Despite the
year, Equity 3tial
rcut, President & CEO
l Year 2007: $2 Billion
lization: Ownership/Investment
es: 15
loyees: 4,700
slowdown in asset trades last
Residential was able to pare
down its portfolio. The Chicago-based
firm disposed of 73 properties consist-
ing of 21,563
units. Worth
an aggregate
$1.9 billion, the
sales had an average cap rate
of 5.6% and
generated an
unlevered IRR
of 11.1%. The
firm also sold
617 condomini- Lightstone Group
Neithercut um units as well David Lichtenstein, Chairman
as land parcels Revenues Fiscal Year 2007: $1.7 Billion
and air rights Area of Specialization: Ownership/Investment
for a total $214.2 million. Meanwhile, it Number of Offices: 6
added 36 communities with 8,167 units Number of Employees: 11,331
to its portfolio for $1.7 billion, at an average cap rate of 4.8%, and eight land par- “Lightstone has always been an opportunis-cels for $212.8 million. 1
tic buyer,” L4ichtenstein proclaims. “Now,
Still, Neithercut is cautious as 2008 draws with the credit markets as tight as they are,
to a close. “Our markets are experiencing we can find well-priced investment oppor-significant headwinds due to the slowing tunities that are available because of dis-economy and resulting job losses, which tress among sellers. We believe big oppor-will slow revenue growth and cause prop- tunities may be
erty fundamentals to further weaken in ahead.”
2009,” he noted in the company’s Q3 The 20-year-
report. The S&P 500 company acquires, old company
develops and manages a portfolio of has a history of
147,326 units in 554 properties across 23 high-profileand
states and the District of Columbia. opportunistic
purchases such Northwestern Mutual
as last year’s David D. Clark, SVP of Real Estate
$8-billion acqui- Revenues Fiscal Year 2007: $1.5 Billion
sition of the Areas of Specialization: Ownership/Investment,
Extended Stay Finance
Hotels chain Number of Offices: 8
Lichtenstein from the Number of Employees: 70
Blackstone1
6
Group. Other One of the largest real estate investors
Lightstonebusinessesinclude Prime Group in the US, Northwestern Mutual has
Realty Trust, Beacon Management and holdings in both debt and equity across
Park Avenue Funding. Based in Manhattan, all property types. Its $29-billion port-
Lightstone currently owns more than folio comprises 75% fixed income and
19,000 residential units, 686 hotels and 19 25% equity investments. After buying
million sf of office, industrial and retail 26 assets for $586.4 million, and dispos-space in the US and Canada. ing of 15 properties for $557 million in
2007, the company owned 176 properties totaling 11. 1 million sf and 19,847
units, valued at $8.3 billion. On the
debt side, the firm made some $4.4 billion worth of plays last year, all of which
in 318 centers. CapitalSource Now, with Michael C. Szwajkowski, President, e c o n o m i c Structured Finance u n c e rta i nt y Revenues Fiscal Year 2007: $1.5 Billion keeping many Area of Specialization: Finance consumers out Number of Offices: 20 of the nation’s Number of Employees: 714 shopping cen- ters, the firm is1“The turmo6il in today’s commercial real
l o o k i n g t o estate market has created two opportu-maintain and nities for lenders that have sufficient
drive value in its liquidity,” Szwajkowski relates. “The first
Wolstein existing portfo- is the purchase
l i o t h r o u g h of existing debt
management. “We will continue to focus and the other
on leasing and managing our portfolio and i s f i n a n c i n g
looking for new and innovative opportuni- t h i r d p a r t i e s
ties to increase revenue for our sharehold- i n t e r e s t e d i n
ers,” says Wolstein. b u y i n g d e b t .
CapitalSource
is pursuing
each of those.”
The New
York City-based
Szwajkowski firm’s structured finance
business provides debt and mezzanine financing to
owners/developers of virtually all types of
real estate assets. Its senior debt activities
focus on bridge financing for single-prop-erty transactions, portfolio acquisitions
and value-add investment strategies. The
company’s mezzanine program provides
clients with higher-leverage financing for
acquisitions, asset repositioning or to
unlock equity tied up in conduit loans. Its
senior management team has structured
in excess of $10 billion of transactions.
1Developers Di
Scott A. Wolst
Revenues Fisc
Areas of Speci
ship/Investmen
Number of Offi
Number of Emp
One of the la4versified Realty
ein, Chairman & CEO
al Year 2007: $1.7 Billion
alization: Development, Owner-t
ces: 15
loyees: 815
rgest retail REITs in the world,
Developers Diversified Realty acquires,
develops, leases and manages its shopping
centers. The Beachwood, OH-based firm
touts a $21-billion portfolio, comprised of
some 157 million sf in 730 properties in 45
states, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Russia and
Canada. Last year, the company disposed
of 74 assets totaling seven million sf and
$625 million and added $6.2 billion to its
holdings, consisting of about 36 million sf
