** Tonight's program will take place as planned. Please be safe traveling and we look forward to seeing you soon.**

Join SMPS-NY for an in-person panel discussion on NYC's housing market. The AEC industry faces unique challenges and opportunities to meet the City's housing needs in a market continuously evolving from the pandemic. In this session, industry leaders will discuss the following:

• The persistent affordable housing shortage and the Mayor's self-proclaimed "moonshot goal" of creating 500,000 homes over the next decade. 
• The feasibility of commercial to residential conversions. 
• Evolving political and regulatory landscape, including local laws, zoning, and incentives.
• Urban planning agendas such as sustainability, transit-oriented development, healthcare, and sports and entertainment facilities.

This thought-provoking event is co-sponsored by Turner Construction Company at their new office in The Spiral at Hudson Yards.

Program moderator:

James Lloyd
Director of Policy
NYS Association for Affordable Housing 

James Lloyd has served as the director of policy at the New York State Association for Affordable Housing since the beginning of 2022. James has worked in New York land use and housing since 2012, including four years in the New York City Council’s Land Use Division. While at the City Council, he served as the project manager for the East New York and Inwood neighborhood rezonings and was also part of the Council’s MIH/ZQA team.

James then led the Manhattan Borough President’s Land Use Division where he worked with the Department of City Planning and Council Member Margaret Chin’s office to launch and manage the SoHo/NoHo neighborhood planning process, which laid the foundation for the later rezoning of the area.

A native of Athens, Ohio, James holds an M.S. in city and regional planning from the Pratt Institute, an M.A. in geography from Ohio University, and a B.A. in physics from Carleton College. James also spent 17 years in the U.S. Navy, including nine years on active duty with two deployments to the Middle East, and he retired as a Commander in September 2022. James has several academics publications, including a monograph on the anti-redlining movement in Washington, DC.

Confirmed panelists include:

Lucy Joffe
Assistant Commissioner for Housing Policy
NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

Lucy Joffe is the Assistant Commissioner for Housing Policy at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”).  In this role, she oversees HPD's Policy Development & Special Initiatives, Fair Housing Policy & Investments and Research & Evaluation teams as well as the newly-launched Center for Research on Housing Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity (HOME). Lucy also worked as the Executive Director of Regulatory Compliance at HPD, an attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a legislative aide to former New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick.  She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of La Cima Elementary School in Bed Stuy Brooklyn and previously taught at P.S./I.S. 50 in East Harlem as a Teach for America corps member and worked in several Detroit public schools as an Americorps member.  Lucy earned a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, an M.S. for Teachers from Pace University and a B.A. in sociology with a political science minor from the University of Michigan.

Carlo Casa
Director of Policy and Research
New York Building Congress

Carlo Casa is the Director of Policy and Research at the New York Building Congress, an organization that advocates on behalf of the construction industry. With a passion for public policy and a zeal for creative problem solving, he brings a data-focused approach to writing reports, testimonies, and memos that promote essential development and infrastructure projects. Prior to joining the team at the Building Congress, he worked for MTA Bridges and Tunnels where he created models to forecast traffic and revenue and worked on congestion pricing. 

Alexis McSween
Founder & CEO
Bottom Line Construction & Development

Alexis McSween is the founder and CEO of Bottom Line Construction & Development, LLC, a 100% woman- and minority-owned construction and development company that embodies the ingenuity and grit-and-grace which characterizes Alexis’ life. Alexis brings over eighteen years of practical and professional experience — with twelve years in real estate development and construction, including public works — to cultivating community. She combines human centric-community development, and entrepreneurial problem-solving, with hard-core real estate development and construction management. In doing so, BLCD can fulfill market demand, minimize financial risk, leverage transferrable models, and maximize municipal incentives while making a broader and lasting impact. Alexis is also the founder of Youth Construct, a Harlem-based non-profit that trains local high school youth in construction administration. She hopes that Youth Construct will help to diversify and transform the future of construction leadership by equipping NYC’s underserved youth with the skills needed to build and develop their communities.  

Today, Alexis leads a $6.3 million Tier 1 construction management project in Harlem—The Victoria, a $180 million 28-story mixed-use complex. She continues to pursue strategic real estate development and construction opportunities that share her community ethos. Alexis has a Master of Science in Real Estate Development, with a minor in Construction Management from New York University’s Shack Real Estate Institute. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management and certifications in several construction industry sectors.

Toby Snyder, AIA, LEED AP
Design Director
FXCollaborative

Toby Snyder is a Design Director at FXCollaborative, where he’s worked for the last 16 years as an architect and urban designer.  He leads the design for their Housing,and Hybrid buildings studio, overseeing projects from early feasibility studies through design and into construction.  His residential work spans a range of typologies, including: Apex Place, 35XV, The Greenwich Lane, 278 8th Avenue, 11 Ocean Parkway, West End 87th, Navy Green, 30-55 Vernon Boulevard, and the Bilkent Dormitories in Ankara Turkey.

Toby’s urban design work includes the Penn Station Area Master Plan and Reconstruction Plans,and the Nordhaven Masterplan in Copenhagen, and has designed office buildings in Brooklyn and Amsterdam.  He has shepherded a number of projects through the city and state’s public ULURP, Landmarks, and General Project Plan processes.

Toby has a BA. in Geography from Clark University, a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.  He has lectured at RISD, NYIT, NYU, City College and is a long term Visiting Assistant Professor in the City Planning at Pratt Institute.

Toby is LEED accredited, and a licensed architect in New York.

Program Sponsors:

Program Co-Host: Turner Construction Company

Program Supporter: Burke Reprographics / plans4less.com