As optimism about interest rate cuts this year fades, many CRE professionals find themselves slogging through, working with what they have amid the uncertainty over what’s to come.
In this episode of Real Talk, Andrew speaks with Sean Burton, CEO of Cityview, a vertically integrated real estate investment management and development firm focused on multifamily housing in gateway markets in the Western U.S.
Elan Mountain View offers extensive amenities in prime location
Sean Burton, CEO of Cityview, recounts his extraordinary path from the Clinton White House to mastering the real estate investment landscape in the latest episode of Real Estate Capital.
As CEO of Cityview, named the most active multifamily developer in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal for the past four years, Sean Burton stays busy.
Developers are accommodating residents’ evolving spatial needs.
Mixed-use project from Cityview also includes ground-floor retail
Cityview, a premier multifamily investment management and development firm, was recently named one of CRE’s Best Places to Work by GlobeSt.
Locally based Cityview, a multifamily investment management and development firm, has completed Belle on Bev, a 243-unit mixed-use project in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown (HiFi).
Belle on Bev offers highly amenitized, mixed-use space inspired by local community
Oakland project honored for being among biggest, boldest and most creative deals in Bay Area
What makes a good multifamily housing investment, and how can family offices determine if such an investment is a good fit?
Based in New York City, Donner pursues new global strategic opportunities, builds and maintains relationships with investors and partners and leads the firm’s fund development and capital strategy.
Previously, Donner was CEO of America PIMCO Prime Real Estate LLC (formerly Allianz Real Estate of America LLC), where he provided strategic leadership over the commercial mortgage loan business and equity investments of Allianz’s global subsidiaries in North America. During his time as CEO, the firm’s real estate investments grew from $7 billion to $22 billion.
Prior to that, he was a Senior Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer at Aareal Capital Corporation, where he managed a portfolio of $5 billion. He has also served as Managing Director at Hypo Real Estate in New York, London and Munich, Head of Project Finance at Vivico Real Estate in Frankfurt, Germany and as a Vice President at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.
Donner is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable and the Urban Land Institute’s Global Exchange Council. Previously, he was a board member for the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). He holds a graduate degree in business from the Technische Universität in Berlin.
Ms. Hunt joined Cityview in 2021 and is a Senior Associate on the Business Development & Capital Relations team. She is primarily responsible for relationship management, investor communications, and marketing collateral. Additionally, she works closely with internal functional teams on due diligence efforts and supports investor reporting and special projects. She is also a member of Cityview’s Sustainability Committee focused on communication of ESG initiatives to investors.
Ms. Hunt has over six years of real estate investment, capital formation, and investor relations experience. Prior to joining Cityview, she was an Associate with Chicago-based Magnolia Capital. During her tenure, she worked on equity capital raises for numerous real estate investment vehicles. Prior to Magnolia, Ms. Hunt was a Financial Analyst with LaSalle Investment Management where she oversaw the financial performance of assets with over $1 billion in value.
Ms. Hunt received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance, Investment, and Banking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jonathan Anderson is the Controller of Cityview and provides leadership and oversight over the finance, accounting, and shared services departments. Prior to joining the Cityview team, Jonathan worked at CIM Group where he held various finance and accounting roles during his tenure, most recently as head of private fund reporting and prior to that as director of SEC reporting for one of CIM Group’s publicly traded REITs. Jonathan began his career in Ernst & Young’s assurance practice where he served both public and private clients in the real estate and asset management industries. Jonathan graduated from the University of Southern California with both a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in real estate finance.
Tina O’Brien, HR Director, is a senior national and state-certified HR Professional (SPHR, SHRM-SCP, PHRca), managing the HR team overseeing all aspects of Human Resources for both Cityview and its affiliate, Westhome. Her experience spans the spectrum of the HR field, including recruitment, employee relations, performance management, benefits, compliance and employee development. She joined Cityview in summer 2021 from a telecom technology firm in Van Nuys, and previously worked for a private real estate investment and property management company in Beverly Hills. Tina is an LA native and she’s committed to helping grow our vibrant, healthy corporate culture here at Cityview.
Denise Katz manages Cityview’s core and development assets across multiple investment vehicles and is responsible for maximizing the operational and financial performance of the assets. Denise has over twelve years of experience in real estate. Prior to joining Cityview, Denise was Regional Vice President at CIM Group of a $2.4 billion portfolio in the Western US and Latin American markets. During her time at CIM, she managed end-to-end transitions of development projects, acquisitions, and dispositions of office, multifamily, retail, parking, condominium, and mixed-use projects. She holds a double major Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Psychology from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
After 8 years in the construction industry managed complex multi-use development projects, Anh Le joined Cityview in 2018 as Director of Development. Le manages ground-up developments in Northern and Southern California and leads consultant teams through entitlement, design, permitting, budgeting, contracting, construction management and project turnover. She works closely with designers, neighborhood groups and Cityview’s in-house Asset Management team to deliver best-in-class multifamily projects. Prior to Cityview, Le worked as a project engineer and project manager at Cobalt Construction. Le holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.
Kyle Naye is Senior Director, Acquisitions of Cityview. As Senior Director of Acquisitions, he is responsible for managing acquisitions, including sourcing, underwriting, closing and developing comprehensive business plans for investors. Naye primarily focuses on non-California markets across the Western U.S., including Seattle, Portland, Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Dallas, and Austin. In his role, Naye works closely with the Cityview team to manage and expand strategic acquisitions across the firm’s vertically integrated platform.
