Vice President, Industrial Operations

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Lightstone, founded by David Lichtenstein, is one of the most diversified privately held real estate companies in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, Lightstone is active in 26 states across the country, developing, managing and investing in all sectors of the real estate market, including residential, hospitality, commercial, and retail. With 209 existing properties, Lightstone’s over $9 billion portfolio currently includes over 13 million square feet of industrial, life sciences, and commercial properties, over 25,000 residential units, and over 5,100 hotel keys. Lightstone’s development portfolio includes over $3.5 billion currently under development in the residential and hospitality sectors spread across New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami.

INDUSTRIAL & LOGISTICS INVESTMENTS

Through a creative and disciplined approach to acquisitions and property-level execution, Lightstone continues to strategically expand its holdings in the industrial and logistics sector, capitalizing on a generational shift toward ecommerce and continued supply chain evolution. Lightstone is able to utilize its multidisciplinary team and direct third-party relationships to identify operational inefficiencies prior to acquisition and optimize cash flow through hands-on leasing and asset management, generating exceptional risk-adjusted returns in a competitive market segment.

Starting in 2020 Lightstone has annually successfully transacted on more than $1 billion dollars of new industrial product in institutionally proven submarkets with proximity to key logistics infrastructure. Lightstone anticipates an ongoing annual investment target of $1 billion to $2 billion for the industrial platform with the expectation to continue expansion not only in their current markets but new strategic markets in the west. The current portfolio encompasses 34 industrial buildings and exceeds 10 million square feet nationally, with assets located throughout the Southeast, East, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions.

POSITION OVERVIEW:VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS – INDUSTRIAL

The Vice President, Operations will support all facets of the Industrial team and act as main point of contact between Asset Management and the other internal departments (Accounting, Finance, Investments and Legal) and external clients (partners, and investors) on all operating matters.

The positions will report to the Senior Vice President, Industrial Asset Management and will be located in Lightstone Group’s New York City office.

KEY RESPONSIBILITES:

• Finance & Budgeting- assure critical dates related to budgeting and loan activities are communicated to the necessary parties and deadlines are met in a timely manner. Manage material loan covenants for all loans in the portfolio that pertain to operations and leasing (i.e., approvals, etc.). Transition of pertinent/critical information, covenants and dates post acquisition of new properties to asset management.
• Accounting - act as the main liaison between Asset Management and Accounting. This would include the development and communication of policies and procedures as it pertains to the operation of the assets at the property and portfolio level. They would emphasize and focus on the relationship with the 3rd party service providers and accounting/lease administration. Responsible for coordinating all reporting internally and externally on a property and portfolio level. Coordinate between the Director of A/R and A/P and Asset Management and 3rd party service providers to ensure that billings are received and payments are processed on a timely manner.
• Leasing Administration - responsible for managing administrative workflows related to leasing such as overseeing the approvals process with the asset managers and collaborating with Legal and Lease Administration to obtain necessary approvals from external parties as needed, executing documents in a timely manner, and accurately uploading all the pertinent information into the enterprise system. Oversee the ongoing administration of the pertinent lease documents as it pertains to critical dates, rent escalations, tenant options, billing timely and in compliance with tenants’ lease provisions, late fees, hold over costs, etc.
• Legal- assist with the contract management process for property level services. Communicate and report to the asset management department all dealings with the legal department on amount of transactions in Agiloft, timing to get items processed and completed and note areas where asset management can make the system more efficient. This person will also help legal obtain necessary items from the service providers and the property level accordingly.
• Acquisitions - liaison between Investments and Asset Management during due diligence to ensure proper handover of newly acquired assets into the portfolio. This would include managing the asset management acquisition checklist and all the functions tied to the document and process. This would entail assuring the new acquisition is properly uploaded into the enterprise management system, newly acquired documents are received and organized, the appropriate loan convents and critical dates are identified and tracked by the system and all of the above is communicated to the appropriate asset manager and senior management.
• Disposition- liaison between Investments and Asset Management in the disposition of assets by developing a comprehensive disposition package during the sale process together with the asset managers. This person will be tasked with putting together a comprehensive package/data base on each asset to streamline the disposition of each asset.
• Property management- Will be the liaison between Asset Management and 3rd party property management providers to develop and implement policies and procedures, communicate portfolio initiatives and goals and perform quality control inspections. Develop and implement a tenant relations program (move-in packages, tenant events and gifts, etc.)
• Special Projects- Work with any and all departments on special projects as they may arise from time to time. This may include avenues to provide forecasts and financial benchmarks for potential projects, assist in tax appeal process, create programs to lower and control operating costs, and assist with acquisition and disposition activities.

KEY ATTRIBUTES/EXPERIENCE:

• 10+ years of commercial real estate management experience handling real estate transactions, operations, capital project management, customer service, property accounting, finance and administrative issues related to real estate management
• Prior leadership experience required
• Demonstrate ability to manage projects, large amounts of data, budgets, operating statements and institutional reporting
• Proficiency with capital and tenant improvement projects
• Strong proficiency in MS Office. Experience with Yardi and/or MRI strongly preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to understand and interpret documents such as leases, loan documents, safety rules, plans and specifications, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals
• Ability to speak effectively before internal members of the organization as well as external parties
• Self-motivation, determination, and initiative in a team environment
• Demonstrate a high attention to detail
• Ability to multi-task effectively in a fast-paced work environment, and coordinate activities with various departments and disciplines
• Ability to travel required

Salary – $175 - $195k plus bonus 10-20% target, offered salary commensurate with experience