Stars Shine at NAIOP MA Annual 2013 Gala

BOSTON — NAIOP Massachusetts held its annual Distinguished Real Estate Awards Gala Thursday night at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel to honor four of Greater Boston’s most impactful individuals and their organizations for work not only in the commercial real estate industry but their societal impact as well. Steven Samuels and Samuels & Associates were feted primarily for contributions to urban development in the city of Boston, and Joyce Cummings and William Cummings were acknowledged for their far-reaching and generous charitable works. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was cited for 20 years leading the Hub and his collaborative work with the CRE community. In excess of 1,000 attendees from all facets of the business packed the hotel’s grand ballroom to network, dine and celebrate the accomplishments of the night’s honorees.

W/S Development principal Thomas DeSimone, 2013 NAIOP MA president, served as emcee for the evening and introduced attorney Doug Husid of Goulston & Storrs and David Manfredi, principal at Elkus Manfredi Architects, to present the 2013 Distinguished Real Estate Award to Samuels and Associates. The firm was recognized for its pioneering efforts to bring mixed-use retail venues into diverse urban neighborhoods, beginning with the South Bay Center in Dorchester, and for their work re-shaping other Boston neighborhoods. “Steve Samuels has brought a vision to the Fenway neighborhood that transcends property lines and transcends self-interest,” Manfredi told the gathering. “Steve sees and discovers passions, and challenges the obvious and conventional. And he regularly colors outside the lines –sometimes quite a lot outside.” Samuels thanked virtually everyone in the room, but was especially effusive in his praise for those who work with him (“We have a team approach, where nobody is unimportant in our company, and we ask a lot from our people,” he stressed) and also had plaudits for the outgoing mayor.

Samuels and Associates first major project in the city of Boston was the South Bay Center in 1993, and it was the first major real estate project for Menino’s administration as well. “Dorchester’s South Bay, Grove Hall in Roxbury, Allston Brighton and, of course, the Fenway—we made those communities much better places to live,” observed Samuels, then in gesturing to Menino, said, “I just want to personally thank you for 20 outstanding years, and I’ll miss you more than you could ever imagine.”

Jack Connors, a co-founder of Boston ad agency Hill Holliday and charitable organization The Connors Family Office, presented the Edward H. Linde Public Service Award to Joyce and William Cummings for their innumerable charitable and civic contributions. The couple founded The Cummings Foundation in 1986, and contributions have included a $50 million donation to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and formation of the nonprofit New Horizons living centers in Woburn and Marlborough. The couple also made headlines when they signed onto the Bill and Melinda Gates Giving Pledge to donate at least half their wealth, but soon upped that amount to 90 percent. They also established the Cummings Institute for World Justice, which built the only ambulatory cancer center in the country of Rwanda.

Connors relayed that the company which made the charitable giving possible, Cummings Properties, also takes good care of its employees. “In its 45-year history, there has not been a single staff layoff,” he noted, and also provided a personal story about Cummings that exemplified his attitude towards charitable giving. “I asked Bill, ‘What was it that led you and Joyce to decide on donating to the veterinary school?’ and the classic Cummings response was, ‘Because that’s where they needed the money.’”

Joyce Cummings told the crowd that she “felt like she was receiving an Oscar or an Emmy” in accepting the award named after iconic Boston developer Edward T. Linde, and she spoke of her husband’s preoccupation with Tonka trucks and the board game of Monopoly. Her betrothed later noted the irony of having acquired the headquarters of Parker Bros. in Beverly as his latest development project, “My life has come full circle,” he quipped. But Joyce Cummings closed by reminding the audience just why they had merited the award. She told the crowd, “Bill and I have the capacity to be able to provide financial support to (needy) parts of the world, but we always want to recognize those that are doing the ‘big’ work of actually implementing these programs that are bringing about positive change—the teachers, social workers, doctors, nurses and the numerous employees dedicating their lives to the notfor- profit organizations.” She then quoted Winston Churchill, who said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life out of what we give.”

John Drew, president of the Drew Company, closed the awards by present ing Mayor Menino with a special Excellence in Public Leadership Award. The Mayor’s acceptance of the award was sandwiched in between two standing ovations. After commending the other winners for their awards, Menino said of his relationship with the CRE community, “It really has been a partnership.”

After the ceremony, NAIOP CEO David Begelfer told the Real Reporter he considered the sold-out event a testimony to the strength of the NAIOP chapter (which accounts for 10 percent of the total NAIOP membership nationally) that came off without a hitch despite its voluminous size. “This evening was a triple play that couldn’t be beat,” said Begelfer. “When you give an award to the Samuels Co., an award to Joyce and Bill Cummings—some of the biggest philanthropists and the most self-effacing and charming people I know—and then you have the Mayor, who’s departing after 20 years, how could the evening not go well?”