2025 Ones to Watch - Rising Stars: Alice Chen,GFP Real Estate

“Alice has been a core member of the acquisitions and development team at GFP since she joined us in 2021. While her contributions focus mainly on our investment process including acquisitions and capital raising, she also has a noteworthy impact on development, asset management, leasing, and management activities across our projects. Alice is well respected both within GFP and by our many partners. We are fortunate to have her with us. This “Rising Star” accolade is well deserved.” - Tom Ortinau, Head of Acquisitions, GFP Real Estate.

What recent professional milestone or project are you most proud of, and why? I’m most proud of my work on SoMA at 25 Water St. — now the largest office-to-residential conversion in the U.S. completed to date. I’ve been part of the project from day one: identifying the building, planning the redevelopment, raising capital and closing the purchase. After closing, I worked closely with our development team on construction and asset management. I also helped with opting the project into the new 467-m tax abatement program. Seeing the building in lease-up now has been incredibly rewarding.

What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in your career so far, and what did it teach you? Coming from a finance background, I was comfortable with numbers and analysis — but diving into the SoMA project pushed me into totally new territory. I had to quickly get up to speed on design, planning and construction, which were all unfamiliar at first. Understanding and navigating the city’s brand-new affordable housing program for conversions was especially challenging. It taught me how to adapt fast, collaborate across disciplines, and lead through uncertainty.