Robert A. Landino, CEO
Born and raised in New Haven’s Beaver Hill section to be a private-school alum, he graduated from the University of Hartford in 1983, with a civil engineering degree after spending his first two years at UConn as an English/journalism major.
He worked for several engineering firms, before he and engineer-ex-wife Eve Barakos formed Barakos-Landino Companies, now BL Companies in Meriden.
In 2004, the couple sold their BL stakes to employees. Bob Landino, 54, went on to create Centerplan Companies to do realty construction and development. One construction project was building a New Britain plant where Carvel-brand ice cream novelties are made.
An early development project, in 2008, involved tearing down the former home of The Middletown Press at 10 Main St., and replacing it with $12 million, 120,000-square-foot Landmark Square that houses a Rite-Aid and Mondo Restaurant on ground level, and Centerplan headquarters and other office tenants upstairs. He declines to reveal Centerplan’s financials.
Despite his UHart pedigree, Landino, who recalls attending many UConn sports events with his late father, who was a UConn grad, is a devout UConn basketball season-ticketholder who rarely misses a game.
Jason S. Rudnick, president
By age 18, the Hillsdale, N.J., native had his real estate license.
Rudnick also worked in construction during summers between attending Johns-Hopkins University. He grew up in and around real estate development.
His mother was active in the brokerage side of the real estate business.
His engineer-grandfather was an engineer on New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge and was involved with the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike, Rudnick said.
After graduating UConn law school, he initially practiced tax law.
He later migrated into practicing real estate law, which is how he encountered Robert Landino.
In 2005, when Landino formed Centerplan Cos. Rudnick, 39, joined the firm. Married with two children, he now resides in West Hartford.
“I like building things and being involved in the ever changing environments we live in,’’ he said. “My experiences assist me daily with this and I am not sure there is anything else I would rather do.”
Yves-Georges A. Joseph II, vice president of development
Born in Chicago and raised there off and on, Joseph later moved to Cambridge, Mass., to attend Harvard. In 2006, he graduated with an economics degree and went to work for about five years as a real estate development advisor for RCL Co. in Washington D.C.
There, he met Bob Landino, who retained him as a consultant on several projects, including some of Centerplan’s earliest urban projects, like the $50 million mixed-use building rising at George and College streets in New Haven.
In 2010, Centerplan hired Joseph and moved him to Connecticut. In 2012, Joseph entered Columbia University’s MBA program, graduating last May with highest honors and a focus on real estate development and finance. Joseph, 30, lives in New Haven.
“I always knew I wanted to be in real estate, real estate development specifically,’’ he said. “The dynamism of real estate and how complex it is. It promised to be a consistent, career-long challenge. You can never master it. To me real estate is the most tangible and direct way that we can kind of inform the way and the place people interact.’’
Howard Kaufman, CEO, Leyland Alliance LLP
A self-described “new urbanism’’ developer, Kaufman and Landino first crossed paths at the start of this century. Leyland wanted to transform 40 acres in Madison into a “walkable community’’ of homes, shops and offices along Route 1, just east of Hammonasset Beach State Park.
But the project ran into opposition from neighbors and environmental groups. Ultimately, a land-conservation trust offered to buy the site, which today is a public park, Kaufman said. However, Landino’s work as our “engineer and adviser’’ on the project led to Landino and Leyland teaming up to build Storrs Center across from the UConn campus and, now, the proposed $350 million downtown Hartford redevelopment that includes a ballpark.
Kaufman grew up in the Bronx, where his grandfather ran a candy store in the shadow of old Yankee Stadium. He fondly recalls, pestering his grandfather for baseball cards and rooting for his Yankees.
A downtown Hartford ballpark could serve as a catalyst for a new generation, Kaufman said.
“This is an opportunity to create that kind of experience for children and adults,’’ he said.