Margaret McKnight
Managing Director

Introduction

Commercial real estate is an asset class that includes a wide range of strategies and approaches, all of which can be segmented into a few simple categories. The most important segmentation is core versus non- core, or properties with stable income versus unstabilized ones. Some investors consider four loosely defined classifications: core, core plus, value-added, and opportunistic.

Our “core” category includes both core and core plus strategies, and our “non-core” category includes both value- added and those opportunistic strategies that are real estate based rather than corporate. The distinction between value- added and opportunistic essentially refers to how unstable the income is, but there is not a consensus on where on the continuum the definition changes. Most things considered to be value-added have some income component, whereas opportunistic assets can have none (i.e., empty buildings or new developments).

This paper offers some perspectives on core and non-core investing, and includes a brief discussion of cycles and how they can affect both types of investing.

Continue reading (PDF)

David M. Sherman
President

David M. Sherman is a Co-founder, the President of the Manager and a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Sherman has more than 24 years of real estate finance and analytical experience. In 2000, Mr. Sherman founded D. Sherman & Company, Inc., an advisory firm focused on strategic issues and transactions in the real estate securities industry.

Previously, Mr. Sherman was the Managing Director of Salomon Smith Barney’s REIT research team, which covered over 60 stocks and supported the firm’s 15 billion of REIT offering activity. The team received recognition from Institutional Investor Magazine in 1998 and 1999. Mr. Sherman also held other positions in real estate finance, investment banking, and strategic planning at Smith Barney, The Harlan Company, First Boston, and Paine Webber, including acting as the Chief Financial Officer of Paine Webber Properties, a family of real estate funds with over $500 million in property investments.

In addition, Mr. Sherman was an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Finance at Columbia University Graduate School of Business Administration for seven years. Over the years, Mr. Sherman has published numerous articles in periodicals including American Banker, Pension Real Estate Association quarterly, Shopping Center Business, and National Real Estate Investor.

Currently, Mr. Sherman serves as an independent director on the board of Brookfield Homes Corporation. Mr. Sherman received his B.A. in Mathematical Economics from Brown University and his M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University Graduate School of Business Administration.

T. Robert Burke
Managing Director

T. Robert Burke is a Co-founder and Managing Director of the Manager and a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Burke has co-founded two successful real estate organizations (AMB Property Corporation (NYSE: AMB) and Institutional Housing Partners, a leading homebuilding finance company) and has over 30 years of real estate experience.

Prior to founding AMB, he was a senior real estate partner with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster and, for two years, served as that firm’s Managing Partner of Operations. In addition, he is a Trustee of Stanford University and has served on the investment committees of the Stanford Management Company, the Hewlett Foundation and the UCSF Foundation.

He is also the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pension Real Estate Association, and a former member of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. Mr. Burke graduated from Stanford University and holds a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School.

David G. Nasaw
Managing Director

David G. Nasaw is a Co-founder and Managing Director of the Manager and a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Nasaw has over 40 years of real estate investment experience, including over 20 years representing high net worth owners of real estate properties. This experience includes the creation of asset allocation and investment strategies, the implementation of investment strategies for real estate allocations, property and portfolio valuations, property disposition and acquisition strategies, as well as market studies and development analysis.

Mr. Nasaw was the President and founder of Metropolitan Real Estate Advisors, Inc. (“MREA”), an asset advisory firm engaged in the deployment of real estate investment capital for several high net worth families. MREA manages approximately $600 million in equity and mezzanine investments in over $4 billion in properties, including apartments, single family homes, industrial, office, senior housing, self storage, and retail. He is now a senior advisor to MREA.

Mr. Nasaw has served as a consultant to corporate clients on various property leasing and development projects. Mr. Nasaw was a principal purchase negotiator on behalf of the former owners of the Oakland Athletics baseball franchise and the leader of the consulting group to a major media conglomerate for evaluations of potential sports franchise acquisitions including the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Chicago White Sox, and the Chicago Bulls.

In 1977, Mr. Nasaw founded Metropolitan Properties, Ltd., a firm that was engaged in ground-up development of retail/commercial properties as well as the rehabilitation of urban properties. Subsequently, he was the developer of single and multi-tenant buildings (leased to retail tenants such as Toys ”R” Us, Circuit City and many others), a re-developer of distribution facilities and community shopping centers, and an asset manager of a forty-building industrial portfolio.

Mr. Nasaw holds a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

Felipe Dorregaray
Managing Director

Felipe Dorregaray is a Managing Director, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Compliance Officer of the Manager. He is responsible for finance and administration and supports all aspects of fund management activities including investments, client service and regulatory compliance.

