Buckley Joins Avison Young as Senior VP

BOSTON—Veteran real estate finance executive Michael Buckley as senior vice president with brokerage firm Avison Young's capital markets team here.

The appointment of the former senior vice president with the New Boston Fund was announced by Avison Young principal and managing director of the firm's Boston office Michael Smith. Buckley brings to the firm more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience as an advisor, lender and investor.

Before joining Avison Young, Buckley served as a senior vice president for New Boston Fund, Inc., a private-equity real estate investment, development and management firm. Buckley was responsible for executive management of investment, financing and portfolio management decisions across seven active funds. In his capital markets management role, he raised more than $3 billion of debt capital for acquisition and construction transactions across all major property types.

Prior to moving to New Boston Fund, Buckley advised Tremont Realty Capital Inc. on its transformation into a principal investment firm, served as the lead investor for a REIT private placement fund at AEW Capital Management, L.P., and invested in property located in the former Soviet Union at CEENIS Property Fund, L.P., Avison Young states. Prior to holding his private-equity positions, he was a vice president at the First National Bank of Boston, lending to REITs, opportunity funds and the New England Patriots.

At Avison Young his responsibilities will include raising capital and providing commercial real estate finance services to Avison Young's clients nationwide. Buckley's focus will be on entity and asset financing, distress resolution, equity joint ventures and programmatic fundraising, as well as advising institutions on deploying capital into appropriate U.S. investment opportunities.

“The addition of Michael significantly strengthens our capital markets platform,” Smith says. “His expert knowledge and relationships that span the debt and equity markets are a distinct competitive advantage for our team. We expect that Michael's credibility and reach within the industry, combined with his extensive hands-on experience in closing a wide variety of transactions, will result in practical and actionable advice to drive profitability and growth for Avison Young clients.”