Bedrock Names Real Estate Law Veteran Lawrence McLaughlin First Chief Development Officer

January 9, 2020

  • Long-time Rock Security leader Chuck Wilson joins team as Chief Security Officer

  • RJ Wolney takes on new role as SVP/Corporate Development & Analytics

  • Sam Hamburger promoted to VP/Leasing & Acquisitions

  • Gabrielle Poshadlo promoted to VP/Communications

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HIGH RESOLUTION HEADSHOTS

January 9, 2019 [DETROIT] – Following a distinguished 20-year career as Chairman of Honigman LLP’s Real Estate Department, Lawrence D. McLaughlin has joined the Bedrock team as the leading full-service real estate company’s first Executive Vice President/Chief Development Officer.

In his new role, McLaughlin will employ his expertise to leading Bedrock’s Development team and big picture strategies for commercial and residential projects.

“When we began the exercise of drafting a job description for a Chief Development Officer, Larry became the natural choice,” said Matt Cullen, Bedrock Chief Executive Officer. “His decades of experience working on some of Detroit’s most prominent real estate projects, combined with his years of service as General Counsel for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy reveal both a keen strategic instinct and a love for our city’s built and natural environment.”

McLaughlin’s practice has included all aspects of real estate development with emphasis on real estate finance, retail development, urban redevelopment, public-private partnerships, construction law, government incentives and inducements, complex transactions, joint ventures and distressed debt.

His career has included work on the redevelopment of the Renaissance Center, the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport, Merchant’s Row, the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center and endless others.

McLaughlin was rated a “Star Performer” by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, has been listed in Best Lawyers in America continuously since 1991, was elected to the Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame in 2014, was named as a 2011 “Leader in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and was named in the top ten lawyers in Michigan in Michigan Super Lawyers 2006 and 2007.

He is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, served on its Board of Governors, the Program Committee and as Chairman of the Member Selection Committee; a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers Program Planning Committee and served as Chair of the U.S. Law Conference Program Committee; a member of the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Detroit; and previously Chairman of the Real Property Law Section of the Michigan State Bar.

McLaughlin’s appointment is one of several exciting organizational changes within Bedrock following the August 2019 announcement that Cullen and Mark Dunkeson would take over leadership of the company as CEO and President/Chief Operating Officer, respectively.

In addition to McLaughlin’s appointment, a number of other organizational changes are effective immediately at Bedrock, including the following:

  • Chuck Wilson will join Bedrock as Senior Vice President/Operations and Chief Security Officer. Wilson will remain the Chief Security Officer for Rock Security (a division of Rock Holdings and a separate company from Bedrock), a post he has held since April 2018. At Bedrock, he will take on the additional responsibility for the Operations Team, which includes Engineering and Property Services. Previously, Wilson was Vice President of Support Services, Greektown Casino & Hotel, where he oversaw operations including Security, Parking, Valet, and Transportation as well as Risk, Safety and Environmental Services. Prior to that, Wilson served a distinguished 20-year career with the Detroit Police Department, retiring as a Commander and Chief of Staff for Chief James E. Craig.

  • RJ Wolney has been promoted to SVP/Corporate Development & Analytics leading the Investment and Market Research teams. His team will continue their work related to Bedrock’s investment decisions including market and strategic analyses, partnerships, project underwriting, and portfolio-wide capital structure execution. A member of the Quicken Loans Family of Companies for more than seven years, Wolney has been at the forefront of Bedrock’s efforts to spur economic development through transformational urban investment since 2012. Wolney supported a successful statewide legislative effort to deliver a new real estate development incentive to unlock investment across the state of Michigan which is now being applied to Detroit projects including the Hudson’s Site. Wolney also served as a leading member of Detroit’s Amazon HQ2 proposal team in 2017 working with representatives from across the region.

  • Formerly the Director of Acquisitions, Sam Hamburger has been promoted to VP/Acquisitions & Leasing. In his new role, Hamburger will continue to lead the Bedrock Acquisitions Team and will expand his focus to include the Leasing Team. Hamburger started at Bedrock in 2012, and quickly became involved in many facets of the business including acquisitions, leasing, development, and property management.  In his eight years on the team, he has worked on more than 100 real estate transactions, including all of Bedrock’s office, retail, residential, hospitality, and parking acquisitions in both downtown Detroit and Cleveland, as well as leases with tenants such as Ally Financial, WeWork, and most recently Waymo.

  • Gabrielle Poshadlo has been promoted to VP/Communications. In her new role, Poshadlo will lead all internal, external and executive communications for the company. A member of the Bedrock Communications team since 2016, Poshadlo has led and supported some of the most significant business and real estate announcements Detroit has seen in decades. Prior to joining the communications team at Bedrock, Poshadlo led communications at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for five years, where she leveraged multi-level constituent and external communications strategies to elevate the ensemble’s reputation for technological innovation, accessible programming and a relevance in pop culture.

###

About Bedrock

Detroit-based Bedrock is a full-service real estate firm specializing in acquiring, developing, leasing, financing and managing commercial and residential buildings. Since its founding in 2011, Bedrock and its affiliates have invested and committed more than $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties, including new construction of ground up developments in downtown Detroit and Cleveland totaling more than 18 million square feet.

Bedrock’s real estate portfolio consists of 210 office tenants and 125 retailers and restaurants in Detroit’s technology-centric downtown, the majority of which are new to the market. Key office tenants include Coyote Logistics, IBM, Microsoft, Quicken Loans, LinkedIn, StockX, Universal McCann, UBS, Ally Bank’s national headquarters and Fifth Third Bank’s regional headquarters. Key retail tenants include H&M, Plum Market, The Lip Bar, 6 Salon, Lululemon, Shake Shack and countless others.

Bedrock is currently developing four transformational projects including the Hudson’s Site, Monroe Blocks, Book Tower renovation and One Campus Martius expansion. Bedrock is also undergoing construction of City Modern, a community development in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood. Partnering with Detroit-based Shinola, Bedrock developed the world’s first Shinola Hotel on Woodward Avenue, which opened in early 2019.

Bedrock is dedicated to creating jobs for Detroiters and investing in job training. Over the last year, the company has invested in both the Randolph & Breithaupt Career and Technical Centers to build a pipeline of talent for Detroit’s growing economy.

Creating unique experiences through real estate is Bedrock’s mission. To make this a reality, Bedrock and its affiliates continuously invest in significant public art installations and placemaking initiatives throughout the city.

For more information on Bedrock’s business model, visit the For More Than Profit book. For more information on Bedrock’s projects, visit bedrockdetroit.com or engage with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Click here to view a complete timeline of Bedrock and the Rock Family of Companies’ engagement within the Detroit community.