Pechin joins Thalhimer Realty Partners

Less than a year after leaving the City of Richmond to work for the federal government, Maritza Pechin has joined Thalhimer Realty Partners as director of development, the Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer subsidiary announced Monday.

Pechin was deputy director for the office of equitable development for the city and was heavily involved in the $2.44 billion Diamond District development. Thalhimer is a lead developer in a joint venture known as Diamond District Partners that is tasked with replacing the 40-year-old Diamond baseball stadium by spring 2026 and constructing a surrounding mixed-use development on 67 acres off Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

In a post on LinkedIn on Monday, Pechin announced she was leaving her job as head of innovative finance and delivery at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau “much sooner than I had intended” and added that she is excited for the opportunity to continue to work on the Diamond District.

“We are thrilled to have Maritza join our team,” Jason Guillot, principal at Thalhimer Realty Partners stated in a news release. “Her experience in community engagement, real estate development and urban planning makes her an invaluable addition to the Thalhimer Realty Partners team and the Diamond District project.”

The 67-acre, $2.44 billion Diamond District project’s first phase is expected to cost $627.6 million, and includes a 9,000-capacity, $90 million-plus baseball stadium and a hotel with at least 180 rooms from a high-end brand, such as Hilton or Westin. The project also will include more than 3,000 rental and for-sale residential units, 935,000 square feet of office space, 195,000 square feet of retail and community space, and another hotel. 

However, the project has hit some road bumps, having experienced delays, a change in financing structure and a lawsuit by a former joint venture partner against Guillot, Thalhimer, Loop Capital and others. The $40 million lawsuit by Republic Projects claims that its former partners cut them out of the development deal and created their own development partnership.

A native of Puerto Rico, Pechin earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard and a master’s in planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Working for the City of Richmond, Pechin served as project manager for the city’s master plan, Richmond 300, which emphasized equitable and sustainable growth. It won the American Planning Association’s 2021 Daniel H. Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan.

Pechin left that job in September 2023 to join USDOT’s Build America Bureau in a role where she helped local government officials to identify loans, grants and other financing solutions. Previously, Pechin worked at AECOM as a planner at Fulton Hill Properties, where she was a development manager. She also served as an adjunct professor in the graduate planning program at Virginia Commonwealth University.