A rendering of a Bridge Development Partners distribution center. — Courtesy: Bridge Development Partners
By Joshua Burd
Bridge Development Partners has expanded its New Jersey and New York team with the hiring of a new director of operations for the Northeast.
In the new role, Karen LoBello will oversee the property management function for the New Jersey and New York market, the developer said. Her responsibilities include servicing company-owned assets and providing third-party property management services to institutional owners that have acquired properties developed and sold by Bridge.
She will work out of Bridge’s New Jersey office in Parsippany, where she will also be responsible for portfolio operations and the property management team as a whole. Additionally, LoBello will direct and oversee capital improvements and value-add strategy for the properties under management.
“Karen is an excellent addition to our team, and we are eager to apply her unique and proven approach to our entire regional portfolio,” said Jeff Milanaik, Northeast regional partner at Bridge. “Her impressive background in both property management and leadership development makes her a great resource that will help further our continued growth in New Jersey and New York.”
Prior to joining Bridge, LoBello was a director of property management at The Hampshire Cos., where she was most recently responsible for more than 10 million square feet of commercial real estate across the office, industrial and retail sectors, according to a news release. She was accountable for the execution of asset operational strategies with heavy focus on leadership development and talent and resource management of the in-house property management team.
Before joining Hampshire directly, LoBello was a CBRE account director who worked on an outsourced property management arrangement with Hampshire. During that time, she led the property management functions for a portfolio spanning more than 20 million square feet across multiple asset classes.
Throughout more than 13 years with CBRE and Hampshire, LoBello’s experience included involvement in redevelopment projects such as Centra Metropark, a campus-style office park in Iselin, the news release said. She also facilitated successful property transitions and led a market study resulting in a roughly 9 percent increase in the company’s property management fee revenue.
“I’m excited to bring my experience and operational expertise to Bridge,” LoBello said. “I have spent many years working in nearly every real estate niche and to focus solely on the industrial sector is particularly exciting. That coupled with Bridge’s development pipeline truly makes this an ideal opportunity.
“Bridge has long been known as a leader in this growing space, and I look forward to helping the company continue to strengthen their reputation throughout the Northeast region.”
LoBello earned a bachelor’s in accounting at Stockton University.
