About Us
Urbana Holdings, LLC and its affiliates are engaged in the development and redevelopment of commercial real estate across the United States to create value for instutional investors.
While the firm has invested in a variety of property types since its founding in 2002, including office, retail, multi-family, hotel and mixed-use properties, Urbana’s central focus today is on investments in the hotel/hospitality sector.
Beyond its office and retail holdings, Urbana’s current hotel portfolio includes more than 1,000 rooms under management across the United States, and the firm is an approved franchisee for the Starwood, Marriott and Hilton brands.
Management Team
Allan Gutierrez
Chief Executive Officer
As Chief Executive Officer of the Urbana group of companies, Mr. Gutierrez is responsible for the strategic management of all of the group’s activities, with particular attention paid to the identification and evaluation of new investment opportunities, the value-added management of the group’s existing investments, and the cultivation and maintenance of key capital and business relationships.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Gutierrez has over 25 years of commercial real estate experience. Prior to Urbana, Mr. Gutierrez was a Principal and the Chief Investment Officer of Songy Partners (a commercial real estate investment firm); the Founder and CEO of Alliance Partners, Inc. (a national real estate advisory firm with offices in Florida, Colorado and California); a Vice President with Sonnenblick Goldman (a national real estate investment banking firm); and a Manager with Kenneth Leventhal and Company (a real estate consulting group).
Mr. Gutierrez has also been engaged as an independent real advisor on more than 100 occasions to deliver professional guidance on commercial real estate assets spanning 48 states. His areas of expertise include strategic management, assessment of investment feasibility (with a conservative underwriting bias), sourcing investment capital, the acquisition and repositioning of underperforming real estate assets, debt restructuring, non-performing loan sales, and mergers and acquisitions of public and private real estate companies.
EDUCATION AND MEMBERSHIPS
A Detroit native, Mr. Gutierrez received his MBA from Michigan State University (Broad), his BS from Wayne State University, and pursued postgraduate real estate studies at the University of Houston. He is a member of both the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Real Estate Investment Advisory Counsel.
Ed Nolan
Principal
Mr. Nolan works together with Mr. Gutierrez as Chief Financial Officer of the Urbana Varro Companies.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Nolan has over 25 years of experience in the commercial and residential real estate industries. Prior to joining Urbana he was Chief Financial Officer of SunCal Companies, an Irvine, California, based developer of master planned communities. At SunCal, Mr. Nolan was directly responsible for the company’s accounting, tax and financial reporting, information systems, asset management and risk management functions. He was also involved in SunCal’s capital raising efforts, which included working with notable financial partners such as DE Shaw, Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., Cerberus Real Estate, Bank Midwest, Credit Suisse, and California Bank & Trust. During his tenure the company’s asset base grew from approximately $250 million to over $4.1 billion.
Prior to joining SunCal, Mr. Nolan was President and Chief Financial Officer of Hudson Advisors in Singapore, where his responsibilities included oversight of the asset management, tax structuring, foreign currency management, and financial reporting for investments made in the Asia Pacific region by Lone Star Opportunity Funds III and IV. His primary focus was the development of platforms supporting non-performing loan acquisition, underwriting and management in Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan, an effort employing in excess of 225 and managing in excess of 100,000 assets worth in excess of US $2.1 billion. Past experience also includes serving as Vice-President for The Hampstead Group, LLC, a Dallas, Texas, based private equity firm, and as Vice-President of Finance, Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations for Bristol Hotels & Resorts.
EDUCATION
Mr. Nolan is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Jim Kelly
Multi-Family Division Head
Mr. Kelly specializes in Urbana’s strategic assessment, develpoment and redevelopment of primary mulit-family assets. In his career, he has developed over 12,000 rental apartment and condominium units with a total value of over $3 Billion.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Kelly has over 30 years’ experience in Real Estate Development and Construction primarily focusing on multi-family assets. Prior to Urbana, Mr. Kelly worked for 12 years as First Vice President of Equity Residential where he was responsible for all development and construction activity in the Southeast from 2005 to 2012. As part of Equity’s acquisition of Archstone in 2012, Mr. Kelly relocated to San Francisco where he oversaw the development of over 2,700 units from 2012 to 2017. Prior to Equity, Mr. Kelly worked for Pritzker Realty Group and JPI. Mr. Kelly has developed high rise, podium and garden product in a variety of different development mixes including mixed-use and TND communities. In his career, Jim has developed over 12,000 rental apartment and condominium units with a total value of over $3 Billion.