Mr. Dorregaray joined D. Sherman & Company, Inc. as a Vice President in 2001. Prior to that, Mr. Dorregaray served as the Latin American Equities strategist at ABN AMRO. Mr. Dorregaray’s research experience began in 1996 when he joined Salomon Smith Barney’s REIT research group.

Mr. Dorregaray received a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Miami and an M.B.A. from American University.

Margaret Gipe McKnight
Managing Director

Margaret Gipe McKnight is a Managing Director and a member of the Investment Committee. Ms. McKnight is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and analyzing Underlying Fund managers and investment opportunities. Ms. McKnight will also seek and review opportunities to purchase interests in Underlying Funds on the secondary market.

Prior to joining the Manager, Ms. McKnight spent six years with Cambridge Associates where she led their real assets specialist consulting practice. She advised clients on all aspects of building real assets portfolios, from setting policy to selecting and monitoring managers.

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Ms. McKnight spent eleven years with J.P. Morgan where she was a Vice President, Real Estate Equity Investments, and served on the investment team of the Argo Partnerships. Prior to that role, she was part of the investment banking group at J.P. Morgan; her advisory assignments included an extensive review and restructuring of an $8 billion national portfolio and the sale of a subsidiary of The Equitable (at that time the nation’s largest real estate investment management company).

Ms. McKnight graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College and received an M.B.A. from New York University.

Andrew Jacobs
Managing Director

Andrew Jacobs is a Managing Director and a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Jacobs is responsible for identifying, evaluating and analyzing Underlying Fund managers and investment opportunities. Mr. Jacobs will also seek and review opportunities to purchase interests in Underlying Funds on the secondary market.

Prior to joining Metropolitan, Mr. Jacobs was with Angelo, Gordon & Co. for ten years where he undertook senior level acquisition and asset management responsibilities for a diversified portfolio consisting of 50 properties located throughout the U.S. with a total capitalization of $1.7 billion. While at Angelo Gordon, Mr. Jacobs focused on the “opportunistic” and “core plus” strategies.

Prior to Angelo Gordon, Mr. Jacobs was a project manager for Hines at their corporate headquarters in Houston. There, Mr. Jacobs oversaw the development of a 473 room Westin hotel and the disposition of a large portfolio of industrial properties.

Before Hines, Mr. Jacobs worked for Campbell Soup, selling surplus industrial properties and selecting retail locations for Campbell’s subsidiary, Godiva Chocolatier.

Mr. Jacobs is active in several architecture preservation organizations in New York and has been a member of ULI since 1994. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Finance at Columbia Business School. Mr. Jacobs holds an M.B.A. in Real Estate Finance from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania.

John So
Managing Director

John So is a Managing Director of Metropolitan Real Estate’s wholly owned subsidiary and sub-advisor, Metropolitan Real Estate Asia Limited, which opened in September 2011. With more than 20 years of experience in real estate investing, he is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and analyzing underlying fund managers and investment opportunities.

Prior to joining Metropolitan Real Estate, Mr. So was Director of Grosvenor Asia Pacific where he was employed since 2000 with responsibilities over the years as Managing Director of Investments, Head of China, Head of Fund Management Asia (serving on the Global Fund Management Board), and CEO of the Grosvenor Land Property Fund (a joint venture with Hongkong Land). He has actively invested in Greater China, Japan, and Singapore, creating five funds and building an operating platform of more than 80 staff across those markets.

He was previously a Director of Jardine Fleming Securities, heading up the Regional Real Estate Research team. His responsibilities involved analyzing Asian property cycles, researching publicly-listed Asian property companies, and advising clients on such investments. From 1995-2000, he was consistently ranked by clients at or near the top of his sector in leading financial surveys done by Institutional Investor, Asiamoney, Euromoney, and Greenwich.

Mr. So received his Bachelors degree in Urban Studies from Brown University and his Masters in Urban Design (with Distinction) from the University of Hong Kong (where he regularly serves as a guest lecturer). He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst, Founding Committee Member of the Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (ANREV), North Asia Committee Member of the Urban Land Institute, and an active Brown alumnus.

Jeremy Ford
Senior Vice President

Jeremy Ford is a Senior Vice President of the Manager and a member of the Investment Committee. He is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and analyzing Underlying Fund managers and investment opportunities primarily in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining the Manager, he was a management consultant with Simon-Kucher & Partners where he specialized in pricing and marketing strategies across a broad range of industries in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S.

Mr. Ford received a B.S. in Foreign Service and international economics (cum laude) and an M.B.A. with high distinction from Georgetown University. He was a J. William Fulbright scholar at the Juan March Institute in Madrid, Spain.

Dorothy Walter
Senior Associate

Dorothy Walter is a senior associate on the Investment team. She is responsible for providing analytic support in the due diligence and fund selection process.

Ms. Walter received a B.A. in Economics and Art History (Phi Beta Kappa) from Vassar College.