Management
Clay W. Hamlin, IIIClay Hamlin is a founder and Managing Partner of Alliance Partners. In over 30 years of experience as an owner and developer of commercial real estate, Mr. Hamlin has acquired and developed commercial real estate properties valued at more than $3 billion.
A Managing Partner of The Shidler Group since 1989, Mr. Hamlin formed Hamlin/Shidler Investment Corporation through which he led The Shidler Group’s Mid-Atlantic real estate investment operations and acquired numerous office and industrial properties, including corporate sale leaseback transactions with companies such as Unisys, IBM, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1997, Mr. Hamlin co-founded The Shidler Group’s third REIT, Corporate Office Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: OFC).
Mr. Hamlin is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Corporate Office Properties. Mr. Hamlin served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer through 2005, during which time Corporate Office grew from $193 million to $3.2 billion in total market capitalization. During his tenure, Corporate Office achieved among the highest total shareholder return of all publicly traded REITs.
He is also founder and President of LBCW Holdings, a privately held investment company investing in private equity, structured debt, and special opportunities, as well as public debt and equity securities.
Mr. Hamlin is a Certified Public Accountant and is also an attorney, having practiced law with several Philadelphia law firms, including Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz and Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul. In the late 1960’s, he served as a Lieutenant J.G. in the U.S. Navy on the aircraft carrier the USS WASP.
Mr. Hamlin received his undergraduate degree and his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Temple University Law School. Mr. Hamlin is President of the Hamlin Family Foundation and CEO of CITRS, a non-profit character education company. A former All Ivy League tennis player, he is a member of the University of Pennsylvania Tennis Hall of Fame and serves on the Athletic Board of Overseers of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Jay H. ShidlerMr. Shidler is a founder and Managing Partner of Alliance Partners and The Shidler Group. A nationally acknowledged expert in the field of real estate investment and finance, Mr. Shidler is known for his ability to identify significant emerging real estate and financial trends and for his effectiveness in organizing and capitalizing new companies to benefit from those trends.
Since forming The Shidler Group in 1971, Mr. Shidler’s affiliated partnerships and corporations have acquired and managed over 2,000 properties in 40 states and Canada. Mr. Shidler has founded and been the initial investor in over 20 public and private companies. During the past 15 years, he has been the architect and founder of five public companies – TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Inc. (now iStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: SFI)), First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC), Primus Guaranty, Ltd. (NYSE: PRS), and Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE Amex: PCE).
Mr. Shidler currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc., a REIT that owns, in partnership with institutional co-investors, office properties in the Western U.S. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Corporate Office Properties Trust, a REIT focused on the ownership and development of suburban office properties.
Mr. Shidler received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Hawai‘i in 1968, upon which he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He left military service in 1971, returning to Honolulu to form The Shidler Group.
Mr. Shidler is an active supporter of a number of educational, cultural, and charitable organizations, including The Shidler College of Business at The University of Hawaii, The Shidler Family Foundation, the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way, the Nature Conservancy, Boy Scouts of America, and the YMCA.
Richard R. PrevidiRichard Previdi is a founder and Managing Partner of Alliance Partners. With over 25 years of real estate transaction experience as a principal, Mr. Previdi has been involved in the development, redevelopment and leasing of over 10 million square feet of commercial property and the acquisition of over 100 commercial properties.
Corporations with whom Mr. Previdi has consummated acquisition or lease transactions include New York Life, American Cyanimid (national headquarters), Converse (national headquarters), Parametric Technologies (national headquarters), Mercedes-Benz, Polaroid, Michelin, BASF, Cadbury-Schwepps, ADP, Toys R Us (national headquarters), Hewlett-Packard, Computer Associates, Samsung (U.S. headquarters), Wells Fargo, Unisys (national headquarters), Merck, Hubbell, and Computer Sciences.
Prior to Alliance Partners, Mr. Previdi was the Founding Partner and CEO of Opportunity Invest LLC, a joint venture with Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: COPT) formed to acquire and redevelop underutilized assets in the Mid-Atlantic region into Class A office properties.
From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Previdi was a founder and Chief Investment Officer of Wellsford Commercial Properties Trust, a joint venture between a publicly traded real estate company and a global investment bank that acquired over $1 billion in commercial real estate. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Previdi was a principal with Emmes and Company in New York, where he acquired and asset managed portfolios of distressed assets. For 10 years prior to that, Mr. Previdi was a partner with Trammell Crow Company where he ran the firm’s Northern Virginia business unit, developing in excess of four million square feet of office and flex space.
