Creative Management

Creative Environments of Hollywood (“CEH”) is a full service real estate investment, development, and management firm based in Hollywood, California. Founded in 2001 by Gerald Schneiderman and Manuel Meza, CEH specializes in the construction, conversion, and rehabilitation of creative commercial office space, live work lofts, and residential space for the inspired urban tenant. CEH, its principals and partners are committed to the revitalization of LA’s urban neighborhoods with a particular focus on Hollywood, downtown LA, and areas in between. CEH has acquired and/or developed over 1,100,000 square feet of commercial and residential space since its inception in 2001.

Creative Environments of Hollywood actively pursues value-added real estate ventures for its own account, its loyal investors, or together with joint venture partners. Currently, CEH has nearly 750,000 square feet of building space either under construction or in the pre-development.

Creative Environments of Hollywood has a history of achieving superior risk-adjusted returns through a calculated formula of innovative design, meticulous cost control, hands-on construction management, targeted leasing, and aggressive property management. Yet most importantly, CEH prides itself on seeing potential where others don’t. CEH maintains a highly qualified in-house design and construction team that has a proven track record of bringing new life and value to under-utilized, vacant, or otherwise under-performing properties. Through its ability to deliver contemporary urban spaces at affordable prices, CEH has cultivated a loyal tenant base and reputation among Hollywood’s artistic, fashion, entertainment, and creative professionals for delivering value combined with a truly unique living and working experience.

CEH always welcomes the opportunity to foster new relationships with investors, lenders and joint venture partners.

Bios

Jerry Schneiderman
Chairman

Jerry Schneiderman is Chairman of the Board of Creative Environments of Hollywood, Inc., as well as Chairman of Colony Bancorp of Malibu, another real estate development firm.

Jerry graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1971 and began his own company in 1976, specializing in design, construction and merchandising. Over the next several years, his companies designed twenty million square feet, built six million square feet of commercial space, and brokered over $12 billion in deals.

Today, Jerry’s companies currently own and/or operate over 500,000 square feet of commercial and residential property. He also manages and consults with owners of 10 million square feet of additional space and one thousand residential units. He has been appointed to sit on the CRA’s Planning Design Review Board and the CRA’s Economic Development Committee. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Arts Council. Jerry and his companies have recently won the following awards

Hollywood Entertainment Museum’s “Legacy Award” for Best Restoration
Hollywood Arts Council’s “Charlie Award” for Preservation Arts
Hollywood Arts Council’s “Charlie Award” Architecture award for the Cosmo Building
Hollywood Heritage’s “Golden Palm Award” for Excellence in Historic Preservation
State Senate “Commendation” for Leadership in Development
The Nelson Mandela Multi-Cultural Center “Humanitarian Award”
City of Los Angeles “Certificate of Commendation”

Having designed and constructed over 7,000,000 square feet of executive and shared legal suites, Jerry is an expert on the planning of these unique environments. As a principal, he has also developed over 2,000,000 square feet of creative space for tenants in the arts and entertainment industries, including Theater Row Hollywood, which today comprises 23 live stage theaters, restaurants, clubs, and galleries.

Jerry has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, New Times Magazine, City Beat, Los Angeles Times and The Los Angeles Business Journal.

Howard Sadowsky
Vice-Chairman

Howard Sadowsky joined Creative Environments of Hollywood, Inc. in the spring of 2004, as a partner. His expertise lies in his overall knowledge and experience in creating new opportunities for CEH and formulating new lending equity alliances.

Howard formed Studleys West Coast Operations in Los Angeles in 1971. He oversaw the company’s expansion to three offices including Downtown Los Angeles and Orange County, with over 60 real estate professionals actively doing deals in the marketplace. Studleys soon became one of the elite real estate brokerage firms in the business. In 1977, he became a partner and 2 years later joined the Board of Directors. He and his partners sold the company in 2003.

Howard’s 38 years of real estate experience involve commercial leasing, equity leasing, build-to-suit transactions and investment sales. Over the last 10 years, Howard has spent his efforts focusing on the buying and selling of investment properties. Considered one of the key brokers in the country, he has been responsible for transactions valued at over $2 billion.

A speaker at numerous industry conferences and events, Howard is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Business Journal, Forbes and Business Week. He won The Los Angeles Business Journal's Top Broker of the Year Award for Commercial Investment for two consecutive years, 1995 and 1996. He was also named one of the “Hot Brokers" for 1996 and 2000 in Commercial Property News, and in 1997 won the Award for Most Creative Deal for the sale of MGM Plaza.

As an active member of the community, Howard serves on the Board of Directors for Chrone’s Colitis Foundation, and was honored in March 2002 as Man of the Year. He is also on the board of SCI-ARC (Southern California Institute of Architecture).

Manuel Meza
President

CEH’s President, Manuel Meza has been a real estate broker and asset manager for over 20 years and brings extensive experience to the team.

Prior to forming Creative Environments of Hollywood with Jerry, Manny was General Manager of Lotus Management where he brokered and managed nearly 1,000,000 square feet of property over a 15-year period. Properties included shopping centers, restaurants, night clubs, hotels and over 275 residential units. As a seasoned commercial broker with vast experience in hotel, restaurant and property management.

