By Joshua Burd
Monmouth University will honor Ralph Zucker and Anthony Marchetta at its upcoming real estate awards dinner, adding to the list of industry leaders to be highlighted at the annual event.
The school’s Kislak Real Estate Institute will host its 26th Leadership Excellence Award Dinner on Thursday, May 30, in the historic Wilson Hall building on its West Long Branch campus. Zucker, the president of Somerset Development, will receive the program’s Leadership Excellence Award, while Tony Marchetta, the former executive director of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, will receive the Service to the Industry Award.
The industry veterans will be in the spotlight for an event that typically draws more than 500 commercial and residential real estate professionals. Previous honorees include Steven Pozycki, Arthur Greenbaum, Charles Lowrey, Murray Kushner, Jay Kislak and Ara Hovnanian.
Proceeds from the dinner help fund scholarships for students majoring in real estate.
Zucker, one of New Jersey’s most influential developers, has spearheaded several acclaimed redevelopment projects in the state. Chief among them is the transformation of the shuttered 2 million-square-foot former Bell Labs campus in Holmdel, which is now thriving as the indoor mixed-use campus known as Bell Works.
Marchetta recently retired as the head of the HMFA, a key agency in developing affordable housing and mixed-use projects in the state. During his tenure, he implemented significant new financing programs, including the Multifamily Conduit Bond Loan Program, Mortgage Backed Securities Program and the Supportive Housing Connection Program.
Between 2010 and 2017, the HMFA financed more than $7 billion worth of projects spanning some 38,000 units. Prior to the state agency, Marchetta spent 25 years as a development executive with firms such as Matrix Development Group, Baker Residential and LCOR.