Mr. Previdi received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a JD from Georgetown University Law School, and a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) in economics from Hamilton College.
Jeffrey CarswellJeff Carswell is the Director of Acquisitions for Alliance Partners focused on sourcing and executing acquisitions. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, Mr. Carswell was the CEO of Oak River Capital LLC, a boutique investment banking firm focused on capital markets and restructuring advisory services.
From 1997-2004, Mr. Carswell began his career working in the healthcare industry in a series of progressively expanded roles for a regional behavioral healthcare provider based in suburban Maryland. Eventually reaching the position of Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Carswell was responsible for the company’s entire scope of operations managing a workforce of 300 employees and a base of operations spanning three states. Mr. Carswell gained exposure to real estate operations via the portfolio of outpatient clinic locations and residential living facilities operated by the company. As part of the overall financial management of the company, Mr. Carswell was directly involved in the site selection, leasing, financing, and disposition of these properties. Upon leaving the company to form his own firm in 2005, Mr. Carswell built an investment banking advisory business that was directly involved in the financing, acquisition and/or structuring of commercial real estate transactions in excess of $700 million.
Mr. Carswell received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Villanova University.
Brett HamiltonBrett Hamilton is the Director of Asset Management for Alliance Partners focused on underwriting, financing, leasing, and maximizing the value of investments. Prior to joining Alliance Partners, Mr. Hamilton worked in a similar capacity as a senior associate at Trammell Crow Company in its opportunistic real estate private equity fund.
Mr. Hamilton began his career working as an economic consultant and gained exposure to real estate by consulting on the bankruptcy of a $10 billion Japanese real estate investment company. Thereafter, Mr. Hamilton joined CB Richard Ellis and quickly advanced to a director position, advising developers, investors, and public agencies on market trends, development opportunities, and project feasibility and financials. While attending business school, Mr. Hamilton continued to work as an independent real estate consultant for CBRE and also began to work with Trammell Crow in its private equity fund, which he joined full-time after graduation with a focus on sourcing, underwriting, and executing on opportunistic investments across asset classes.
Mr. Hamilton received a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Pitzer College (The Claremont Colleges) and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Hamilton is a LEED Accredited Professional.
Howard WolfMr. Wolf is the Director of Real Estate Development for Alliance Partners, Mr. Wolf has over 25 years experience in the development and construction management of commercial real estate. He has obtained entitlements for more than five million square feet of space, ranging from the redevelopment of individual standalone buildings to 100+ acre master planned business parks and greenfield sites. As a general contractor, he has completed over $500 million of base building (core and shell) construction, as well as over $100 million of tenant improvements.
Mr. Wolf began his career at Paragon Enterprises, a northern New Jersey based office developer with over $250 million in assets. Mr. Wolf joined Paragon in 1982 and advanced to Director of Operations and Partner in 1986. As Director of Operations for Paragon, Mr. Wolf was responsible for all aspects of development and construction related to Paragon’s five million square feet portfolio. When Paragon’s assets were acquired by a public REIT (Reckson), Mr. Wolf joined Reckson Associates Realty Corp. in 1997, where he co-created the New Jersey Division and was responsible for staffing, training, and managing the team of professionals that acquired, built and operated a portfolio that grew to three million square feet. In January 2000, Mr. Wolf joined WP Commercial with Mr. Previdi. In 2001, he formed and staffed WCPT’s general contracting company, WCPT Construction Services. As President of WCPT Construction Services, Mr. Wolf was responsible for managing all aspects of development and construction in WCPT Commercial’s three state portfolio totaling over $250 million in construction projects. Mr. Wolf holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Urban Planning from Rutgers University and a Master’s of Architecture from the University of Wisconsin.
Matt HandelMatt Handel is an Associate with Alliance Partners HSP focused on leasing and asset management. Prior to joining Alliance Partners HSP, Mr. Handel worked in the Philadelphia office of Jones Lang LaSalle, where he spent his first year working as a transaction analyst supporting three Philadelphia-based accounts: Towers Watson, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline. In 2011, Mr. Handel transitioned to a brokerage role, where he focused on developing client relationships and providing transaction support for existing clients.
Mr. Handel received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College and both a Master of City Planning degree and a Certificate in Real Estate Design and Development through a cooperative program between the School of Design and The Wharton School from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Handel is active with the Philadelphia chapter of the Urban Land Institute, where he co-chairs the Scholarship Fund and serves on the Advisory Board. Mr. Handel is also a licensed real estate salesperson in Pennsylvania.