Zachary Schneiderman
Vice President of Operations

As Vice President of Operations, Zachary Schneiderman works with the company’s accounting, leasing, property management and finance departments and works closely with the Vice President of Administration managing staffing, productivity and work-flow.

At the inception of Creative Environments of Hollywood, Zachary held the title of Vice President of Finance. After assuming responsibility for cultivating the company’s image, his duties have grown to encompass asset management, marketing and brand management and is credited with bringing new media marketing into CEH’s many divisions. Having built these departments himself, Zachary still takes pride in directing the current team.

Zachary is a graduate of the University of Kansas where he majored in Film Studies with a concentration in business and marketing. His entertainment background and extensive industry contacts have proven invaluable to the company. He also brings a very keen understanding of the lifestyle needs of the creative professionals comprising the majority of CEH’s growing tenant base.

Kelly McRae
Vice President of Administration

Kelly McRae is Vice President of Administration for Creative Environments of Hollywood, managing all internal business development, employee relations and assisting in overall marketing and public relations for the company. With over two decade’s history assisting small-to-medium sized businesses throughout Southern California, Kelly brings experience and foresight to create, implement and direct internal protocol, policies and procedures.

Mr. McRae has not only successfully created and sold a number of his own small businesses, he has worked with, literally, hundreds of venture capital-backed startup technology companies at critical stages of their life cycle, managing employee growth, targeting corporate messaging, enhancing internal employee and technology functions, developing necessary partnerships and strategic alliances. Through his career, Kelly has helped create, manage and support over one thousand new jobs for his client companies.

Mr. McRae attended Long Beach State University, majoring in Business and English, then continued his education at the University of California Los Angeles.

Alberto Makabali
Vice President of Design

As Vice President of Design for Creative Environments of Hollywood, “Bert” oversees projects from acquisition, planning, design and implementation through completion. He joined “CEH” at its inception and collaborated with its Chairman, Jerry Schneiderman, completing the award-winning Cosmo Lofts – the first live-work project under the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance Hollywood.

Bert began his career as a board certified, 22 year old graduate of one of the world’s oldest and most respected universities, the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Bert was commissioned to design/build a “little town” project with housing, office buildings, a community park with recreation and a medical clinic and security complex.

In 1974, as associate architect of LST Designs Collaborative, Bert directed the New York City firm’s Upper Manhattan urban renewal projects for “Architectural Rehabilitation Committee of Harlem” and “HUD.” He then joined Space Matters, Inc., in Los Angeles, as Executive Vice President with responsibility for planning and construction of the firm’s multi-million square feet projects in the continental U.S. In 1979, he formed LTIC, the construction arm of Space Matters, Inc., opening offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fresno.

With design/build experience in more than two continents, today Bert shares the vision of Jerry Schneiderman in committing development expertise to meet the challenge of a resurgent Asian economy with the opening of Creative Environments International offices in Japan and the Philippines.

Justine Shoemaker
Property Manager

As Property Manager, Justine is responsible for guiding the overall management of the company’s asset portfolio. One of Justine’s core objectives in this role is to grow this management portfolio by offering high-quality property services to the industry’s prominent investors and developers of Commercial and Residential Creative Spaces. Justine’s management focus is concentrated on creating value for tenants and the company alike by controlling costs, enhancing customer service, targeting marketing efforts, improving tenant retention, streamlining internal management systems, enhancing teamwork, and promoting positive mental attitudes while providing the highest quality management services in the industry.

Justine’s commercial and residential real estate experience spans more than 15 years including service as Vice President of Portfolio Management, Business Area Manager, overseeing two high performing regions on the west coast, and Portfolio Manager of Commercial Properties, overseeing more than 1.5 million square feet.

Justine is a member of the California Association of Community Managers and holds the designation of California Certified Association Manager (CCAM), and California Certified Residential Manager (CCRM). She holds a California Real Estate License, and a BS in Fine Arts from San Francisco State University.

Dreau Robbins
VP of Development

As VP of Development, Dreau helps our fantastic team manage and develop all projects at critical stages in their lifetime from start to finish. Dreau’s responsibilities include finding suitable sites for development, running the escrows, creating platforms for financial and development analysis, collecting investment money, managing investors, gathering all necessary entitlements and building permits from the city for development. Dreau also acts as a financial liaison between the lending institutions and CEH, creating timelines for completion of projects by managing the architects, engineers, and designers.

Prior to joining Creative Environments of Hollywood, Dreau was active in the United States Marine Corps. He joined CEH in December of 2005 and since then he has developed his skills considerably. Since Dreau has started at CEH he has become a significant asset to the development of the company as a whole and we look forward to having him on the team for years to come.

Alec Traub
VP of Development

Over the past three years, Alec has been directly involved in numerous facets of Creative Environments, including: acquisition, due diligence and feasibility studies, preliminary design, financial analysis and underwriting, escrow, financing from debt, equity and tax credit sources, entitlements, creation of partnership agreements and investor relationships. He is currently in the process of attaining his LEED certification for Green building design and construction. Prior to joining CEH, Alec sold both Residential and Commercial Real Estate as a licensed agent and served as the Director of Expansion for his national fraternity, leading new chapter expansion efforts at Universities across the United States. He has a BA from the University of California, Irvine in Sociology.

