Rita Brandin

Senior Vice President and Development Director

Newland Real Estate Group

Ms. Brandin’s career in real estate spans 30 years beginning in Atlanta, Georgia where she worked for John Portman & Associates in retail construction and subsequently moved into asset management. Following the Portman Companies, she worked for the Rouse Company for 17 years managing and developing regional shopping centers across the country. Ms. Brandin relocated to Las Vegas in 1999 to direct the $450 million dollar redevelopment and expansion of a 2 million square-foot regional mall on the Las Vegas Strip known as The Fashion Show.
In 2006, she accepted a position with Newland Communities to direct activities for Symphony Park, a61- acre mixed-use project in downtown Las Vegas under an agreement with the City of Las Vegasas landowner and Newland as Development Manager. Symphony Park will include at three hotels, 1,500 residential units, Las Vegas’ first performing arts center of 2050 seats, a major medical campus anchored by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and additional retail and commercial office space. Ms. Brandin was responsible for the master plan design and entitlement, infrastructure design and construction, land sales execution and coordination of vertical development for Symphony Park.
Relocating to San Diego with Newland in 2012, Ms. Brandin is currently responsible for directing the planning and entitlement activities for Newland Sierra, LLC, a future 2,000 acre master plan community in North County. She oversees all aspects of land development from strategic planning and entitlement processing, and management of a multi-disciplinary internal and external consultant team comprised of planning, engineering, financial and legal professionals. She is also a member of Newland Real Estate Group’s senior leadership team.
As a spokesperson for Symphony Park, Ms. Brandin was frequently quoted in local, regional and national publication articles pertaining to the project. These publications have included Scientific American, New York Times, Urban Land, VEGAS, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Sun, InBusiness Las Vegas, Business Press Las Vegas, Nevada Business Journal and others. She was a frequent and popular speaker for community, development and marketing groups throughout Southern Nevada. She has appeared before the Commercial Marketing Group, multiple Rotary Clubs, Association of General Contractors, Las Vegas High Rise Association, Nevada Development Authority, Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and Business Owners Management Association.
In 2008, she was named a Woman to Watch by the leading business weekly – InBusiness Las Vegas, and in 2010 she was named a Woman of Distinction in Real Estate and Construction by the southern Nevada division of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Ms. Brandin’s community involvement has been broad during her career with a focus on real estate related professional organizations as well as charitable endeavors. She is currently a member at large or serves on the following Boards in San Diego, and has served on the following boards in Las Vegas prior to her relocation to San Diego in 2012:
San Diego:
BIA of San Diego – Secretary / Treasurer and Board Member
BIA PAC – Governor, Vice Chair and Steward
The Lincoln Club of San Diego County – Board member
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce – Board member
San Diego North EDC – Investor member
San Diego North Chamber of Business; San Marcos Chamber, Escondido Chamber – member
National:
Urban Land Institute (ULI) – Member of the Urban Mixed – Use Development Council (national)
Prior - Las Vegas:
Downtown Las Vegas Alliance (DLVA) – Founding member and past vice-chair
ULI - Member of the District Council Executive Committee (regional)
Make-A-Wish® Foundation of Southern Nevada – Member, Board of Directors (regional)
Home Aid of Southern Nevada – Member, Board of Directors
University of Nevada, UNLV Foundation, Board of Trustees, past Trustee and member of the Development Committee (state)
Commercial Development and Management Corporation, past Board of Directors for the Harry Reid Research Park (local)