Thomas Shapiro, President, Founder, and Chief Investment Officer of GTIS Partners, joined Keith Black, Managing Director of RIA Channel, to discuss investing in real estate equity and debt.
Strategies
U.S. Real Estate Debt
GTIS is seeking investor commitments to participate in the origination, acquisition, and restructuring of high-yield senior and mezzanine debt opportunities. This initiative capitalizes on the favorable market conditions for real estate credit, underpinned by the following factors:
- The current economic landscape is characterized by escalating interest rates coupled with depreciating asset values. Multiple bank failures and challenges in traditional lender balance sheets have resulted in a contraction in the availability of real estate credit.
- According to MBA, Newmark Research as of 2/12/2024, an estimated $2 trillion of commercial real estate debt is projected to mature by the end of 2026, necessitating refinancing. In the wake of traditional lenders offering substantially lower loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, there is a capital shortfall in replacing the maturing debt, further accentuating the capital dislocation in the market.
These dynamics create a compelling and scalable opportunity to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns through targeted investments in debt secured by high-quality real estate assets. GTIS Partners aims to maintain defensive LTV positions (sub-75%) within the capital stack while generating equity-like returns.
GTIS Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund II
The GTIS Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund II is a strategic continuation of our seasoned investment approach, leveraging 18 years of experience in developing quality residential and commercial real estate. GTIS has deployed over $600 million of equity across a diversified portfolio of Opportunity Zone assets.
Targeting 15-20 projects, Fund II emphasizes diversity and robust property fundamentals in high-growth Sunbelt markets and emergent tech hubs, aiming to mitigate risk, concentrating on demographic and job expansion areas.
The Fund provides an investor-aligned incentive structure within a REIT framework to ensure institutional-grade governance and flexibility, prioritizing overall fund performance and providing an efficient, investor-friendly tax reporting.