Joe Altounian
Development Partner

As Development Partner for Creative Environments of Hollywood, Joe is responsible for locating and developing some of the company’s most exciting development projects over the years. Additionally, Joe’s growing list of investor relationships and financing partners helps to bring these development projects to life… and to profitability.

From a multi-unit condominium conversion in Tujunga, California, to a 40,000 square foot nightclub in Tokyo… from an exclusive rooftop lounge in downtown Hollywood, to the upcoming (and much anticipated) Rolling Stone LA at the ‘Hollywood and Highland Center’ in the heart of Los Angeles… Creative Environments relies on Joe’s vision, passion and talent every day.

Joe works closely with our young development partners, our finance division, our construction arm and our architectural department, sharing his experience and skill and helping to move the company in unified and focused direction.

Chris Meola
Leasing Coordinator

Chris Meola is the Leasing Coordinator for Creative Environments of Hollywood, managing all portfolio properties for the company. Chris is also developing Creative Environments fee-based enterprise, providing the same leasing expertise to external property owners.

Chris has years of real estate experience, ranging from development feasibility advisement to 1031 tax deferred exchanges and has worked with hundreds of investors and partnerships throughout Southern California.

Chris’s commitment to excellence, customer service and expense management is a key component in the continued success of Creative Environments.

Toshio Kato
Development Partner

Mr. Toshio Kato, Development Partner of Creative Environments of Hollywood and head of construction for the Hilrock Corporation, the construction entity within CEH. He began his real estate career in 1964 as an engineer at Sumitomo Japan and in the last 43 years, Mr. Kato has been renowned for the elegance in his dynamic projects.

Mr. Kato’s career progressed as he became the General Manager of Sumitomo America and Partner, COO of Westcoast Professional Development, Inc. He has been involved with significant developments worldwide as a Developer, General Contractor and Construction Manager.

Mr. Kato’s touch can be seen with projects such as the 400-unit, $35 million Park West apartment complex near the Los Angeles Airport; the 225-unit, 25-story Harbor Place ocean front condominiums in Long Beach; the Standard Oil Building in Downtown Los Angeles as well as the Mazda Motors America Headquarters and Warehouse in Orange County, California.

Mr. Kato’s developments have extended far beyond the state with the luxurious tenant improvement in Qiora, at 350 Madison Avenue in Manhattan; the Austin City Building in Austin, Texas as well as Benihana restaurants in Scottsdale, Arizona and Atlanta, Georgia.

Edwin Voskanian
Development Partner

Edwin Voskanian’s experience in real estate extends over a decade as a commercial broker, owner of income property and developer of multi-housing properties. Edwin began his career with Marcus & Millichap as an investment broker; after completion of a bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing from UNLV. He rose from Jr. Agent to Associate and later to Senior Investment Associate, a highly distinguished position within the company. Also, Edwin trained thirteen Jr. agents at Marcus & Millichap and maintained a team, The Voskanian Group, consisting of four agents and two full time staff members. Edwin is currently a broker with National Equity Advisors, inc. involved in the sale of retail and office investment properties. To date, Edwin has listed and sold more than $130,000,000 in investment real estate.

Additionally, Edwin has bought and rehabbed homes and multi-family units in Glendale and surrounding areas. This includes a half acre of land for the purpose of entitlement and development of a 22 condominium units in Tujunga in 2005. In addition to an 11 unit apartment building which was converted and sold as condominium units. These units were bought in 2004. Edwin, along with partners involved in ownership of properties, sold all real estate holdings in mid 2007 with an exit value totaling $5,700,000.

Armen Khalafyan
Development Partner

Armen Khalafyan’s interest in real estate and architecture started when he was twelve years of age. After experiencing the devastating earthquake that displaced many families in Armenia, the interest of providing housing and architecture grew and became a lifelong commitment. After completion of University of Southern California Architecture School and successfully completing two study-abroad programs in Europe, Armen began working for a design-build firm in Los Angeles. He rose from draftsman to designing and managing residential and commercial construction projects. Being the first and the only one in his class, at the ago of 26, Armen opened his own design and build firm. The firm provides architectural, interior design and construction services to residential, commercial, retail, and industrial clients. The firm has a licensed architect and licensed contractor who provide services from schematic design to turn-key construction. To date Armen Khalafyan has designed and build more than 100 structures.

In addition to the design and build firm, Armen has developed and rehabbed his own single family and multi-family properties. The projects include: ground-up spec homes, rehab and brand new custom single family homes, rehab three and four unit structures, and ground-up ten unit condominium project.

Currently, Armen is working on a new building approach that could revolutionize the building industry and its methods of building. The new concept combines the automobile industry techniques and creates living spaces in the factory, which are then shipped to the site and plugged to the structure. As a builder/developer, Armen is still committed to providing quality and interesting living spaces for his users.