Real Estate Veteran Kevin Lipson Launches New Platform for CRE Auctions

Commercial real estate veteran Kevin Lipson has launched a new CRE auction platform called Apex Commercial Exchange (ACE), Commercial Observer can first report.

Lipson, who most recently worked as senior vice president at RealINSIGHT Marketplace, founded ACE as a way to provide a “seamless auction experience for owners and brokers of traditional listing sales, property and note auction sales, and qualified auctions,” according to an announcement.

ACE is expected to list all property types across the country, with deal sizes in the middle-market purchase price range — $25 million or less — an ACE spokesperson said. Its team has executed real estate owned (REO) and non-performing loan (NPL) sales for special servicers, balance sheet lenders and mortgage real estate investment trusts, as well as equity asset sales for private equity firms and equity REITS.

One of the platform’s first listings is a 105,000-square-foot industrial facility at 2201 Noria Road in Lawrence, Kan. The property, which can be used for office, manufacturing, light distribution or self-storage, will be sold at auction from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13, according to its website.

ACE also enables brokers and owners to build customized asset pages, generate leads, use marketing tools and receive offers, the announcement said.

“Designed to optimize user experience with sophisticated new technology, Apex Commercial Exchange will transform how brokers and owners undergo commercial real estate auctions, raising the bar for the entire industry,” said Lipson.

“ACE is the product of more than a decade and billions of transactional dollars of industry expertise, and builds on the strengths of existing auction platforms while addressing their shortcomings,” Lipson added. “We are excited to launch ACE and look forward to working with our clients to provide the best execution possible.”

Through the use of artificial intelligence, ACE also features buyer push notifications for updates in the marketing and auction process; a mobile app with broker, seller and buyer dashboards; and an AI tool to answer bidder questions, schedule tours and provide potential auction pricing, according to the announcement.

Lipson has accumulated more than $30 billion in transactional experience over his career, which includes past roles at CWCapital, Ten-X Commercial, Ivy Realty and other companies, according to ACE’s website and Lipson’s LinkedIn page.

The ACE team has over 87 years of combined experience and $42.5 billion in commercial real estate transaction volume, the company said.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.