Russell Schildkraut, Jason Krane, Evan Linkner and Patrick Hanlon

This year marks a major milestone for Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group: a century in the business.

Leading up to its centennial, in the year ending March 1, 2026, the Ackman-Ziff team saw $4.5 billion in transaction volume with a focus on senior debt, subordinate debt and joint venture equity. Fifty-three percent was focused on multifamily, particularly
build-to-rent (BTR) and single-family rental (SFR) properties, with the balance split between retail, industrial, hotel, office and land.

The last year was also Ackman-Ziff’s strongest year for joint venture equity since establishing the practice 25 years ago. 

“As a firm, we’re always thoughtful about assignments we take on and what can get done, and where we can push and move the needle, and there wasn’t a lot of joint venture equity getting done the last couple of years,” Russell Schildkraut said. “We really identified a couple of places where we thought there would be huge demand, and we went out and proved our thesis.”

Schildkraut oversees Ackman-Ziff alongside fellow principals Jason Krane, Evan Linkner and Patrick Hanlon. One of the firm’s most notable transactions over the last year was $326 million in construction financing for a hotel-to-condominium conversion in New York. The Watson Hotel on West 57th Street in Hell’s Kitchen is being redeveloped by Yellowstone.

“It represented about 70 percent loan to cost, and we did it with a life insurance company on a non-recourse basis. So it was really a fantastic execution for our client, and I think a very good deal for the life insurance company,” Schildkraut said.

Among its other notable transactions were a $250 million preferred equity investment secured by a national industrial portfolio, and a $150 million national programmatic joint venture equity for data center-powered land, an area the firm is leaning into.

In its centennial year, Ackman-Ziff plans to continue to grow its emerging digital infrastructure and energy infrastructure business by applying its core principles of fiduciary responsibility to clients and capital sources, clear communication, and transparency.