People
Andrea Kretchmer - Principal
Andrea Kretchmer is a developer of affordable housing and mixed-use projects in New York and Connecticut. Andrea is a founding principal at Xenolith Partners LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development. She is also a founding principal of The Kretchmer Companies LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development firm based in New York City.
In 2011, Andrea joined POKO Partners, LLC as a Managing Director. She led a number of POKO’s practice areas: acquisition and preservation of affordable housing, non-profit partnerships, and the development of city-owned sites. She was also responsible for project management, brownfield redevelopment and new business.
At The Kretchmer Companies, Andrea completed the development of Coney Island Commons, a 250,000 square-foot complex in Brooklyn, NY in 2013. CIC encompasses 195 rental apartments and a 43,000 sf YMCA, providing much needed community space for the neighborhood. With The Kretchmer Companies, she is also a developer of Stanley Commons, a 240-unit low-rise affordable apartment complex that broke ground in East New York Brooklyn in March 2015.
With POKO, Andrea completed construction on a number of projects in Connecticut, including the adaptive re-use of a historic mill in Stonington into 58 loft-style apartments. In New York, her recent preservation deals include the acquisition and moderate rehab of a 180-unit project-based Section 8 portfolio in the Bronx.
Prior to her career in affordable housing, Andrea was a practicing geologist. She has extensive experience in the investigation and remediation of contaminated sites throughout the New York metropolitan area. Her experience includes a wide scope of soil, surface water, ground water and ecological investigations associated with commercial and industrial sites. Andrea brings the unique combination of brownfield redevelopment and real estate development in-house to her development firms.
Andrea received her Bachelor’s Degree from Colgate University and her Master’s Degree in Geology from UCLA. Andrea sits on the Executive Committee and is the Membership Committee Chair at the New York State Association for Affordable Housing. She serves on the Boards of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and Congregation Rodeph Sholom. She is also the founder and co-chair of the Bronx Real Estate Summit.
Terri Belkas-Mitchell - Principal
Terri Belkas-Mitchell is a developer of affordable housing and mixed-use projects in New York and Connecticut. Terri is a founding principal at Xenolith Partners LLC, a woman-owned affordable housing development firm.
With an educational and professional background in finance and urban policy, Terri has helped secure over $120 million in construction financing for over 400 mixed-income rental units across five different projects featuring historic adaptive reuse, preservation of affordable housing, Brownfield remediation, and new construction.
Prior to joining POKO, Terri acted as a financial and real estate analyst for First Sterling Financial, Inc., a low-income housing tax credit syndicator, where she modeled and evaluated investments in affordable housing developments across the country. Terri started her career in finance as a currency strategist at the foreign exchange brokerage, Forex Capital Markets, LLC.
Terri received her BBA in Finance from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Isenberg School of Management and earned a MS in Urban Policy from The New School. Crain's New York Business named Terri one of the 2020 Rising Stars in Real Estate.
Chris Lebron - Director of Design and Construction
Chris Lebron is an accomplished real estate development, redevelopment, and economic development professional with over 15 years of experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining Xenolith Partners as an associate developer, Chris was a development manager for a boutique residential developer and construction firm based in TriBeCa. She successfully managed a variety of ground-up residential projects from conception to lease up or sale.
In her previous role as a project manager for the City of Oakland Redevelopment Agency, Chris managed and implemented numerous capital improvement projects and neighborhood revitalization strategies. These included mixed-use residential, commercial rehab, public facilities, and infrastructure projects; as well as citywide façade/tenant improvement and neighborhood capital grant programs. During her time in Oakland, she worked closely with community advisory boards to identify neighborhood priorities and projects.
Chris has also worked as an independent consultant, and she began her career at a non-profit CDC implementing the Main Street program in partnership with LISC and government partners. Chris earned a BS in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley and earned an MS in Real Estate Development at Columbia University. She is dedicated to creating sustainable, thriving, healthy, and equitable neighborhoods and cities, and to improving the built environment.