Former SL Green exec Isaac Zion joins Acram Group

A former SL Green exec is making moves.

Isaac Zion, who had served as co-CIO for the real estate investment trust, has joined Acram Group, a New York City-based real estate firm formerly known as JMC Holdings. He’ll join Acram’s two executives — JMC founder and managing partner J. Matthew Cassin and partner David Taylor — as a managing principal at the firm.

Zion left SL Green in July as the REIT was bracing for the impact of the pandemic and cut some corporate staff. His departure was reportedly unrelated to the layoffs.

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His connection to the team at Acram goes further back to around 2005, when the three all worked for Tishmen Speyer. The friendship continued after that, Zion said, and he was an early investor in JMC when it launched in 2011.

“I’ve always relished working with Matt and David as they were building their business,” Zion said. “The good thing is we think of things differently, so we complement each other really, really well.”

JMC’s current 2.5-million-square-foot portfolio — including office, multifamily and industrial properties — spans a wide geographic area, with holdings in the tri-state region; Dallas, Texas; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Under the new partnership, the company aims to expand in more markets such as Colorado and Florida, partnering with investors such as family offices and institutional fund managers, Cassin said.

“We’ve got a nice geographic mix, we’ve got a nice asset type mix, and we want to continue to grow both those aspects of our business,” he said.

In February, the firm plans to break ground on a new 550,000-square-foot office and retail development in Pittsburgh, Cassin said.

The pandemic caused unprecedented disruption in the real estate market and the broader economy, but the three real estate executives’ combined 60-plus years of industry experience equipped Acram to navigate this downturn, Zion said.

“We’re always going to be very thoughtful about picking our specific spots to invest in,” he said. “It’s about picking your spots and making an appropriate bet.”