Executive of the Month: John Caiazzo of The DeMatteis Organizations has been designing and developing buildings all his life

"I have been working on and designing and developing buildings my entire life," says John Caiazzo, vice president of real estate development for The DeMatteis Organizations, a New York-based development company and co-developer of Azure, the Upper East Side's newest luxury residence. Caiazzo, a registered architect, began his career working for major New York architectural firms and then gravitated toward real estate development. "I have always enjoyed the real estate industry and I know this is where I belong, so making the leap from architecture to development was more of a minor detour then a career change," he said. Caiazzo began his transition to real estate by joining the New York City Educational Construction Fund (ECF) as director of design and construction and eventually was appointed executive director executing ECF's unique program of urban development. In 1981, Caiazzo joined Olympia & York, an international property development firm based in Canada, as the Director of Design Development. Caiazzo managed the design team of 50 architects and special designers during the development and construction of New York City's World Financial Center, an 8 million s/f complex in lower Manhattan. Upon completion, Caiazzo traveled to London to work on the 10 million s/f Canary Wharf project and was eventually promoted to vice president of design and construction. Caiazzo was then appointed design manager of Federal Center Associates, a joint venture between Olympia & York, Morse Diesel and JBG Properties of Washington D.C. to lead the team and provide development management services for the General Services Administration to develop a Master Plan for Southeast Federal Center in Washington, D.C., a 50-acre site to house federal employees in approximately 10 million s/f. Caiazzo began working for St. John's University in 1998, creating and implementing a plan to transform the institution from a community school into a sprawling university. "It was a complete revitalization of the university and its infrastructure," said Caiazzo, whose plan included new dorms for more than 2,000 beds, a University center and a new dining facility and three new parking structures to accommodate 675 cars. The University hired the family-owned DeMatteis Organizations as the General Contractor. Subsequently, Caiazzo joined The DeMatteis Organizations in 2000. Since joining DeMatteis, Caiazzo has worked on numerous real estate development projects, including most recently Azure, a 34-story, luxury residential building on the Upper East Side, at the corner of 91st St. and First Ave. For this project DeMatteis partnered with The Mattone Group, a Queens-based commercial and residential real estate development company that is also family run. Given Caiazzo's and The DeMatteis Organizations' experience with New York's ECF and The Mattone Group's knowledge of public/private development, the partnership has proven to be a great success. Under the ECF program, ECF owns the land under Azure and, in exchange for bonuses and air rights and other tax incentives, the sponsors constructed the East Side Middle School, MS 114, at no cost to the City's capital budget. With the residential building enjoying an accelerated velocity of sales, Caiazzo is excited to kick off a successful fall season, hoping to complete sales in 2012. "Azure is a special and unique project, offering something no other building on the Upper East Side has, from the price per square foot to the size of the homes and ability to work with prospective purchasers to combine and customize units," said Caiazzo. Looking toward the future, Caiazzo says he'll continue with The DeMatteis Organizations to explore all possible development opportunities and eagerly pursue them with open arms.