Carlton Launches Crowdfunding Website
April 24, 2014
Howard L. Michaels, Chairman of The Carlton Group, has announced the launch of a major real estate crowdfunding platform and website which will provide Accredited Investors from around the world an opportunity to invest in large, high-yield, cash-flowing commercial real estate investments.
The Carlton CrowdFund website (www.carltoncrowdfund.com) will give qualified, Accredited Investors instant access to confidential, proprietary real estate investment opportunities that will provide investors with great cash flowing and profit making investment opportunities, Mr. Michaels said.
In business since 1991, Carlton has completed well over $100 billion of commercial real estate transactions. Carlton and its executives have completed some of the largest deals in the United States and Europe and investors and capital providers have made billions of dollars in profits on transactions arranged by Carlton.
Certain of the more notable deals completed by Carlton include the following:
- The $1.4 billion recapitalization of the General Motors Building, which facilitated the funding and development of the World’s most successful Apple Store
- The financing and recapitalization of the Sears Tower; now called Willis Tower
- The $1 billion sale and recapitalization of the Bank of America Tower in San Francisco
- The $1 billion Edition Hotel, Retail and LED signage development at 701 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan
- The equity and debt placement at highly successful residential condominium 737 Park Avenue
- Over 40 million square feet of Manhattan office, hotel, and retail transactions including at least six major office buildings on Madison Avenue
- The €250 million recapitalization of the Four Seasons in Milan, Italy
Navish Chawla is Chief Investment Officer for Carlton’s crowdfunding effort, and is a highly respected investment professional, having spent the last nine years at private equity giants, Madison International and BlackRock.
Mr. Chawla proclaimed the, “Carlton Accredited Investor Equity Program will level the playing field and allow high net worth investors to independently and objectively underwrite and value specific real estate assets for investment. “This will provide investors and wealth managers with much greater transparency for investing in cash flowing real estate transactions,” Mr. Chawla said.
Mr. Chawla also indicated that Carlton’s global offices in Madrid, Dubai, London and Athens, “will give investors from around the world ready access to invest in prime United States commercial real estate transactions which are highly desirable given the tremendous amount of flight capital looking to invest in Manhattan and the United States at this time.”
Kevin Swill, Carlton Managing Director in charge of Institutional Equity Distribution, is the former President of Kushner Companies and Westminster Capital, where he financed the $2 billion acquisition of 666 Fifth Avenue, as well as oversaw more than13,000 apartments for the firm.
Mr. Swill stated, “This is a huge opportunity for accredited real estate investors to take advantage of the historically low interest rate environment that is providing investors with great cash-on-cash yields which in many cases are as much as 10 times what can be achieved in money market and other similar instruments.”
The Carlton Accredited Equity Crowdfunding website will be kicked off with over $1 billion of worldwide real estate investment opportunities located in New York, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Toronto, and Madrid, Spain.
All properties and potential transactions go through a strict vetting process and investors will only be able to invest after they have completed a thorough investigation of the relevant deal room due diligence, containing all necessary deal information.
All deposit monies will be escrowed with a separate independent party and a detailed subscription agreement that will lay out both the general and limited partner obligations and responsibilities. The contemplated equity investment amounts will range from $1 – $20 million per investor, with transaction sizes ranging from $20 – $100 million. In addition, family offices and other high net worth investors who wish to transact one-off transactions with Carlton will also have the opportunity to do so.
One of the main advantages for Accredited Investors to partner with Carlton is its high quality, multi-billion dollar pipeline, which the firm enjoys due to its strong relationships with large institutional investors and private property owners who continuously come to Carlton to arrange capital for their transactions. Sponsors of the Crowdfunding investment opportunities will either be a Carlton controlled affiliate or another top quality real estate investment firm Carlton has a relationship with by providing asset management services, and control and/or veto rights over major decisions.
Carlton has access to over $10 billion of annual quality real estate deal flow and it intends to select the best opportunities for the crowdfunding platform, Mr. Michaels said. In addition, Carlton will co-invest its own funds in every single transaction.
[contact-form-7 404 "Not Found"]