Forest City Revamps Structure

CLEVELAND—Concurrent with its planned conversion to a REIT this coming January, Forest City Enterprises Inc. plans to move to a new organizational structure. The idea is to better align with its strategies and signature strength in urban, mixed-use real estate, while also increasing efficiency and improving operating margins, the Cleveland-based owner/developer said Thursday.

The past several years have seen Forest City undergoing a transformation via “focusing on core products and strong urban markets, improving our balance sheet and debt metrics, driving operational excellence and, most recently, committing to convert to a real estate investment trust,” says David LaRue, the company's president and CEO. “Our new structure continues that transformation by better aligning the way we are organized with our strategies and strengths, while retaining the strong brands and local presence we have built in our core markets.”

The new structure eliminates Forest City's current strategic business units, organized primarily around asset type—retail, office and apartments. In their place will be an organization built around function, i.e. operations, development and support services.

Duane Bishop will lead a unified operations group that brings together most of the company's commercial and residential property management, asset management and leasing. Ron Ratner and Jim Ratner will co-lead a team to drive development in markets such as Washington, DC, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That being the case, development as well as operations for Forest City's New York City portfolio will continue to be handled by subsidiary Forest City Ratner Cos. and its CEO, MaryAnne Gilmartin.

Bob O'Brien will lead the finance/treasury, accounting, planning & analysis and related functions. In a move toward shifting more support services across the company to a shared-services model, led by Geri Presti, legal and insurance, Stephanie Dorsey, strategic initiatives and corporate operations, and Emily Holiday, human resources. Holiday will succeed current human resources leader Andy Passen upon his retirement at year's end.