Paul Ognibene is the founder and CEO of Cambridge-based real estate development company, Urban Spaces. His responsibilities include setting the vision for the company while overseeing everything from client relationships and contract negotiations to multi-million-dollar development budgets. Since 2004, Paul Ognibene has guided Urban Spaces to become an award-winning industry leader. The company is known for transforming development sites while also enhancing the neighborhoods in which it works. Paul Ognibene and his team at Urban Spaces evidence a uniquely entrepreneurial approach to real estate development.
Paul Ognibene grew up outside of Chicago and attended Fenwick High School, where he was active in a variety of academic and extracurricular activities, including varsity wrestling, golf, and tennis. As a high school senior, Paul Ognibene started the Fenwick Friar Shop, a non-profit, college-style spirit store which still today provides imprinted gear to students and alumni across the country. Following high school, Paul Ognibene attended Boston College, where he earned a BA in economics. While at BC, Paul Ognibene started the Print Shop to provide custom imprinted products to student clubs and affinity groups on college campuses nationwide.
Upon graduation, Paul Ognibene returned to Chicago to join the management training program of the Northern Trust Company, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest investment managers in the world. Five years later, Paul Ognibene returned to Boston to attend Harvard Business School, where he earned his MBA.
While at Harvard Business School, Paul Ognibene continued his unique entrepreneurial bent and was named a semi-finalist in the HBS New Venture Competition which paved the way for Paul Ognibene to start ClubTools, a provider of software and services for student-run campus organizations. ClubTools worked with over 500 university clients, including MIT, Northwestern, and Ohio State University. This paved the way for the next phase of Paul Ognibene and his career: real estate development.
Today, Paul Ognibene and Urban Spaces have become a force in the real estate community in and around greater Boston. Both Paul Ognibene and his company has earned a regional reputation for award-winning developments that revitalize emerging neighborhoods and enhance those that are well-established. This accounts for a broad and varied range of experience with new construction, adaptive re-use, and historic preservation in both the private and public sectors. Paul Ognibene is also an innovator and thought leader known for forecasting and advancing many of the important urban trends that we see today, such as micro-units, modular construction, and architecturally and environmentally-sensitive design. Paul Ognibene and Urban Spaces continue to make these kinds of important contributions to the urban fabric.
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Urban Spaces is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based real estate development company that creates residential and commercial buildings in close proximity to public transportation, universities, and employment hubs. Founded in 2004 by CEO Paul Ognibene, Urban Spaces has earned a regional reputation for award-winning developments that revitalize and enhance emerging and well-established neighborhoods. The company has a broad range of experience, including new construction, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation in both the private and public sectors. In addition to being an innovator, Urban Spaces has been influential in forecasting and advancing many of the important urban trends that we see today, such as micro-units, modular construction, and environmentally resilient design. Urban Spaces continues to make important contributions to enhance the urban fabric of its host communities.