18A — September 12 - 25, 2014 — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
M id A tlantic R eal E state J ournal
Alexandrea Merrell, Orndee Omnimedia Twenty questions with movers & shakers: Profile Alexandrea Merrell
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l exandrea Mer re l l is a public relations and branding expert,
develop a Green Real Estate Development group for luxury real estate firm, Warburg Re- alty. She is also the managing director of the Green Building Center, a sustainable building collaborative. 1. Was there a single inci- dent or event that inspired you to go into green real estate? For me, green real estate has been an evolution. I have been involved with the luxury real estate market for over twenty-five years, both in sales and as a brand man-
ager for developers, architects, engineers and other related firms. But my focus turned to sus- tainability and “green” real estate at the intersection of three events; an Asperger’s di- agnosis, hurricane Sandy, and working withM&EEngineers. One of my children was diagnosed with borderline Asperger’s and we began to notice that different foods and environments had a tre- mendous effect on the severity of his symptoms. It became clear to us that the fewer
chemicals in his food and in his surroundings, the fewer symptoms he experienced. We were also greatly affect- ed by hurricane Sandy. Prior to the devastation, I hadn’t thought much about resil- iency in buildings. But after, I became focused on buildings that would not only withstand disasters, but would minimize the toxic effects on communi- ties faced with cleaning up after. A few months after hurri- cane Sandy, I began working with William Amann and
Drew DePalma of M&E En- gineers in Somerville, New Jersey. Their commitment to creating sustainable, resilient buildings really resonated with me and because of their incredible breadth of knowl- edge and patience in teaching me, I too have become a pas- sionate proponent of green real estate. 2. Other than family, who has inspired you the most in your career? Gertrude Bell, Nora Eph- ron, Charles Krauthammer, and Woody Allen 3. When did you first feel that you had “made it” professionally? I would be terrified of hav- ing a “made it” moment. It’s that combination of hunger to do better and fear of failure that propel me to keep moving forward. 4. Have you had any good karma moments that af- fected your career? Back when I first started in real estate, I worked for a small Upper East Side rental firm. Each day at lunch I would go down and get a soup or sandwich from a little deli on the corner. Anyway, one day there was a homeless man sitting in the rain outside of deli and begging for food. I had never done more than toss a quarter or two in a homeless person’s cup before and I can’t explain why that day was dif- ferent, but I bought a bag of bread rolls, and extra soup and a coffee and handed them to him as I left. As I walked away he asked my name and I instinctively told him “Alex,” asked him his, to which he replied “Owen” and went back to work and forgot all about it. Being the newest person to join the office, I was frequently stuck with the clients that no one wanted. I was out on this particular day, with a family from Iowa whose daughter wanted to go to NYU. These folks hated New York, they were terrified for their child to live here, they were shocked at the expense, and had a great distrust of real estate bro- kers, which they vocalized, peppered with anti-Semitic remarks, as if I were not continued on page 20A
f o c u s e d o n green real es- tate. The Di- rector of PR powerhouse firm Orndee Omnimedia, wh i ch s pe - cializes in the
Alex Merrell
promotion and branding of real estate developments, architects, engineers, and building trades professionals, Ms Merrell has been tapped to
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