Land Advisors Capital CA Undergoes Rebranding

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively that Land Advisors Capital of California has rebranded itself as Landmark Capital Advisors, a name the firm hopes will reflect on its expanded focus on both commercial real estate and residential land. The real estate capital advisory firm, which has offices here and in the San Francisco Bay area, arranges equity and debt for residential homebuilders and land developers.

In addition, the company has hired David Kidder as managing director to lead its expansion into the commercial sector. Kidder brings more than 15 years of commercial real estate experience across all major asset classes, with an emphasis on structuring equity and debt for middle-market real estate operators. Before joining Landmark, he worked for ACRE Capital, a subsidiary of Ares Commercial Real Estate, a publicly traded specialty-finance REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Kidder's experience also includes roles with Appian Capital and HG Capital, both principal joint-venture equity investors, as well as Knightsbridge Realty Capital and Julien J. Studley.

Land Advisors Capital of California was founded in 2011 by Steve Sims and Adam Deermount to provide debt and equity capital advisory services to residential developers, investors and homebuilders. The firm has closed more than $200 million in transactions since inception and now sees a broader opportunity to provide capital-advisory services to the commercial sector, including office, industrial, retail and multifamily asset classes.

According to Deermount, managing director of the company, “David's experience across the entire capital structure and more specifically, with sub-institutional joint-venture equity in the $2-million to $10-million range, provides a great complement to the focus Steve and I implemented with our homebuilder and land-developer clients.”

Kidder adds, “Given the changing regulatory landscape of private placement offerings, combined with the success Steve and Adam have had raising equity from difficult-to-access private and family-office investors, expanding the foundation into the commercial sector presents a tremendous opportunity.”

Landmark is also affiliate with Land Advisors Organization, a national brokerage and research company with market coverage across 22 offices and more than $22 billion in closed transactions. “[LAO's] breadth of relationships, local market expertise and expanding research capacity will become a vital component of our advisory and investment platform,” says Kidder. “Integrating equity, research and technology will provide a meaningful impact for our clients and our shareholders.”

As GlobeSt.com reported in July 2012, Parkside Village Apartments LLC sold a 304-unit multifamily property in Riverside, CA, to the ColonyStudent Housing LLC after converting the property to a 1,056-bed student housing property. Mark Illsley of Oregon Commercial Realty and two associates with Land Advisors Capital represented the seller and the buyer in the $33-million sale and purchase of the converted multi-family property using California Tax Exempt bonds and a small amount of revolving debt. The bonds were funded in what was described as “record time,” which was less than 90 days after Zion's Bank was selected as the bond placement agent.

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with David Kidder in which he talks about his new role and the rebranding of the firm.