Private Equity Firm Launches New Real Estate Platform With Acquisition, Hire From BlackRock
New York-based private equity firm Centre Street Partners launched a new real estate service platform and made its first acquisition.
The platform, Accretus, will be headed by Adam Friedman, who previously worked at BlackRock, Centre Street announced Tuesday.
Before his new role, Friedman worked as director of the artificial intelligence and analytics engineering team at BlackRock, where he focused on building secure and scalable technology and infrastructure systems.
Along with the launch, Centre Street acquired 1031 exchange services firm Atlanta Deferred Exchange.
The 1031 exchange market has grown to between $80B and $100B in volume annually. The market features several smaller, regional players, and with this launch, Centre Street is looking to create a larger, "tech-enabled" platform to help with the process.
With the acquisition, ADE plans to expand its operations geographically outside of the Southeast and grow its team. Founded in 2008, ADE has facilitated more than 600 exchanges and $500M in exchange proceeds annually for property owners across the country.
The sale price of ADE wasn't disclosed. Commercial Observer reported that the acquisition was made through Centre Street's second fund, which raised $50M.
Centre Street's limited partners include real estate investors, family offices and operators. These partners include Simcha Hyman at TriEdge, Jonathan Leifer at L3C Capital, the Dushey Family at Jenel Real Estate and Aaron Jungreis at Rosewood Realty.
Centre Street's strategy has been in the lower-middle market buyout space, meaning it acquires smaller and midsized companies and uses technology, including artificial intelligence, to make them more efficient and grow organically.
"It's in this context that we're particularly excited about ADE as the foundation for Accretus, which will execute on a proven playbook that pairs world-class technical talent with investments in operational infrastructure and long-term growth, and an M&A-led approach to expanding the suite of services we provide to our valued clients," Centre Street Managing Partner Jonathan Kerstein said in a statement.
