From the November issue: Sometimes you have to leave so you can come back on your own terms. That’s been the lesson for Susi Yu, an architect-turned-developer at Forest City Ratner Companies. In 2013, Yu, a senior vice president, lost out to Melissa Burch to succeed MaryAnne Gilmartin as Forest City’s head of development. Yu, who had worked at the company for 12 years, was understandably disappointed. So she quit and went to work for Howard Hughes Corporation, where she oversaw the mixed-use development at South Street Seaport.
Less than two years later, Burch jumped to Lend Lease and Yu got a call from Gilmartin asking if she still wanted the job. Today, she oversees Forest City’s major development projects, most notably Pacific Park, the $5 billion, 15-building megaproject in and around Downtown Brooklyn. The 51-year-old Downtown Brooklyn resident and mother of two likens her day-to-day job to that of a movie producer — managing relationships with the “talent,” a.k.a. architects as well as government officials, financial backers, contractors, and joint venture partners at Greenland Group. In the end, Yu got the job she always wanted, proving that, “You can go home again,” she said. [more]