Danielle Friend

About Danielle Friend

Danielle Friend is the Senior Director of Development at Harvest Properties, where she leads the strategy, entitlement, design, and execution of complex real estate projects throughout Northern California. Since joining Harvest in 2018, Danielle has overseen more than 3 million square feet of ground-up development and repositioning across asset classes including office, life science, townhomes / multifamily, affordable housing, hospitality, and self-storage.With a foundation in architecture and deep expertise in project execution, Danielle plays a critical role throughout the full development lifecycle—from feasibility and acquisition underwriting to entitlements, design direction, construction, leasing, marketing, and delivery.She also leads transformative capital improvement and adaptive reuse initiatives across Harvest’s 6 million square foot portfolio, delivering standout results such as creative amenity programs, large-scale lobby overhauls, rooftop activations, and façade renovations. Danielle is widely recognized for her expertise in life science conversions, sustainability-driven development, and high-performance design strategies.Prior to joining Harvest, Danielle held senior leadership roles at JLL, where she managed more than 2 million square feet of commercial projects for clients such as Lyft, Stitch Fix, Instacart, and Time Inc. She holds a Master of Architecture from Pratt Institute and a BA with High Honors from the University of Michigan. Danielle is a LEED Accredited Professional and a frequent keynote speaker on topics including urban development, the Bay Area office market, ESG design, and innovation in the built environment.

Experience

1. Senior Director of Development

   Harvest Properties, Inc

   Jan 2022 — Present · San Francisco, CA, US

   As a leader on the Harvest Development team, Danielle oversees design, construction, marketing, sustainability and leasing efforts on ground-up development of commercial office, life science, mixed-use, and residential projects ranging from SF urban infill buildings to SF+ campuses in the San Francisco Bay Area. Danielle also continues to run complex capital improvement projects on the firms\' existing assets, including full-building repositioning efforts and office-to-life science conversions.

Education

• Pratt Institute

  Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), Architecture

  2006 — 2009

• University of Michigan

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), History of Art, Architecture

  2002 — 2006