Howard Biel

Dr. Howard Biel is the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for ECHO Real Estate Services Company. In this capacity he is in charge of expanding ECHO's presence in the MidAtlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States through the acquisition/redevelopment and ground-up new development of supermarket-anchored shopping centers and select market-dominant power centers. Biel and his partner, Drew Gorman, opened ECHO Real Estate Services' Washington, DC office in September 2012. Prior to joining ECHO, Biel was with Faison & Associates. From 1994 through 1997 and from 2002 until 2012, he was Partner and Senior Managing Director for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region. During his tenures at Faison, Biel was in charge of business development, land acquisition and partnership relations. Also, under his purview was project implementation and execution for each commercial program totaling approximately seven million square feet of retail space in trade areas primarily within the Washington to New York corridor. Biel was also President of Palisades Realty & Development, a privately held real estate development company, from 1991 to 1994 and during its re-launch from 2000 to 2002. He was responsible for business development, land acquisition, entitlement and partnership relations, as well as project implementation with respect to each engaged building program. From 1998 through 2000, Biel was Senior Vice President/Chief Development Officer at Federal Realty Investment Trust. He was directly responsible for all development, leasing, property management and marketing activities for each commercial asset of this premier national real estate investment trust, and formally in charge of 16 million square feet of community shopping center and urban street retail properties. Prior to his employment at Faison and Federal Realty Investment Trust, Biel served as Executive Vice President at Western Development Corporation from 1986 until 1991 and as Senior Vice President at the DeBartolo Corporation from 1979 to 1986. Before his introduction to and participation in commercial real estate development, leasing, and management, Biel was an academician, first serving as Assistant Professor and Director of the Urban and Environmental Studies Program at Case Western Reserve University (1973-1977), and then as Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Vermont and Middlebury College (1977-1978). Dr. Biel has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban and Economic Geography from Miami University, as well as a Master of Arts and Doctorate in Geography from the Ohio State University. Biel is a long-time active member of the Association of American Geographers, International Council of Shopping Centers, and Urban Land Institute.