Page 7 - RE-NJ

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TEPPER, SKYLIGHT JOIN FORCES
TO LAUNCH DEVELOPMENT FIRM
Pennsylvania region.
That amounted to more than 4,600
apartments and some $2.2 billion
of capitalization for development,
according to a news release. And
it followed 21 years at Matrix,
where Tepper was vice president,
Longtime development executive
Russell Tepper has a new home
and a new venture after teaming
with Skylight Real Estate Partners
to launch a ground-up multifamily
platform.
Tepper — a fi xture in New Jersey
commercial real estate during
more than 30 years with Mill Creek
Residential Trust and Matrix
Development Group — is president
of the new Skylight Residential
Group as it builds a pipeline
throughout the Northeast. He’ll do
so alongside Skylight Real Estate
Partners founding principals Gavin
Evans, Ben Joseph and Andrew
Miller, with a focus on building
market-rate and affordable housing
in regions that are experiencing
meaningful undersupply.
Skylight Residential Group
described its team as highly
entrepreneurial, adding that it has
the skillset to develop apartments
and mixed-use projects in low-, mid-
and high-rise buildings of varying
densities. The venture, which will
source, fi nance, build and manage
the projects, will also pursue
redevelopment of underutilized
properties that are no longer
achieving the fi scal results that were
originally intended.
“I’m very excited to be leading
the team in implementing this
portfolio growth strategy,” Tepper
said. “Having developed properties
throughout the region for my entire
career, I am passionate about
building ‘homes’ that help meet the
needs of so many of our neighbors
while also creating meaningful value
for our team and partners.”
As president, Tepper leads all
efforts to source and execute
Skylight Residential’s ground-up
multifamily rental development
strategy and is responsible for
managing the day-to-day activities
associated with new communities
that it will develop. He most
recently was a senior managing
director at Mill Creek Residential
Trust, where he spent more than 10
years and was responsible for all
development activities in the New
York, New Jersey, Connecticut and
Russell Tepper
development, and managed the
development activity for more than
5.3 million square feet of offi ce,
retail and industrial space and over
1,600 apartments.
Tepper holds a bachelor’s in
business administration with
a degree in fi nance from the
University of Delaware.
“The fi nancing, development and
management synergies created by
this venture are tremendous, Miller
said. “I and my partners are so
impressed with Russell’s experience
and look forward to many years of
signifi cant and sustainable value
creation with him.”
Skylight Real Estate Partners is a
privately held real estate investment
fi rm with deep experience acquiring,
developing and managing residential
and commercial assets in the prime
U.S. markets of New York, New
Jersey, Washington D.C. and central
and south Florida. That includes
several deals in New Jersey, such
as the 2022 acquisition of the 276-
unit Hudson Lights property in
Fort Lee and several major deals in
Edgewater and Hoboken.
The team says its 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 $18
billion of gross asset value, which
translates to some 9,000 residential
units and 20 million square feet of
offi ce and retail assets.
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ARCHITECTURE PLANNING INTERIOR DESIGN SUSTAINABILITY