Here is what your fellow Columbia Business School Real Estate Alumni have been doing recently. If you don’t see your news mentioned, please let us know.

Beacon Real Estate Group Closes $53.2M Multifamily Acquisition in Atlanta Area
“We study the fundamentals of each potential acquisition and closely examine the surrounding area,” Beacon Managing Partner Carlos E. Imery said. “Our team does not overreact to short-term trends. The 53 West opportunity checked every possible box for us.”

REFI Radio: Innovations in Real Estate, Episode 7
Innovations in Real Estate is a podcast series from Real Estate Fund Intelligence, a publication covering commercial real estate investment for fund managers and institutional investors. Once a month, in partnership with Park Madison Partners, Real Estate Fund Intelligence will bring you a discussion on new trends from one of the real estate industry’s most innovative voices. Gerry Ronon, Managing Partner at Lubert-Adler & Jamie Sunday, Partner at Landmark Partners

JPM Provides $80M Refi for Yonkers Industrial Asset
“J.P. Morgan was able to strategize and underwrite with our client during the depths of the COVID-19 crisis to provide a customized financing solution,” Gil said. “Financing for high-quality industrial product with credit tenancy and quality sponsorship remains exceptionally strong. We are thrilled to further our client’s relationship with J.P. Morgan.”

Great Leaders Shoot Straight with their Teams—Especially During a Crisis
Jonathan Wasserstrum, the co-founder and CEO of SquareFoot—a tech company that provides online commercial real estate services—works to foster transparency and trust by having biweekly meetings These meetings should be designed to let everyone talk about the business and ask any questions they might have. The best part? This approach encourages people to get involved, offer up solutions, and feel like part of something bigger than their roles alone.

Pandemic Effects ‘Pronounced,’ But Business Drivers ‘Firmly Intact,’ Welltower Says
“If you think about it, a lot of these incoming residents, their [current] lifestyle is being shut into a room in a house. They’re living by themselves in an apartment with either family care or home healthcare,” he said. “So, in a sense, the lifestyle component doesn’t change too much for that individual, except there’s much more security and consistency around their care program than can be achieved in a conventional home, unless you’re extremely wealthy.”

Mitra said the REIT has seen a steady increase of leads, inquiries and deposits due to that need-driven nature of the business. Leads in July are approaching a pre-COVID-19 level similar to that seen in February, he said.

Construction Tops Off at Miami Luxury Tower
Developers of a 360-unit luxury rental tower in Miami have topped off construction at the 18-story project, marking the first large-scale real estate development to rise in an opportunity zone in the city. PTM Partners CEO Michael Tillman said in prepared remarks that the development teams sought to build a Class A property at an accessible price point for renters who had been priced out of other recent Class A residential properties in Miami.

Miami’s First Big Opportunity Zone Project is Nearly Done
An 18-story multifamily tower that’s Miami’s first big opportunity zone project has topped off and is in line to be completed early next year. The 360-unit Soleste Grand Central is in the Overtown neighborhood east of Interstate 95. The building is 230,430 square feet on 1.2 acres at 218 NW Eighth St. The tower is being developed by a partnership between PTM Partners LLC, a development company founded last year to focus entirely on opportunity zones and with offices in Miami and New York, and Estate Investments Group, a prolific South Miami-based developer of apartments. PTM Partners puts in its own capital and plans to hold onto the project for 10 years, Scott Meyer, chief investment officer, previously said.