First Capital acquires United Realty Advisors for $175M

Sacramento-based investor contributed 18 hotels, other assets to the Manhattan REIT

The Sacramento-based First Capital Real Estate Investments took a controlling stake in United Realty Advisors, the external advisor to United Realty Trust Incorporated, a public, non-traded REIT based in New York.

In payment, First Capital contributed assets worth $175 million to URTI, including 18 hotels, five retail and self-storage properties, a smattering of commercial and residential development sites, and contracts to acquire 13 more hotels, plus 1,000 family units.

United Realty owns the 86,000-square-foot Tilden House rental building in Flatbush, a property in Yonkers, and five others around the country.

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Suneet Singal, First Capital’s CEO, was named CEO and Chairman of URTI and United Realty Advisors.

United Realty’s former CEO Jacob Frydman was sued for wrongful termination by a top executive, Albert Akerman, who claimed Frydman had retaliated against him after Akerman discovered illegal transactions on the firm’s books. Akerman later recanted his claims.

The firm was also sued the year before by former president Eli Vershleiser for an alleged improper fund transfer. That case was dismissed. – Ariel Stulberg