The principals of Next Cities met 25 years ago, when we worked together to acquire and reposition troubled real estate assets. Throughout our careers in the institutional real estate world, we have weathered multiple cycles and we have built the skills and relationships that are necessary to turn ideas into reality. At Next Cities, this experience guides a strategy that evolved from our lifelong interest in cities, work environments, and innovation.

Principals

Jean-Michel “Mitch” Wasterlain

Prior to founding Next Cities, Mitch’s career has covered all aspects of real estate investment, financing, and development. He has served as CEO of ORIX Capital Markets, the US real estate and structured finance arm of a large Japanese finance company that managed a $12 billion portfolio of real estate assets. He also co-founded NorthStar Realty Finance, a public REIT with over $20 billion in assets, and served as its Chief Investment Officer.

Mitch holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA in Economics with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University. He chairs the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Revitalization Council (Blue), is a member of ULI Michigan and the Michigan Real Estate and Technology Local Product Council, and was a founding member of the CRE Finance Council (formerly CMSA).

Shannon W. Hill

Shannon brings over 28 years of transaction oriented commercial real estate experience to the Next Cities platform. Prior to founding Next Cities, Shannon was senior vice president of acquisitions, dispositions and asset management for KBS Realty Advisors where he oversaw and directed the origination, underwriting, financing and closing activities of acquisitions, dispositions and joint venture arrangements.  Prior to joining KBS Realty Advisors, Shannon spent 10 years at ING Realty Partners and worked on transactions totaling over $2 billion in opportunistic real estate investments from the purchase of non-performing loan pools to fee simple real estate.  Shannon started his real estate career in acquisitions at Prudential Realty Investors.

Shannon graduated magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. 

Meridith Hill

Meridith has over 18-years of real estate experience as both a lender and owner.  Prior to starting Next Cities, Meridith spent 11 years as an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley where she originated over $3 billion of commercial loans, purchased over $1 billion in loan pools and developed relationships with a wide variety of capital sources.  Prior to Morgan Stanley, Meridith was a vice president at ING Barings where she pursued distressed debt acquisitions, loan securitization and opportunistic real estate acquisitions totaling over $1 billion. Prior to ING Barings, Meridith was a portfolio manager at Prudential Realty Group where she managed a portfolio of $6 billion loans and developed expertise in restructuring distressed loans. Meridith started her career at Dreyfus Realty Advisors where she was responsible for managing a national portfolio of 27 retail centers.  

Meridith holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA in Economics from St. Lawrence University.