CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, has hired Alison Mills as vice president of design and development. Mills will oversee the firm’s design and entitlement strategies and overall development activities for CRG’s residential business.
Mills is the seventh strategic hire in the past year to support the planned growth of CRG’s residential business to complete $1 billion in multifamily developments over the next 2 to 3 years.
“Alison is well-respected for her savvy design management skills and will make an excellent addition to our leadership team,” said J.J. Smith, principal and residential lead at CRG. “Alison brings extensive experience in all stages of the development process, from acquisitions and underwriting to the public approval process and design management and construction. Her ability to steer design and engineering teams toward solutions that effectively meet cost goals without sacrificing quality or aesthetics will be a great benefit to CRG as we roll out new residential products across the U.S.”
Mills joins CRG from CA Ventures where she was senior director of development in the firm’s multifamily practice and managed a $1.2 billion pipeline of over 2,500 new units and 41,000 square feet of retail space. Prior to that, she was an architect with Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York City.
“I’m excited to join CRG and leverage my experience and relationships in architecture and urban planning to help create the vibrant, mixed-use residential developments that CRG is known for,” said Mills. “I look forward to collaborating with the team to grow the platform and to help meet CRG’s substantial investment goals while moving some great design forward.”
Mills holds a master’s degree in city planning with a certificate in real estate development from the University of California, Berkeley and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Princeton University. Mills is a member of the Real Estate Finance Forum, Urban Land Institute, and the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Emerging Leaders Program.
