Eli Braha, principal of the privately-held real estate company Berkley Acquisitions, is launching a $100 million fund that will seek to invest mainly in opportunistic and distressed assets in the New York metropolitan area.
The fund will focus on transactions with a total purchase price of $10 million to $35 million. It will attempt to generate a gross annualized internal rate of return of 15%, according to Braha.
Institutions including BlackRock, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are helping to support the fund, Braha said.
“Because of the recent downturn in the financial and real estate sectors, I was able to create a Dream Team,” Braha said in a press release.
Braha, who has acquired, owned, managed, and operated over 50 properties during his 20-year career in the real estate industry, said he knew that when the housing bubble burst, it created many opportunities “if you know where to look.”
Braha feels that a $100 million raise could acquire approximately a half billion dollars of assets under management. Berkley will seek to invest in retail, hotel, commercial, multifamily, development properties, leasehold interests and mortgage notes securitized by real property.
“This is a unique moment in the metro New York real estate market,” Braha added.