EDUCATION
Mr. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Tara Cameron
Associate Broker & Property Manager
Ms. Cameron handles the leasing and management of commercial properties in the Urbana Portfolio.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Ms. Cameron is a real estate broker with over 10 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry as a property manager and leasing representative. She has worked for such companies as Retail Planning Corporation and Equity Investment Group, where she handled properties in the Georgia, Virginia and Florida markets managing up to 1.7 million SF of retail.
Prior to joining Urbana, Ms. Cameron founded and operated Diesel Pizza & Pub, a thriving pizza restaurant, for the past 10 years. Her experience a as Landlord representative and a retail tenant, gives her a unique perspective, different from others within the industry.
EDUCATION
Ms. Cameron holds a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Marketing from Purdue University and is a licensed GA Real Estate Broker.
Tom Fitzpatrick
Development & Construction
Mr. Fitzpatrick is responsible for Urbana’s development, renovation and physical due diligence activities.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Fitzpatrick has over 26 years of real estate experience and has been personally responsible for executing a wide range of assignments associated with hospitality, retail, office, industrial, specialty, headquarter and land assets valued at more than $1.5B.
Mr. Fitzpatrick’s technical expertise encompasses due diligence, project management, development, construction budgeting, zoning, land use, entitlements, site acquisition and asset disposition. A sampling of projects on which Mr. Fitzpatrick has worked include: Pelican Grand Beach Resort (Ft. Lauderdale), Granada Suites Hotel (Atlanta), NSI Headquarters (Atlanta), Marriott Residence Inn (Atlanta), IBM Southeast Headquarters (Atlanta), Burger King World Headquarters (Miami), Thanksgiving Tower (Dallas), Grand Bay Plaza (Coconut Grove), Blue Lake Office Park (Boca Raton), Office Depot International Headquarters (Boca Raton), Golden Bear Plaza (North Palm Beach), FAU Research Park (Boca Raton), Lantern Square (Jacksonville), North Campus of Boca Raton Community Hospital (Boca Raton), Polaroid Headquarters (Cambridge), Welcome Inn America (Atlanta), First Union Plaza (Boca Raton), Days Inn I-4 (Orlando), American Bankers Headquarters (Miami), Sands Harbor Resort (Pompano Beach), Charter Schools (Boynton Beach), InPhyNet (Plantation), Forum III (West Palm Beach), Center Square Parking Garage (Jacksonville), Siemens Florida (Boca Raton), and the 1901 Building (Ft. Lauderdale).
Prior to forming Transaction Consultants in 1984, Mr. Fitzpatrick specialized in retail and land brokerage working as a founding member of Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services’ Tampa, Florida team. He also served as Vice President for a private investment / development firm at which he focused on identifying acquisition targets, performing due diligence and market analyses, assessing development feasibility, and handling the marketing and sale of commercial real estate assets.
EDUCATION
Mr. Fitzpatrick holds a Bachelor of Science from Stetson University and is a licensed Florida Real Estate Broker.
Maximillian Gutierrez
Development & Acquisitions Associate
Mr. Maximillian Gutierrez, our Development and Acquisitions Associate, is responsible for networking and investor relations for defined market segments He provides financial analysis, research, underwriting, and due diligence support to our senior management team.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Gutierrez has over 12 years of commercial real estate experience. Before taking on the Development and Acquisitions role, Maximillian worked as an Urbana leasing agent and property manager. He has several years working in in acquisitions, leasing, asset and construction management for various office, retail and hotel investments. Prior to Urbana, his experience with other companies includes underwriting for both an international private equity real estate firm and a national loan servicer.
EDUCATION
An Atlanta native, Mr. Gutierrez received his MBA from Emory University (Goizueta), and dual BBAs in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Georgia. He is also a licensed Real Estate Broker in Georgia and Florida. Memberships include both the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and National Association of Office Parks (NAIOP).
