Under Pressure: Vacancy, Urgency, and the Architecture of Commercial to Residential Conversion

Director of Urban Housing, Associate Professor of Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Director of Contemporary Architecture Practice

Hina Jamelle teaches final year Graduate Option Studios and directs the Graduate Program’s Urban Housing Studios at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. She has held the Visiting Schaffer Practice Professorship at the University of Michigan. Jamelle is the co-director of the New York and Shanghai based architectural firm Contemporary Architecture Practice and has co-edited issues of Architectural Design AD titled IMPACT (2020) as well as Elegance (2007). Hina Jamelle’s book UNDER PRESSURE on Urban Housing was published in 2021.

Weitzman City and Regional Planning, Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative

Vincent Reina is a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative at Penn. Reina is a Stoneleigh Foundation Fellow as well as the Editor in Chief of the journal Housing Policy Debate. His research focuses on urban economics, housing policy, and community and economic development, and has been published in various peer-reviewed journals. This work has been recognized with several awards, including article of the year by the Journal of the American Planning Association, and the Association of Public Policy and Management’s Best Dissertation Award. He was also given the Rising Scholar Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.

In 2022-2024 Reina served as the Senior Advisor for Housing and Urban Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he worked to address the nation’s housing affordability and supply challenges, affirmatively further fair housing, increase access to homeownership, and advance equitable development and community investment.

Gensler, Lifestyle Sector Leader, Studio Director, Principal

Robert is a global leader of Gensler’s Lifestyle Sector. With a background in architectural design, as well as city and regional planning, Robert leads a studio in the firm’s New York office that specializes in large, complex projects that include planning and urban design, new buildings, building repositioning, office-to-residential conversion projects, and mixed-use developments. His thoughtful, holistic approach comes from a keen understanding of both macro- and micro-level issues and perspectives. Whether imagining a new greenfield development, repositioning a building, master planning a town, or adapting an older building to deliver value and new purpose, Robert guides his clients toward informed and creative solutions, making him a trusted advisor to developers and corporate clients alike. A registered architect, Robert earned his Bachelor’s of Architecture from the Pratt Institute.

Bain Capital, Managing Director, Real Estate

Martha graduated from Princeton University with an AB in politics and earned an MBA in real estate and finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Palmer Scholar and a Siebel Scholar.

Martha Kelley joined Bain Capital Real Estate (BCRE) in 2023. She is a Managing Director and leads the team’s retail and living sectors. BCRE pursues investments in sectors underpinned by enduring secular trends that drive long-term demand growth for real estate assets and services. The team has invested over $9.2 billion of equity in over 600 assets across multiple asset classes.

Prior to joining Bain Capital, Martha was a Managing Director and the head of northeast acquisitions for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where she was responsible for originating and executing real estate equity and debt transactions across asset classes, risk profiles, and fund strategies. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Martha worked in investment banking. She has over 16 years of experience in real estate investing and investment banking.

NYU Stern School of Business, Assistant Professor of Finance

Arpit Gupta joined New York University Stern School of Business as an Assistant Professor of Finance in September 2016.

Professor Gupta's research interests focus on using large datasets to understand default dynamics in household finance, real estate and corporate finance. Recent papers examine the role for foreclosure contagion in mortgage markets and estimate the impact of adverse health events on foreclosures and bankruptcies. He is the recipient of the 2016 Top Finance Graduate Award at Copenhagen Business School.

The Wall Street Journal, Deputy Editor, Real Estate

Peter Grant is the Deputy Editor for Real Estate at The Wall Street Journal, where he analyzes commercial property markets through macroeconomic and demographic lenses. Based in New York, Grant's reporting spans office space dynamics, senior housing demand, and federal property policies.

He has established himself as a preeminent voice in commercial real estate journalism through two decades of rigorous reporting. His career began at regional business journals, where he honed his ability to dissect local market trends. By 2015, Grant joined The Wall Street Journal as a real estate correspondent, leveraging his analytical skills to cover national commercial property markets during a period of unprecedented transformation.