Forest City Enterprises Companies executive Kathryn Welch will take on a new role as FCRC Retail Group senior vice president.
With 26 years of collective experience working with both New York City-based FCRC and its Cleveland-based corporate parent Forest City Enterprises (FCE), Welch now will assume oversight of all of FCRC's retail projects.
This includes retail properties under development as well as the company's entire retail operating portfolio in the New York Metropolitan area. Notably, she will lead the completion effort of the high-profile Westchester's Ridge Hill, a 1.3 million s/f mixed-use open-air shopping center in New York.
"I knew Kathryn was a dynamic leader the moment I brought her to FCRC 26 years ago. In her distinguished career in retail leasing and management, she has consistently worked to create unique and remarkable retail experiences," said FCRC Chairman and CEO Bruce Ratner, "Kathryn is able to envision a truly creative mix of retailers tailored to each property she works on, and she brings with her the strong relationships necessary to bring that vision to fruition."
For the past two years, Welch has played a lead role in retail leasing at Westchester's Ridge Hill, and in her new position, the completion of leasing at Ridge Hill will continue to be a focus of her activity.
The complex now features a National Amusements "Cinema de Lux," and retailers and eateries including REI, Cheesecake Factory, Gap, GapKids, Guitar Center, H&M, L.L.Bean, Sephora, Sur La Table, Texas de Brazil, and Whole Foods Market, as well as the 84,000 s/f WESTMED Medical Group facility and urgent care center.
In her new capacity, Welch will oversee the 2012 arrival of Lord & Taylor and other exciting new tenants, ensuring a bright future for this major retail hub.
In her early days at FCRC, Welch was responsible for recruiting many of its earliest tenants at Brooklyn's One Pierrepont Plaza and MetroTech Center, including Goldman Sachs, Chase and the IRS. In 1992, Ms. Welch was appointed Regional Director of Retail Leasing for Forest City Enterprises in Cleveland. For the past decade, she has overseen the development and operational lease-up of new developments such as the major regional shopping and lifestyle hub Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Virginia, and other projects nationwide such as Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia and Promenade Bolingbrook outside of Chicago.

"Kathryn excels both at providing what shoppers are looking for and cultivating new and distinctive tenants—helping retailers expand into new markets to create freshness and variety for the consumer," said James Ratner, CEO of Forest City Commercial Group. "When a business enters a region for the first time, these are not always the easiest deals to close, but Kathryn works with all parties to ensure the deals are a win-win."

"I am excited about this new role and about working again in New York where I began my career at FCRC," said Kathryn Welch, "I welcome the chance to continue doing what I love to do, creating the kind of retail tenant mix that engenders loyalty—that meets consumers' basic needs while also offering goods, services and experiences you just can't get anywhere else."

Kathryn Welch is a member of the international Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Other projects under her new purview will include FCRC's East River Plaza and Harlem Center in Manhattan, and Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn.

Kathryn is married with three children. She is actively involved in many community organizations including the Boy Scouts, Toys for Tots and the PTA. She graduated from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Tags: