A property management and development company in Washington, D.C., has named its new chief executive officer as the business focuses on multifamily projects in the city.
Brad Fennell, who has served as WC Smith's chief operating officer since 2023, takes on the job on Jan. 1, according to a news release.
He's to take the helm as the company has made strides this year in bringing multifamily properties to Southeast Washington. Over the summer, it completed Terrace Manor, a 130-unit residential building that Mayor Muriel Bowser said helped beat her goal of producing 36,000 new housing units in the city by 2025.
Also earlier this year, CoStar reported a groundbreaking occurred on the final phase of WC Smith's Skyland Town Center project, an 18-acre multifamily development that aims to bring more than 400 residential units and over 135,000 square feet of retail space east of the Anacostia River.
“This will be the first time in WC Smith’s history that the company will be run by someone outside of the Smith family,” current CEO Chris Smith said in the news release. “This is change, yes. But it’s also a continuation.”
Smith, who joined the company in 1973, will retain his role as chairman. He was named CEO in 1993, a spokesperson for WC Smith told CoStar News.
Fennell joined the company full time in 1987 straight out of college, the spokesperson added.
For two decades, Fennell led the firm's real estate development activities involving nearly 1 million square feet of commercial and retail properties. Under his guidance, the group produced more than 6,000 residential units.
The company employs about 550 people. It manages or owns about 9.5 million square feet of commercial and residential properties, including 8,700 units across 84 properties, according to the spokesperson and CoStar data. The company's development value is worth about $3.2 billion, the representative added.