Prior to joining Cityview, Naye was a vice president of originations at PGIM Real Estate, where he provided transactions and underwriting oversight for core-plus and high-yield debt vehicles. He also held a prior role at PGIM managing the underwriting, investment committee preparation and closing of $992 million in multifamily, retail and office assets across the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. At earlier stages of his career, Naye was a senior associate of acquisitions at Clarion Partners, senior real estate analyst at Northmarq and an officer in the United States Navy.
As Director of Development, Zory Grigoryan is responsible for the full cycle development of several of Cityview’s projects, which includes managing the due diligence, underwriting, entitlement, design engineering, construction processes and turnover to asset management. Prior to joining Cityview, Grigoryan worked for Oakmont Capital as a Project Manager overseeing the development and construction of several multifamily projects. Prior to that, he worked at Cobalt Construction as a Project Manager on the construction of numerous mixed use and multifamily projects. During his career, Grigoryan has been responsible for the development, preconstruction and construction of over 1,500 units.
Grigoryan holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Construction Management from the California State University of Northridge, where he was the top ranked graduate of his year. During his time at Cobalt Construction, Grigoryan was also selected as distinguished alumni by the CSUN department faculty and appointed as ambassador for alumni recruitment by CSUN construction management department’s board of governors committee.
Chris Brown is responsible for capital raising and investor relations at Cityview. Chris has over seven years of real estate investment and capital raising experience. Prior to joining Cityview, he was a member of the Fund Advisory team at JLL working on equity capital raises for private real estate investment vehicles. Prior to JLL, Chris worked on the Portfolio Management team at Clarion Partners and the Asset Management team at LaSalle Investment Management. Chris graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s Degrees in Finance and Real Estate. He is a general securities representative.
Dana Gomez-Gayne manages the legal aspects of all project-related matters, including acquisition, development, financing, management and disposition, and advises Cityview on corporate formation and maintenance, insurance, risk management, compliance and other legal matters. She was previously an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP where she represented a variety of clients in real estate, project development and finance transactions. Gomez-Gayne also has a background in fundraising development and worked at Teach For America raising philanthropic funds from regional and national corporations and foundations. She is a graduate of Pomona College and Pepperdine University School of Law.
Con Howe leads Cityview’s partnerships to finance, assemble and entitle land for development in the greater Los Angeles area. With over 40 years of experience in planning, entitlements and development, he assists all Cityview funds with acquisitions and development strategies. Prior to coming to Cityview, he was the Director of Planning for the City of Los Angeles responsible for the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance and zoning to encourage infill housing. Previously he was the Executive Director of the New York City Planning Department. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale and his master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Shane Robinson is responsible for managing all aspects of Cityview’s stabilized, value add and new development assets. With more than 23 years of experience managing multifamily assets, he is a seasoned real estate professional experienced in a range of investment strategies that drive growth and efficiency for investors.
Prior to this role, Shane held pivotal positions at various organizations in the real estate industry. As Vice President of Property Management at Westhome, Robinson played a vital role in implementing the operational infrastructure that facilitated market expansion.
During his tenure at Sunrise Management, his leadership established and solidified the company’s operational foothold in new markets, contributing to the growth and success of the firm. His early asset management career was at GHP Management, where he specialized in lease-ups and effectively managed a substantial core portfolio of over 5,000 units.
Devang Shah is co-head of Cityview’s acquisitions activities. He has 27 years of experience in real estate investment, development, design, construction and asset management. Previously, Devang was the principal of Marketcents Inc., an independent project management firm, serving as an owner’s representative to investment firms, builders and developers. Prior to that, he worked was Vice-President at RCLCo, LLC, a national independent real estate consulting firm.
Adam Perry oversees all aspects of the commercial real estate development process from acquisition due diligence and entitlement processing through design budgeting, contracting, construction management, closeout and turnover. Prior to joining Cityview, Adam worked at CIM group as an Associate Vice President of Development overseeing ground up retail, office and mixed-use developments.
Adam holds a BA Degree in Political Science and History from UCLA and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Jennifer Halvas is a member of the firm’s investor relations team, where she is responsible for maintaining relationships with the investor community and helping to develop investment strategies and initiatives. Over the years, she has been instrumental in securing capital needs for several Cityview funds across a broad base of institutional investors, foundations and endowments, family offices and high-net-worth investors. A 14-year veteran of the firm, Jennifer is also a partner at Cityview and a member of its investment committee.
She was previously at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, where she represented a variety of clients in real estate, project development and finance transactions. Jennifer holds a B.A. with honors from the University of Southern California and a JD from Vanderbilt Law School.
Sean Burton co-founded Cityview in 2003. Prior to joining Cityview, Sean was vice president of corporate business development and strategy at Warner Bros. Before that, he was an attorney in the real estate and corporate groups at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP and also served in the White House during the Clinton Administration. In 2022, Burton was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the federal nominee on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors, which oversees Washington Dulles and Reagan National airports.
From 2013 to 2021, Sean oversaw the $20B modernization of LAX as President of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. He also served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, as the co-chair of the Los Angeles Coalition, a coalition of business leaders for the economy and jobs in LA, and will chair the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 2027. Sean holds a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine and a JD from New York University School of Law.