The Lightstone Group, Founded by David Lichtenstein
The Lightstone Group is one of the largest and most successful, privately held real estate companies in the United States.
Founded by David Lichtenstein in 1988, the Lightstone Group owns and manages one of the most diversified real estate portfolios in the industry which includes industrial, office, retail, multifamily and hospitality properties located across the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the Lightstone Group has regional offices in key markets around the country, including New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore.
The Lightstone Group’s continued growth has been fueled a passion to achieve excellence in every endeavor. Over the decades, the real estate company has acquired hundreds of projects, including numerous properties and portfolios from major national public and privately held real estate companies.
While growth has been extraordinary, the basic principles of the Lightstone Group’s investment strategy have changed little since the company’s inception in 1988: Under David Lichtenstein’s direction, the company looks for undervalued properties and thoroughly evaluate the risks and rewards that come with each investment. Their management teams manages the asset throughout the lifecycle of the investment and develops a disposition strategy that generates maximum returns.
The Lightstone Group’s commitment:
- To preserve our entrepreneurial culture
- To conduct business with the highest standards of quality, integrity and excellence, and
- To create long-term value and making a positive difference for our investors, for the properties in which we invest and for the communities in which our properties are located.
With David Lichtenstein’s guidance, the Lightstone Group is continually seeking new acquisitions throughout the country in both urban and suburban locations in a variety of property types, including industrial, office, retail, multifamily and hospitality. This diversification, in part, strives to mitigate risk and capitalize on value-creation opportunities that come about due to changing market and economic conditions.
Diamonds in the Rough
The Lightstone Group’s continued growth and success is the result of David Lichtenstein’s unique business strategy. Even though the company places a premium on preserving and protecting capital by minimizing risk, they avoid the easy pathway of “limited risk, limited reward.” Instead,” Lichtenstein said, “we aggressively seek out diamonds in the rough. These are what we call “value” properties that offer the potential of high returns, yet they have existing challenges or complexities that limit their appeal to other investors, especially investors with distressed capital structures.”
The Lightstone Group’s far-reaching track record in acquiring these diamonds in the rough or value-add properties has contributed to our reputation for being able to close any type of transaction in a timely manner. In short, the Lightstone Group has the experience, know-how and resources to quickly complete transactions regardless of property location, product type or complexity and inherent challenges.
Additional, vital attributes of the Lightstone Group include:
- Flexible Approach To Deal-Making. With a wide range of capital sources, we can creatively participate in a deal at all levels, from equity to preferred equity to debt.
- Hands-On Approach. Well beyond the deal, the Lightstone Group has the expertise to unlock the value of a challenged property by unraveling problems, improving operations and prudently investment capital. Our asset management team has to ability to manage an investment throughout its entire lifecycle.