HKS Real Estate Advisors Adds Equity Placement Platform

Brokerage firm HKS Real Estate Advisors is expanding its reach with the launch of an equity platform, Commercial Observer has learned.

The new equity placement offering at HKS, which was founded in 2011, adds to its longstanding debt advisory and investment sales platforms in a volatile commercial real estate market that has experienced elevated interest rates since 2022. 

HKS’s new venture will be led by TJ Neumann, managing director at the firm who arrived at the firm in early 2025 following a nearly four-year run at Sagamore Blue, a Brooklyn-based marina-focused investment platform. 

“Equity is a more complex and nuanced part of the capital stack, and it requires a different level of sourcing, structuring, and alignment than debt,”  Neumann said in a statement. “Our goal is to simplify that process for clients, ensuring they connect with the right capital partners and access the flexible, risk-tolerant funding their projects need to succeed in today’s environment.” 

HKS has executed more than $30 billion in transaction volume since the company was founded 14 years ago by Jerry Swartz, Ayush Kapahi and John Harrington. 

Kapahi arranged a $206 million construction loan from Post Road Group in March to fund Metro Parc North’s planned 661-unit multifamily project in Hialeah, Fla., near Miami, as CO first reported at the time. He also facilitated a $30 million loan in January from Metropolitan Commercial Bank for Library Hotel Collection to refinance its 72-key Hotel Giraffe property in Manhattan’s Midtown South area, CO previously reported. 

“We’ve always been committed to providing clients with the full spectrum of capital solutions,” Kapahi, principal and founding partner at HKS, said in a statement. “Our equity platform expands that commitment, allowing us to bridge the gap between investors and operators, and to deliver the creative, flexible capital structures today’s market requires.” 

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.