavano, Advance Realty’s chief operating officer. “The addition of Angela and Diane, both of whom have unique backgrounds and broad experience in real estate, will be a tremendous asset as we continue that process.

“We are thrilled to add each of them to our deep and diverse team of executives at Advance Realty.”
Advance has also hired Sean Doherty as an asset management associate. He previously served as an associate at Vision Real Estate Partners, having graduated from Villanova School of Business with a degree in finance and commercial real estate.
Doherty joins Advance alongside Sid Desai, who was hired as a senior associate with the capital markets team. Desai previously focused on finding new acquisition opportunities as an associate at Hoboken-based Stolar Capital, having earned his master’s in real estate finance from New York University and bachelor’s degree in finance from Rutgers University.

Padavano said the new hires are meant to support Advance’s considerable growth over the past two years, including the launch of its first multifamily projects in Hoboken and Harrison, repositioning of the former Sanofi U.S. research campus in Bridgewater and redevelopment of retail centers around the state.
“As we continue to expand, we will depend more than ever on our deep team of executives and other professionals,” Padavano said. “Each of these hires makes us better positioned than ever to sustain our long record of success in all areas of commercial real estate.”