Dawn Arrabito was named the director of leasing and tenant relations at the Birch Group, a privately held commercial real estate investor, owner and operator, the firm announced Wednesday.
The appointment comes at a time of tremendous growth at the firm, which has acquired nearly $800 million of commercial office assets since 2019 with a continued focus on scaling its portfolio of top-quality commercial assets.
In her role, Arrabito will lead tenant relationships across the Birch Group’s vast portfolio of properties, managing all renewals and expansions while working closely with current tenants to gather significant feedback and insight to inform strategic capital improvements. She will also collaborate with all brokerage teams to assist in the marketing of all properties to fuel leasing growth and increase occupancy.
The firm also announced that Jon Silverman has been hired as an associate. He will assist the asset management team in analyzing the performance of the company’s current portfolio and identifying new opportunities for expansion.
Birch Group founder and President Mark Meisner applauded the hires.
“We take a very pragmatic and proactive approach to real estate, and see tremendous value in listening carefully to our tenants,” he said. “As we continue to add institutional-quality assets to our portfolio, and with our unprecedented growth over the past couple of years, Dawn and Jon’s experience matched up perfectly with the roles we were looking to fill.
“We look forward to strengthening our portfolio and relationship with tenants even further, while also boosting leasing activity overall at a critical time when many companies are solidifying their plans for the return to the office.”
Prior to this position, Arrabito was a leasing director at John Hancock/Manulife Investment Management’s real estate platform, where she maximized property net income through tenant retention strategies in collaboration with marketing and property management. She also previously worked at Wyndham Worldwide as a transaction manager of corporate real estate, where she oversaw the company’s portfolio of more than 3 million square feet of leased and owned properties throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Earlier in her career, Arrabito held various positions with top brokerages, including director at Cushman & Wakefield and real estate broker at Grubb & Ellis.
“Throughout my career, I’ve demonstrated a prominent track record of success in executing strategies that align with corporate, business and stakeholder objectives,” she said. “I’m thrilled to join the team at the Birch Group, which has quickly become one of the largest real estate owners in New Jersey, particularly at a time of immense growth and opportunity.”
Silverman previously worked at Pan Am Equities, one of Manhattan’s preeminent developers and property managers, where he supported the firm’s acquisitions team. Earlier in his career, Silverman also worked as a consultant at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Earlier this year, the Birch Group set a record for the largest office transaction in the first quarter for its $255 million acquisition of a prominent four-building portfolio in Short Hills. Its latest acquisition was a $47.3 million acquisition of 600 and 700 Alexander Park, a prominent two-building portfolio located in Princeton.
