Sean Burton and Khalif Edwards, Cityview
Sean Burton and Khalif Edwards
CEO; and managing director of capital raising and investor relations at Cityview
While the pandemic famously curbed dealmaking and construction in commercial real estate, Sean Burton and Khalif Edwards plunged right ahead through their Los Angeles-based development and investment firm Cityview.
The pair said in an early November email to CO that Cityview has “maintained a robust pipeline of development deals, with four projects breaking ground or expected to break ground over the next three to four months.”
That’s the development side during the pandemic. On the investment side, Cityview under Burton and Edwards’ leadership sold four assets in 2019 and 2020, including a 129-unit apartment complex in San Diego’s Little Italy, which sold for $70 million; and a 240-unit multifamily development in Costa Mesa, which went for $113.5 million. The latter one, at $473,000 per apartment, was one of the highest, price-per-unit, multifamily rental trades ever in Orange County.
Cityview also closed out what it called its Southern California Fund II, a seven-year-old discretionary development pot focused on Class A multifamily and mixed-use projects across Southern California. The pair described the returns for investors in the fund as “sizable … during these uncertain times.”
As for what’s coming out of these times, Burton and Edwards said Cityview is studying how pandemic-induced changes will alter how people live and, therefore, what they’ll come to expect in real estate. They’re also anticipating a more virtual, automated future, which means the company will continue to invest in platforms that further that on the multifamily side.
And, as far as hitting the pause button, both executives take refuge in family life and athletics. Burton is an L.A. Dodgers fan (and his son is a shortstop at New York University, where dad went to law school). Edwards, who played football at Stanford University and remains a fan, grabs an hour on his Peloton when he can — though that’s in between making time for Legos with his sons.—T.A.
