RHA Honors Kornegay and Roberts at President’s Awards Reception

Boston – A sold out crowd of over 375 multifamily housing professionals gathered this week at the InterContinental Boston to fete two of the industry’s most impactful professionals at the 25th Annual Rental Housing Association President’s Awards Reception. Michael Roberts, senior VP of development at AvalonBay Communities and Chrystal Kornegay, Undersecretary Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, were honored by their peers following an extended networking/cocktail reception and buffet-style dinner.

Kornegay was honored for her “passion for working with families, as evidenced by her 20-plus years of community development,” said RHA president-elect Mark Epker upon presenting her with the Public Service Award. He cited “Chrystal’s laser focus on excellence and keen business management skills, which resulted in a 20 percent growth in revenue, 10 percent growth in the affordable housing portfolio and the number of households served, and the many lives touched,” during her career at Urban Edge, a Boston-based community development corporation that primarily serves the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods. Kornegay worked for 15 years at the CDC (serving as president and CEO for the last four years of her tenure), prior to assuming her current position with the Baker administration in January of 2015.

Kornegay acknowledged the challenges of transitioning from the nonprofit sector into government, stating, “I’ve had to, in the past months, take some time off from being a project manager to learn how to be an undersecretary, and really think about the broad strokes, and setting the table so that we can all do our good work in communities.” She thanked Tom Gleason and Tim Sullivan of MassHousing for giving her a “crash course” in forming partnerships with nonprofits from the government side of the equation. “(So) we work as a team, we look at issues, and we’re all deeply committed to rental housing,” she affirmed.

Michael Roberts, a 29-year industry veteran, received the Industry Excellence Award, presented annually “to an individual or company in the rental housing industry that exemplifies excellence in rental housing through community and civic involvement and professionalism in all aspects of multi-family development, ownership and management.” He was honored by RHA president Sarah Mathewson (who is also a colleague of Roberts at AvalonBay Communities), who introduced Roberts with, “as a senior vice president of development, Michael is responsible for bringing to life the vision of these communities that started out as parking lots and fields and shipyards.”

In the last twenty years of his career (all with AvalonBay) Roberts has been instrumental in high profile projects such as the redevelopment of the Avalon at Prudential Center apartments, the development of Avalon Exeter, the 28-story luxury apartment building in Back Bay (which was 20 years in the making, according to Roberts), and Avalon at the Hingham Shipyard. Since 1997, when he joined the firm, Roberts has overseen the investment and development of approximately $2 billion in real estate assets, including over 6,100 apartment homes with a budgeted cost of over $1.5 billion. He is a member of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s Government Affairs Committee, and also serves on the Board of Directors of A Better City, the organization dedicated to “enhancing Boston and the region’s economic health, competitiveness, vibrancy, sustainability and quality of life.”

Upon accepting his award, Roberts thanked the RHA and its constituents before relating a charming story about the humbling nature of his profession. Speaking about the development of Avalon Exeter, which was completed in 2014 after over 20 years of “trying to get the deal done,” it represented AvalonBay’s first high-rise development in Boston. “When it comes to a new high rise, there’s something about it,” he began, waxing poetic. “There comes a point in time when the building comes out of the ground, and it comes to life a little bit, and it takes its place in the skyline and there’s a permanence to that because it’s something special.”

After construction was completed, he was watching the Patriots on Monday Night Football with his family, and the national TV camera panned to a shot of Avalon Exeter. Roberts paused the channel and proudly pointed to the building he had played such a large part in developing, and the reaction he got from his then 15-year old daughter was priceless. “Dad,” she innocently asked. “Why isn’t the building taller?” The punchline drew huge laughs. Roberts said he was humbled by her reaction, before adding “And I certainly am humbled tonight to receive this award, it really is an honor.”

Following the awards ceremony, Matthewson told The Real Reporter, “We were really thrilled with the pairing of Chrystal and Michael, because they’ve worked so long in the industry and are really a great example of how public and the private sides of real estate development are so critical to creating successful communities. We also felt that they were perfect for this time in the cycle where we’re changing the skyline and bringing so much housing to the city.”