Married 44 years to Linda, with three children Peter, Leslie (Axel), and Jennifer (Filip Olechowski) and two grandchildren (Leslie & Axel Bergeson). He lived in the Philadelphia region all his life. He graduated from the University of PA in 1974 with a BA in Biology. He went back for business courses at Temple University. Since the early 80’s he has been involved in commercial real estate.

His developments include Ardmore Plaza, Overbrook Plaza, Wynnefield Plaza, and Plaza Allegheny. In addition, he developed properties in the suburbs and University City. Presently he has a niche developing inner-city properties in neighborhoods like Fairhill. He’s attracted to underserved communities on gateway transitional neighborhoods, where he believe the transition is on its way up. He gets great pleasure creating something where nothing existed Plaza Allegheny was originally an old RR siding and auto salvage yard. His greatest satisfaction is when people come up to him and thank him for his work.

His involvement in the community has necessitated a collaboration of the needs of the community and a vision of what could be, given the marketing, financial, and practical aspects to take a vacant piece of ground and develop the shopping center that exists today.

When he first started looking at this project, he had many factors to deal with. Just the ground itself and the multiple entities of ownership was daunting. Add to that the unique socio-economic issues of the community. If you only looked at the negative aspects of the community you would simply walk away.

What attracted him to this development was the underlying sense of community. This is a place where families call their home. They buy vacant homes to keep their children, sisters, and brothers near them. He saw a need for a place where the community could meet, shop, do their laundry, find a doctor, etc.

He’s not done yet. He looks forward to completing this project in the coming year and he hopes you will all be pleased when it’s finally completed.