Steve Thurston
Controller/CFO
As Controller / CFO of Urbana Holdings, Mr. Thurston is responsible for all accounting and finance activities.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Thurston is a Certified Public Accountant with over twenty years of experience in the accounting and real estate industries. His areas of accounting specialization include real estate investment and development, estate tax planning, income tax planning, financial planning, tax audit representation and tax compliance. Mr. Thurston has extensive experience advising closely held businesses, their owners, and high-net-worth individuals by offering critical tax planning and consulting services.
Mr. Thurston has been controller for Urbana and its affiliated companies for over ten years. Prior to joining the Urbana organization, Mr. Thurston was a member of Pannell Kerr Forster Worldwide.
EDUCATION
Mr. Thurston graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Business Administration (with concentrations in Accounting and Computer Information Systems). He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Colorado.
Bob Holsten
Chief Operations Officer
Mr. Holsten is responsible for all operations within the hospitality division of Urbana.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Holsten has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry with involvement in all facets of revenue management, sales & marketing, and supervision the management teams at the property level. Prior to Urbana, Mr. Holsten managed numerous three and four Diamond Hotels in additional to branded hotels such as Hilton, Carlson, Starwood, and Intercontinental Hotel Group as well as involvement with independent hotels.
As well as management practices, Mr. Holsten possess over fifteen years of sales and marketing experience to develop comprehensive and property-specific action plans to develop room and food & beverage revenues.
EDUCATION
Mr. Holsten holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Florida Atlantic University.
Marcos Vidal
Corporate Director of Revenue Management
Originally from Arlington, TX, Marcos Vidal is the Corporate Director of Revenue Management for Urbana Holdings. He is responsible for forecasting revenue, profit opportunity analysis, and business evaluation for all market segments.
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Mr. Vidal is committed to enhancing the long term value of the investment entrusted to him by Urbana. While offering quality products and services at a competitive price, he believes in the value of providing excellent customer service, too. Marcos is committed to maintaining a safe work environment enriched by diversity and characterized by open communication, trust, and fair treatment. He maintains high ethical standards, follows all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, and respects local and national cultures.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Vidal has 25 years of revenue management experience and has been personally responsible for executing a wide range of assignments associated with hotel revenue management.
EDUCATION
Business Administration AAS – Dallas CCCD
Linda Westmoreland
Corporate Controller
Ms. Westmoreland began her 40 year accounting career as a Budget Analyst for Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Ms. Westmoreland possesses over 30 years experience in financial statement preparation as a Controller for various Atlanta-based corporations. She began her hospitality industry experience as Controller for 20First Hospitality, working seven years at the famous Villa Christina and Retreat-Perimeter Center then later transitioning as staff accountant for both the Hyatt Regencyand Villa Christina entities. She’s proud of her time there wherein she consolidated food & beverage financials with hotel financials through successful oversight of varying PMS, F&B and accounting software programs.
Ms. Westmoreland has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgia Southwestern College and studied Managerial Accounting and Organizational Behavior and Administration at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va.
Emmy Schmid, SHRM-SCP
Corporate Director of Human Resources
Emmy Schmid is our Corporate Director of Human Resources for Urbana, providing human resources support and solutions to owners and operators of nationally recognized hotel franchises and independent properties throughout the United States.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mrs.Schmid has more than 15 years of experience as a leader in overseeing company culture, employee relations, training, workers compensation, payroll/compensation, safety, legal compliance and health/welfare benefits.Prior to joining Urbana, Schmid worked as Corporate Human Resources Director for companies such as Hotel Equities in Atlanta, for Miami-based Tecton/Desires Hospitality and for Doramar Hotels, owner/operators of hotels in metro-Denver and Vail valley. She also enjoyed working for several years as a property Human Resources Director at the Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center, part of the Boca Resorts collection. She started her hospitality human resources career with Quorum Hotels at the Brown Palace Hotel, a luxury property in downtown Denver.
EDUCATION
Ms. Schmid holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Carroll College.