Joe Ferrera

Can we expect there to be more housing development in New York City’s forgotten borough, Staten Island? 

We have a few “irons in the fire” and are looking forward to continuing to develop quality affordable housing in the “not so forgotten borough,” but the borough I call home. 

With the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development targeting 17,675 new homes across the borough in its new Fair Housing Growth Strategy, I look forward to actively contributing to the realization of this critical milestone. 

What would you say has been your biggest win over the last year?   

Closing on and breaking ground on our first phase of a historically challenged development site in Syracuse, N.Y.  Parkside Commons, once completed through its three phases, will deliver close to 1,000 newly renovated and newly developed homes to an area where quality affordable housing has been historically lacking. 

What has your biggest challenge been over the last year, and how did you deal with it?

The biggest challenge has been entering a new market outside of city limits, where currently there’s an ongoing $100 billion Micron construction site devouring all construction resources.  

Navigating through a qualified pool of subcontractors that have capacity to spare to build “us” has been a bit of a struggle, but, with the deployment of our New York City-based teams and finding the few needles in the haystack locally, we finally got there and are thrilled that this site is moving ahead on schedule.

Is there an asset class you have a particular fondness for?

Municipal bonds. Needless to say, as you sip your morning coffee and look at all that “unrealized loss,” it may make you want to hurl your mug at the closest wall. Fortunately, our largest asset class holdings are good, ol’ brick-and-mortar rental buildings. It’s not easy to make sure all our residents are content and that our properties are all well maintained, but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

If you could change one area of global or local tumult, what would it be?

No more wars!

Whether it is the war in the Persian Gulf or Russia/Ukraine, the needless loss of life is heartbreaking and destroying families in these war-ridden places. I can’t for the life of me understand — and I’m not sure if I or anyone ever will — why any geopolitical issues cannot be solved with diplomacy.  

Time and again, the unchecked egos of powerful leaders have dragged out wars and devastated innocent lives.

By prioritizing their personal reputations and refusing to look weak, these figures fall victim to hubris and the sunk-cost fallacy — sacrificing more lives and resources to keep a losing conflict alive rather than admitting defeat.

Lightning Round:

Your AI platform of choice? Meta AI.

Who would play you in a movie? Bobby Cannavale.

One prompt you’d never give AI. “Keep humanity safe” — Avengers fan ?

Jalen Brunson or Aaron Judge? Jalen Brunson.

“Oppenheimer” or “Odyssey”? “The Odyssey.”

Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire? Tom Holland, because my grandson loves him.

Have you ever eaten pizza with a knife and fork? I plead the Fifth on this one.

The most money you’ve ever spent on a hamburger? When I decide to invite my entire family over for a BBQ and that little $5 burger ends up costing me three grand.

Bank or non-bank? Bank.

Last book you read? My credit card statement. A tragic, psychological horror story about a person (my wife) who buys way too many things online.

Borrowing costs — up or down in 2027? Upshift early `27 peak; down late `27 normalization.

What was your nickname when you grew up/started out? “Peppucchio.” Typing that gave me a belly laugh — my parents still call me that.

How long do we have before AI kills us all? “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” IFKYK..

Where’s your secret escape compound? One thing I could tell you for sure is that I’m not moving to New Zealand — I’ll take the beach in sunny Florida. I did at one point contemplate obtaining dual citizenship with Italy, as my parents immigrated from there in the early `60s. After telling my father my intentions, he said to me, “Are you nuts? I escaped that country, came to America, and this country gave us everything we have!” Wise words — Never pursued it again.