Christopher Clemente, Chairman of the Board of Directors & Chief Executive Officer of the Comstock Holding Companies Inc. will be honored by the Lido Civic Club at its 94th Past Presidents Night Gala to be held at the Hilton Tyson on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
Chris Clemente founded the Comstock organization in 1985 and has guided its growth and diversification since its inception. Mr. Clemente managed the growth of Comstock as a private enterprise until the 2004 initial public offering of Comstock Homebuilding Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHCI), now known as Comstock Holding Companies®, Inc. (“Comstock” or “Company”). Since the IPO, Mr. Clemente has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Comstock and is the largest individual stockholder of the Company. Mr. Clemente chairs Comstock’s Executive Committee, which charts strategic direction, evaluates acquisition opportunities, and oversees strategic partnerships, including multiple public-private partnerships. Mr. Clemente is also Managing Member of Comstock Partners, LC (“Partners”), a family-owned, private company founded by Mr. Clemente in 1999 to focus on commercial real estate development and investment.
Following its IPO, Comstock expanded its for-sale homebuilding operation into multiple key markets in the southeastern United States, while the commercial development operation of Partners remained focused on the Washington, DC market. Following the Great Recession, Comstock scaled back its for-sale homebuilding operation to focus solely on the Washington, DC market. Mr. Clemente managed the two companies as separate firms with distinct management teams and investment objectives until early 2018, when Comstock announced its plan to wind-down its for-sale homebuilding operation and refocus on commercial development, real estate asset management, and real estate related services. To execute this strategic plan, the operating platforms of Comstock and Partners were combined and changes were made to the management team. To anchor the transition, Partners entered into a long-term, cost-plus asset management agreement covering its portfolio of commercial properties, which had grown to include millions of square feet of stabilized buildings and development assets strategically located at key transit stations on Metro’s new Silver Line in the Dulles Corridor of Northern Virginia that have an estimated value at full build out of approximately $3 billion.
Key assets included in the portfolio of managed assets, include; Reston Station, a 4.5 million square foot transit-oriented and mixed-use development covering nearly 40 acres surrounding the terminus station of Phase I of the Silver Line in Reston, Virginia, and Loudoun Station, a 2+ million square foot transit-oriented and mixed-use development located adjacent to the terminus station of Phase II of the Silver Line in Ashburn, Virginia.
Mr. Clemente attended the University of Wisconsin and George Mason University where he studied Business and Psychology. Mr. Clemente and his wife, Tracy Schar, have been long-time supporters of numerous charitable organizations in the Washington, DC region that support international adoptions, foster care programs, and that provide educational, housing and other assistance to families and children in-need.
