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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Erika speaks with Brent Lieberman of Levelan Partners about his journey in the real estate industry, focusing on the industrial sector. They discuss the importance of networking, sourcing deals, navigating market trends, and maintaining high standards in tenant management. Brent shares valuable insights for aspiring real estate professionals and outlines his vision for growth at Levelan Partners.
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Brent Lieberman (00:00)
Yeah, I mean, especially so we took down a full city block in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, in the warehouse arts district. And that was a major redevelopment. ⁓ It was sub 50 % occupied. The structures were more or less dilapidated. ⁓ One didn’t have running water sewer electric and amidst the COVID kind of construction price boom where every day you were ⁓ seeing price escalations.you had to pivot in terms of what you were able to achieve and when, the types of tenants that you were trying to attract. And so, what started out was a business plan with a certain price execution. You have to adapt and you have to navigate as to how to ⁓ handle that in real time ⁓ without being too stressed over the outcome
Erika (02:24)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Erika and today I’m excited to be chatting with Brent Lieberman of Levelan Partners. He’s been shaking things up in the real estate world. Brent, I’m glad to have you here.Brent Lieberman (02:41)
Thank you, Erika. Pleasure to be here.Erika (02:42)
I think our listeners are going to have a lot to learn from your journey. So let’s dive on in. For our listeners who aren’t familiar with your world, can you give us the rundown and share what led you to real estate?Brent Lieberman (02:57)
Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ college went to University of Wisconsin-Madison dual degrees in real estate and finance. That translated to an internship at Blackstone where I was part of their private placement group where we were fundraising for both Blackstone and third party private equity funds specific to real estate. And that kind of opened my eyes and exposure to the institutional side of real estate.Knowing that I wanted to be more on the acquisition side of the business, I had moved to Denver, Colorado, where I worked for a company called Amstar. And what was unique there was they were a family office with third-party capital adjacent, and they had large exposure both domestically and internationally. And so we were able to work on all property types in many different geographies throughout the world. And so for your young 20s,
⁓ coming right out of college to be able to jump into something like that. was quite intriguing to me. And then a few years later, ⁓ the Townsend Group based here in Cleveland, Ohio, where I am now based and from, they brought me into work in their special situations group. At the time, they were about a $5.5 billion group amongst eight of us where we were tasked with deploying capital alongside JV.
or co-investment partners, both in the US and abroad. ⁓ So it was nice to be able to be closer to family while still being able to work on multiple property types. And one morning I’d wake up working on a deal in Orlando, Florida. The next I’d be working on a large scale portfolio in Japan. And so that diversity and kind of depth of experience really led me to have the skill set to in May of 2019,
start leveling partners on my own here where we specialize in the industrial sector. That’s all we do. We do stabilize net lease acquisitions as well as value add opportunities in the Midwest and Southeast US with a primary target of industrial properties below 250,000 square feet.
Erika (05:08)
That’s really, really awesome. our listeners who want to get their new real estate and want to get into a similar space like you, what kind of advice would you give them?Brent Lieberman (06:08)
You know, coffee meeting or setting up a phone call never hurts. ⁓ I think what you’ll find is a lot of the professionals, you know, and lean on your academic networks, whether that’s ⁓ from your neighborhood or your college. Reach out to people that you think have interesting career paths and learn from them. And all it takes is someone to slightly open a door for you or make another introduction. ⁓ And a lot of times you’ll find that those warm introductions lead tofirst opportunities into the career path that you’d like to proceed with. So ⁓ that to me is a big ⁓ leg up and don’t be shy to reach out.
Erika (06:47)
Yeah, that’s some really solid advice there. Brent, when it comes to the deals that you’ve done in the industrial space, what has it looked like for you when it comes to sourcing deals? Has that been through your network? Has that been through technology? Can you walk us through that?Brent Lieberman (07:06)
combination of both, frankly, ⁓ but it’s a matter of maintaining relationships. And ⁓ the better you are at staying on top of the markets that you want to pursue opportunities in and building a rapport with your counterparts and above all else, it’s execution and ability to close. So when you can exemplify that ⁓ you’re easy to work with,you stick true to your word, you close on opportunities, and you’re a pleasure to be on the other side of the table with, more times than not, more deals will come. And I lean heavily on that approach, ⁓ and so far, it’s worked well for us.
Erika (07:50)
Yeah, that’s really great. What kind of trends are you noticing in the market that other investors should be aware of right now?Brent Lieberman (07:58)
Well, trends, it comes in all shapes and sizes and depends on your kind of niche within the sector. ⁓ We specialize predominantly in that single tenant net lease space. ⁓ But you’re seeing, for just one example in the industrial sector with reshoring, where manufacturing, there might’ve been a lot of concentration during COVID in the distribution space. ⁓ There’s been a bit more focus.also on the manufacturing sector domestically here. But to me, think it’s just continue to ⁓ gain that experience and expertise in that particular pocket. And again, this doesn’t apply to only industrial, can apply to retail or office, et cetera. But ⁓ the more you build your brand around what you’re good at, ⁓ more deals and kind of the quicker you’re able to scale.
