About

Skylight Real Estate Partners is a privately held real estate investment firm with deep experience acquiring, developing and managing residential and commercial assets in the prime US markets of New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Central and South Florida.

The team’s management platform is focused on three complementary investment strategies: distressed, value-add and development opportunities. Since 1998, the founding partners have collectively invested $5.5 billion of equity in assets totaling over $15 billion of gross asset value. This experience comprises over 9,000 residential units and 20 million square feet of office and retail assets.

Skylight offers its investors, tenants and partners extensive market knowledge, long-standing relationships and institutional thinking fueled by a motivated and deeply experienced leadership team with a proven record of consistent success.

Founding Partners

Bennat Berger

Founding Partner

Mr. Berger is a Founder and Head of Real Estate Operations of Skylight Real Estate Partners. Mr. Berger sits on the investment committee and is responsible for asset management, property management, operations, and human resources. Mr. Berger has overseen the acquisition and repositioning of 2,800 residential and 92 commercial units comprising of 2.3 million square feet of space and nearly $800 million of total capitalization. Prior to co-founding Skylight, Mr. Berger co-founded Novel Property Ventures and was a Co-Managing Principal where he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of property management, asset management, and development. Mr. Berger was well-known for being one of the trail blazers of apartment development in New York City in 2010, post financial crisis. With his focus primarily on Brooklyn sub-markets that had yet to be identified as institutionally investible, Mr. Berger was able to build a vast portfolio relatively quickly and then dispose of many of those assets to institutional investors making their first forays into those sub-markets. Mr. Berger holds a B.S. from Dartmouth College where he majored in English.

Gavin Evans

Founding Partner

Mr. Evans is a Founder and Co-Head of Investments of Skylight Real Estate Partners. Mr. Evans sits on the investment committee and oversees all acquisitions, dispositions, and capital markets activities. Mr. Evans brings 23 years of experience in the private equity real estate fund management business. Since joining the real estate industry in 1998, Mr. Evans has overseen the acquisition of 18 million square feet of office assets and over 2,000 multifamily units through nearly 50 separate investments totaling $10 billion of total capitalization. Prior to co-founding Skylight, Mr. Evans was Executive Vice President and Head of Acquisitions at Columbia Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CXP), the successor to Normandy Real Estate Partners. At Normandy, Mr. Evans was responsible for co-heading the firm’s Investment Team. Prior to Normandy, Mr. Evans served as a Director for Westbrook Partners in New York City, where he completed numerous transactions involving multiple property types in the United States and Europe. Mr. Evans received a B.S. degree from The Pennsylvania State University.

Benjamin Joseph

Founding Partner

Mr. Joseph is a Founder and Head of Development of Skylight Real Estate Partners. Mr. Joseph sits on the investment committee and is responsible for design, construction, marketing, sales, leasing, and shares responsibilities for asset management and property management. Since joining the real estate industry in 1998, Mr. Joseph has overseen the new construction and redevelopment of over 8.5 million square feet of residential and mixed-use buildings, with a total capitalization of over $4.5 billion. These projects include rental to condominium conversions, ground-up luxury residential rental and condominium, affordable housing, hotel, retail, office, and parking. Prior to co-founding Skylight, Mr. Joseph spent 21 years as Executive Vice President at Related Companies, a world-class real estate developer and investment manager. Mr. Joseph received an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University.

Andrew Miller

Founding Partner

Mr. Miller is a Founder and Co-Head of Investments of Skylight Real Estate Partners. Mr. Miller sits on the investment committee and oversees all acquisitions, dispositions, and capital markets activities. Mr. Miller has overseen the acquisition and repositioning of 2,500 residential and commercial units comprised of 2 million square feet of space and nearly $625 million of total capitalization. Prior to co-founding Skylight, Mr. Miller co-founded Novel Property Ventures and was a Co-Managing Principal where he was responsible for sourcing new acquisitions as well as establishing relationships with new debt and equity partners. Prior to joining Novel, Mr. Miller co-founded Excelsior Equities where he led the acquisition and disposition of multi-family apartments and associated retail and oversaw all aspects of company operations. Mr. Miller holds a B.S. from Baruch College with a concentration on both Real Estate and Finance.

Team

Elijah Akhtarzad

Associate

Burak Bicakci

Property Management

Brennan Bicknese

Vice President, Acquisitions

Gregory Bucks

Director of Asset Management

Courtney Davis

Executive Assistant to the Founders

Todd Diamond

Property Management

Jennifer Gonzalez

Property Management

Cameron Hardington

Associate

Kwon Kim

Accounting

Sandra Klinger

Community Manager

Faina Kringold

Accounting

Ron Krystofiak

Director of Property Management

Michael Loya

Vice President, Development

Ewelina Ottenbreit

Senior Project Management

Jeremy Pierce

Controller

Nick Romanoff

Associate

Jennifer Sepelowska

Property Management

Darshi Shah

Community Manager

Tobias Stahl

Property Management

Jeremy Tabora

Vice President, Design

Alberto Torres

Leasing Manager

Juan Valencia

Property Management

Capital Partners

The leadership team has successfully joint-ventured with the following select institutional capital partners.