Nobody knows when commercial real estate will hit bottom, but Miami Beach’s Stonemason Partners believes now is the time to get a jump on opportunities it sees coming down line over the next four years.

Stonemason, a full-service real estate group of companies founded in 2008 and headed by Gustaf Arnoldsson, netted $35 million in its initial round of private equity fund raising, and hopes to buy up $100 million worth of multitenant assets and properties throughout the Southeastern U.S. and along the Eastern seaboard.

Stonemason’s philosophy: redevelop, reposition, re-tenant. The firm’s portfolio includes three South Florida property types: strip centers, apartment buildings and hostels. The firm’s mantra: keep vacancy low, implement cost controls and secure new tenants.

The Real Deal caught up with Arnoldsson, the firm’s managing member, to discuss the firm’s strategy and outlook for the commercial real estate industry.
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Stonemason Partners, a South Florida distressed investment firm, has raised $100 million to buy up multi-tenant retail assets and distressed property. It plans acquisitions in the Southeast and along the East Coast. Gustaf Arnoldsson, the firm’s managing member, said the current portfolio includes a retail strip center, an apartment building and a hotel along Miami’s South Beach, as well as management of 15 other properties.
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