The Lightstone Group is a privately held real estate investment company which owns and operates a diversified portfolio of multifamily, office, industrial, hotel, and retail properties. Lightstone has invested directly in individual real estate assets and in real estate operating companies. The company was founded by

David Lichtenstein David Lichtenstein is an American billionaire entrepreneur and real estate investor. He is the founder and CEO of The Lightstone Group, which he founded in 1988. During the early years of the Lightstone Group, Lichtenstein focused on invest ...

in 1988. The company's portfolio of real estate properties spans 20 U.S. states, and includes more than 11,000 multifamily units and approximately 20 million square feet of commercial space in the office, industrial, hotel, and retail sectors. The company has more than 450 employees, and is headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with regional offices in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Beacon Management is a Lightstone subsidiary, which manages the company's residential apartment business. Baltimore, Maryland-based Paragon Outlets is an affiliate of Lightstone, and manages the company's retail portfolio.

Lightstone REITs

In 2006, the company offered a $300 million

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

, which allowed Lightstone to raise money from outside investors for the first time. The non-traded Lightstone Value Plus REIT invested in office, retail, and other commercial properties, and by the end of 2009, was fully invested in a total of 30 properties. By the end of 2011, Lightstone Value Plus I was the 18th largest non-traded U.S. REIT. In the summer of 2010, the company offered second, non-traded REIT, Lightstone Value Plus II, committing capital to the hospitality, retail, multi-family, and commercial segments. The Lightstone Group committed 10% of the capital raised by the REIT. By December 2011, LVPII had invested in several properties, including the

Crowne Plaza Crowne Plaza is a British multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom. It caters to business travelers and the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family ...

Boston hotel, Saxon Hall Rego Park, and TownePlace Metairie hotel in New Orleans.

Extended Stay Hotels

The Lightstone Group acquired Extended Stay Hotels (now trading as

Extended Stay America Extended Stay America, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the operator of an economy apartment hotel chain in the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2019, the company owned and operated 557 hotel properties consisting ...

) in June 2007 from

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

for US$8 billion. The deal, financed with US$7 billion of debt, was one of several multibillion-dollar hotel and casino sales made that year. On June 15, 2009, Extended Stay America filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection under Chapter 11. After the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

decimated leisure and business travel, Extended Stay faced shortages in

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due * Liqui ...

stemming from the

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...

by Lightstone two years before. Through

debtor-in-possession financing Debtor-in-possession financing or DIP financing is a special form of financing provided for companies in financial distress, typically during restructuring under corporate bankruptcy law (such as Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US or CCAA in Canada). ...

, it was able to continue operating rather than to face

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

. In July 2010, an investment consortium made up of Blackstone, Paulson & Co., and

Centerbridge Partners Centerbridge Partners is a multi-strategy private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts and distressed securities. The firm manages over $32 billion of assets

bought Extended Stay America through a bankruptcy auction for US$3.93 billion. After its successful reorganization, Extended Stay America emerged from bankruptcy in October 2010. A year after the bankruptcy, Blackstone was sued by creditors of Extended Stay America alleging that Blackstone "skimmed" US$2.1 billion off of the sale to Lightstone and knew that the amount of debt would have been unsustainable for the hotel chain; Blackstone settled the lawsuit in June 2013 for US$10 million.

Affordable hotel investment

In 2019, The Lightstone Group, a real estate investment management business, is gambling on inexpensive New York City hotel developments. The company has launched a Moxy Hotels catering chain to the business sliver and will operate two more shortly, the Moxy Lower East Side and Moxy Williamsburg.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightstone Group Real estate companies of the United States 1988 establishments in New York (state) 1988 establishments in the United States Real estate companies established in 1988 Companies established in 1988