Forest City exec joins Oxford Properties as head of NY development

Oxford Properties Group has hired Forest City executive Kate Bicknell as a vice president and the head of its New York development team.

Bicknell officially joined on Monday, the Commercial Observer reported. She will guide the redevelopment of the 1.3 million-square-foot St. John’s Terminal, part of which Oxford and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased for $700 million.

The St. John’s Terminal project coincided with a leadership shake-up at Oxford. CEO Blake Hutcheson is leaving to head up Oxford’s sole shareholder: the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. And one of the executives who launched Oxford’s New York operation is leaving the company. Oxford’s New York portfolio is valued at more than $12.8 billion, according to CO.

Bicknell will work with Dean Shapiro, the head of U.S. development for Oxford. A spokesperson for Oxford told CO that said Bicknell will “oversee a growing team.”

At Forest City, Bicknell worked on the $4.9 billion, 22-acre residential development Pacific Park and the six-story, 235,000-square-foot Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus.

Oxford is best known for partnering with Related Companies on Hudson Yards, the $25 billion megadevelopment that’s transforming Manhattan’s Far West Side. Oxford and Related recapitalized a portion of 10 Hudson Yards with a $400 million-plus investment from the Ohio state teachers’ pension fund. [CO] — Meenal Vamburkar