Philadelphia-based office investor Rubenstein Partners has reportedly hired Brian Lipson as its third managing principal. In May, the firm closed its first private equity real estate fund on $475 million (€365 million), which will focus on office properties on the East Coast of the United States.
Lipson joins the fund from Chicago-based REIT Trizec Properties, which was acquired this fall by The Blackstone Group and Brookfield Properties for $7.2 billion. From 1997 to 2001, Lipson was the executive vice president at TrizecHahn Office Properties, forerunner to Trizec and a subsidiary of Canadian-based TrizecHahn Corporation. He returned to the firm in January 2005 as chief investment officer and executive vice president.
In between his stints at Trizec, Lipson worked as an investment strategy consultant with Los Angeles-based REIT Maguire Properties as the company went public. After its initial public offering, Lipson worked with Maguire’s management team to invest more then $1 billion in six major office projects totaling more than 4 million square feet.
Prior to Trizec and Maguire, Lipson held positions with property firms the Yarmouth Group, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments and Equity Assets Management, which later became Equity Office Properties. Lipson graduated from the University of Michigan and has a master’s degree and law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lipson will be acquiring assets for Rubenstein’s debut fund, Rubenstein Partners Fund. The fund was founded by former JMB pro David Rubenstein and is a part of Independence Capital Partners, a syndicate that also includes Philadelphia private equity real estate firm Lubert-Adler Partners.
In conjunction with the Independence firms, Rubenstein might also invest in mezzanine debt, mixed-use projects and distressed corporate assets in the US.
Earlier this fall, Lubert-Adler head Dean Adler, speaking to Private Equity Real Estate magazine, said the firms in the Independence network oftentimes work together on deals.
“There is a lot of crossover,” he said, particularly from a due diligence standpoint.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: 
