Brookfield’s head of SF projects steps down

Jack Sylvan, a Brookfield Properties executive who oversaw major office, residential and commercial projects in San Francisco, is stepping down.

The senior vice president of development for the New York-based developer has left his job overseeing local operations after a five-year run, the San Francisco Business Times reported, citing unidentified sources.

It’s unclear whether Brookfield, which declined to comment, has hired a successor. Sylvan, who didn’t respond to a message seeking comment, will serve as an adviser to the real estate giant, the sources said.

Sylvan has been a major contributor to the building landscape of San Francisco, both for Brookfield and in prior roles working for the city and for another developer.

During his tenure at Brookfield, he led the 5M project, which included a 25-story office building and nearly 700 homes in Downtown.

He led the redevelopment of Pier 70, a $3.5 billion transformation of the Central Waterfront. Last year, Brookfield halted construction of the mixed-use village after wrapping up infrastructure work restoring one building, citing economic conditions caused by the pandemic.

He also spearheaded the conversion of the Stonestown Galleria mall, a $2 billion redevelopment into a mixed-use village on the west side.

Before joining Brookfield in 2018, Sylvan served as the director of joint development for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, leading large public-private real estate projects.

They included the acquisition and entitlement of Treasure Island, a former U.S. naval station now being redeveloped into another mixed-use village.

Between 2012 and 2017, Sylvan worked as the vice president of development for Forest City Enterprises, which was bought by Brookfield in 2018 for $11.4 billion.

While at Forest City, he led negotiations and planning for Pier 70, which was approved in 2017 and became the fastest project in San Francisco to go from entitlement to breaking ground a year later.

Sylvan serves on the board of SPUR, an urban policy think tank in San Francisco, and the Policy Advisory Board for the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics.

His exit marks the second major departure for Brookfield, according to the Business Times.

Late last year, Swathi Bonda, senior director of development, left the developer to join Lendlease as a San Francisco-based senior vice president in charge of the Australian developer’s Hayes Point project.

— Dana Bartholomew

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