Ex-SL Green CIO David Schonbraun joins David Welsh’s Senlac Ridge

Less than two years after leaving SL Green Realty for Carlyle Group, David Schonbraun is on the move again.

The former SL Green chief investment officer is joining New Jersey-based private equity firm Senlac Ridge Partners, which says it’s rebranding as GreenBarn Investment Group. Schonbraun will be a managing partner in the rebranded company alongside co-founder David Welsh.

The firm announced Schonbraun’s hire in a press release Thursday. Commercial Observer first reported the news.

Prior to his stint at Carlyle, Schonbraun spent nearly two decades at SL Green, where he helped close more than $30 billion in real estate debt and equity deals, according to GreenBarn. He was one of a handful of executives, including co-CIO Isaac Zion, who left the REIT’s investment division after the onset of the pandemic.

In a statement, Schonbraun revealed more about what he’ll be doing at the new-look GreenBarn, saying he was looking forward to building a platform “spanning commercial real estate debt and equity.”

GreenBarn’s rebrand comes a month after asset manager Rithm Capital acquired a 50 percent percent stake in the business and the pair formed a joint venture to deploy up to $250 million on “targeted investments,” namely distressed loans and assets.
Welsh launched Senlac Ridge in 2020 with his former partners at developer Normandy Real Estate after that company was sold to Columbia Property Trust in 2019. The newly renamed GreenBarn says it has 2.3 million square feet and over $1.5 billion worth of projects in its pipeline.

One of its better-known projects is its redevelopment of the former Key Food at 120 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, in partnership with Billy Macklowe. In October, Senlac and the William Macklowe Company scored a $143 million loan for the project, which will see 180 apartments rise above 67,000 square feet of retail space pre-leased to CVS and Lidl.