RMA DEVELOPMENT - Key Persons


CHELSEA MANDEL

Job Titles:
  • Fundraising & Investor Relations
Chelsea Mandel started her commercial real estate career at Starwood Capital Group on the Acquisitions team in Greenwich, Connecticut. At Starwood she evaluated and acquired over $300M of Class B multifamily value-add projects located throughout the southeastern United States. She also was active in the marketing efforts for Starwood's new core-plus retail fund, leading the market- level research and producing fund materials for potential investors. Most recently, Chelsea was an Associate at New Mountain Capital, a middle-market private equity firm in New York City, where she helped the firm launch its first real estate platform, a private real estate fund focused on triple-net lease industrial investments throughout North America. Chelsea was the first investment professional to join the Portfolio Manager of the fund, and was responsible for building from scratch and putting in place all the major groundwork for the new fund including property, portfolio, and fund-level models, investment committee presentations, diligence checklists, pipeline trackers, deal closing guidelines, and tenant contact and asset management platforms. Additionally, Chelsea was instrumental in fundraising the $300M fund, both helping the business development team produce investor materials and bringing in investors from her network. Chelsea received her B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College, graduating magna cum laude, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and one of the most prestigious academic honor societies in the United States.

JOHN SWEENEY

Job Titles:
  • Construction Management
John brings 20+ years experience as a real estate planning, design and construction professional. With a foundation formed in premier New York Architecture firms, in 2004 John moved to the Caribbean to head up Springline Architect's hospitality division, managing all Virgin Island projects for Starwood, Marriott, Ritz and other boutique resort properties. Over six years, successfully delivered projects include guest room and lobby additions/renovations, overhaul & expansion of engineering systems and back-of-house facilities, security integration and build-out of retail spaces. John managed Springline's in-house project team and outside consultants, all the time coordinating with property management and corporate personnel. Responsibilities included budget and schedule, bidding, contracts & permits and construction oversight from ground-breaking to close-out. His accountability included project documentation, reporting, RFI's, submittals & approvals, change orders and pay authorizations thru the construction phase and typically continued thru operations startup and quality assessment. In 2008, utilizing his background in environmental design and sustainability, John became a consultant to the Hospitality industry performing energy assessments and programming the integration of high-efficiency & renewable energy systems, and was Asset Manager for a distressed resort property on St. John, USVI. Prior to Springline, John managed project types ranging from a 150 bed homeless shelter to high-end residences, new builds and adaptive re-use of historic structures. John oversaw the design and construction of one of NY State's earliest LEED rated projects. Recently John managed the restoration and conversion of 30K sq feet of space to headquarters and conference center for a bio-med foundation. With background in design and construction management and consistent approach, John has established trusted and lasting relationships with his clients, associates and consultants. He understands that accomplishing the scope is only the beginning, that the real goal and success of any project is a measure of how far we exceed the client's expectation. John earned a minor in Electrical Engineering, and Professional Architecture degree and Masters of Environmental Design & Sustainability from Pratt Institute.

RALPH E. ROSSI

Job Titles:
  • Acquisitions
  • New York State Professional Engineer
Ralph Rossi is a licensed New York State Professional Engineer and has over 28 years of real estate investment, development, management and construction experience. Ralph Rossi has founded several real estate companies and is the founder of RMA Development, LLC, a development company focused on opportunistic real estate development projects, value-add turnaround projects, and the building and managing of luxury rental apartments. Most recently through RMA Development Ralph developed, owns and manages The Lombardi, a $20 million dollar luxury mixed-use rental building located in New Rochelle, New York, and RMA is the construction project manager for The Rockwell, a $60 million dollar luxury mixed use development also located in New Rochelle. Ralph spent the earlier part of his real estate career working for his family's real estate business rehabilitating older homes and managing multifamily units throughout Westchester County, New York. Ralph holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and graduated valedictorian from Manhattan College. Immediately following his undergraduate studies, Ralph was awarded the prestigious U.S. Department of Energy Fellowship to further his graduate engineering studies at Cornell University, where he graduated with Honors and earned his Master of Science in Engineering. Ralph has also taught and authored various courses at the New York University (NYU) Real Estate Institute while working as an Engineering Consultant in New York and New Jersey.