Erika (08:54)
Yeah, that’s really solid advice there, Brent. When it comes to the deals that you’ve done, have there been any where you’ve had to completely pivot or change what you were doing? know, every real estate pro has a moment like that. Can you share one of those on your journey and what you learned from it?Brent Lieberman (09:48)
Yeah, I mean, especially so we took down a full city block in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, in the warehouse arts district. And that was a major redevelopment. ⁓ It was sub 50 % occupied. The structures were more or less dilapidated. ⁓ One didn’t have running water sewer electric and amidst the COVID kind of construction price boom where every day you were ⁓ seeing price escalations.you had to pivot in terms of what you were able to achieve and when, the types of tenants that you were trying to attract. And so, what started out was a business plan with a certain price execution. You have to adapt and you have to navigate as to how to ⁓ handle that in real time ⁓ without being too stressed over the outcome
in terms of
⁓ just knowing that you got to lean towards your execution strategy. So you’ll hit bumps along the road, but ⁓ we were able to make up for it, you know, and getting creative and making smaller units and charge a little bit more rent or refined ⁓ some of the, what I would call discretionary spending and applied that once we had secured a tenant. So we weren’t putting those dollars at risk and instead focused on putting dollars in to the true infrastructure like
You know, new electric, for example. ⁓ So you kind of adapt to the ebbs and flows of the market and perhaps the timing, but you still have to lean on your initial business plan. ⁓ And so while shifts occur, you know, stay true to that plan because once you go awry, things can happen. ⁓ At least that’s from my perspective.
Erika (11:30)
Speaking of shifting, one thing that can really shift is the tenants that you have or the quality of them. From your perspective, how do you try to maintain that consistency, whether it’s having the desirable amount of tenants or the quality of them?Brent Lieberman (11:49)
Yeah, I mean, we’re pretty strict on our underwriting criteria, both from a building perspective, but also from a tenant perspective. So that leads to evaluating the underlying credit and financial health of a business. You know, we’re a smaller, nimble firm, so I’m not looking for ⁓ strictly publicly traded corporate credit ⁓ clients. But, you know, even if you’re dealing in the local or regional sectors, ⁓ you know, it’s very important tobe face to face with the client or the tenant, ⁓ have a review of their historical financials, understand the nuances of their business. And if you get comfortable with that, that’s a solid foundation ⁓ for knowing that you’ll have a longer term relationship with that tenant ⁓ versus the opposite, is ⁓ just trusting that they’re positive and healthy because they have a large footprint.
Size does not necessarily mean they’re financially stable. And that’s something people should be cognizant of.
Erika (12:48)
Yes, absolutely. I’m assuming there’s people you’ve had to turn away in that situation that things maybe looked okay on the outside, but then you did some digging.Brent Lieberman (12:59)
Absolutely. Yeah, it happens. And you know, it also factors in when you’re buying a building and you think it’s a great opportunity and you take a look under the hood and it’s not up to your standard. And that’s why we keep our standards so high is that, you know, it’s got to check all the boxes to make sure that it’s a sound investment for us and for our investors. ⁓ So we’re very keen on the financial health of every underlying tenant that we have in our portfolio.Erika (13:26)
What do you have on the horizon at Levelan Partners? How are you looking to grow in scale?Brent Lieberman (13:32)
Yeah, absolutely. So, you we’re about five to 600,000 square feet today. We’re looking to cross the million mark by the end of 2026. With that said, you know, it’s deal by deal driven. So we’re not going to compromise quality for scale. You know, if we miss the million square foot mark, because we only bought a couple deals that we thought were really strong, we much rather be in that position than, you know, intentionally buy deals to exceed that million square foot goal.while compromising the quality or perhaps, like I said, checking all the boxes. ⁓ We need to make sure we hit 10 for 10 ⁓ on every deal that we do. ⁓ And it helps in the long run. We’d grow slow than grow quick and have problems down
Erika (14:59)
Yeah, that’s a good way of ⁓ looking at it. Well, Brent, this has been awesome today. If someone reaching out wants to connect, learn more, maybe they’re interested in doing a deal, what’s the best way for them to reach you?Brent Lieberman (15:16)
Yeah,absolutely. So LinkedIn is a great resource. Please find us, Levelan partners or Brent Lieberman. Happy to speak direct. You can message me directly on there. There’s also an info ⁓ section on our website, levelanpartners.com. You can see a sample of our portfolio on there. ⁓ But like I said, we’re a small, nimble entrepreneurial group here. ⁓ We love to engage with
prospective clients, prospective investors, etc. So please reach out and happy to connect.
Erika (15:50)
So yes, I hope people do. We need more people in this space who want to grow and scale, but do things the right way. Do it responsibly. It’s better for everyone. Well, for our listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pros podcast. We’ve got more conversations lined up with experts like Brent, who are building fantastic real estate businesses. We’ll see you on.Brent Lieberman (16:02)
Absolutely.Erika (16:20)
the next episode.Brent Lieberman (16:21)
Thank you for having me, Erika.Erika (16:22)
Yeah, thanks for being here.
