ARLINGTON, Texas – Skywalker Property Partners has launched its fourth and largest fund, The Leverage Strikes Back LLC, a capital raise with the capacity to make up to $250 million of opportunistic investments in Texas and surrounding states.
North Texas-based Skywalker Property is the fund’s manager. The $20 million capital raise was completed during Q1.
“By year’s end, we anticipate the market will be faced with a wave of maturing loans as owners struggle with refinancing, under-performing projects and tighter capital conditions,” says Gary Walker, president and founder of Skywalker Property Partners. “Our new fund is well-positioned to capitalize on these opportunities.”
The fund will target investments with opportunistic return profiles in the $10 million to $30 million range from brick and mortar to note-buying to joint venture private equity, including distressed assets and new developments. The team has already placed its first contract: a project in the Interstate 35 corridor of Texas.
“We have the agility to meet the market whatever the opportunities may be,” says William Welder, Skywalker Property’s director of acquisitions and capital.
The acquisition strategy will be aimed at multiple asset classes located in primary, secondary and tertiary markets. If all goes as planned, the fund will be 100% invested by December 2025.
“The new fund is a milestone. It’s the largest in our history and a significant shift from our two-year focus on dispositions,” Welder says of the 33-year-old firm.
Skywalker Property’s team will use its deep ties in real estate and banking communities to source investments, as it’s done in the past. It’s anticipated opportunities will abound if interest rates remain at the current level or continue to tick up, further impacting the availability and affordability of capital for critical needs, such as refinances.
“We have longtime relationships with community banks that will enable our success. We are grateful for their steady partnerships,” says Welder, who led commercial real estate lending for One of the nation’s 10 largest financial institutions before joining Skywalker Property in 2021.
The availability of joint venture equity, in essence, is a value-add opportunity for developers and investors facing capital shortages for construction starts, completions or improvements to existing projects being primed for repositioning. The fund manager envisions a portfolio with a balanced mix of asset classes – medical, senior housing, residential and commercial condominiums, retail, mixed use, office and industrial.
“Skywalker Property’s platform and ability to fund investments will benefit our sponsor-partners, who are starting to do larger and more complicated deals,” Welder says. “For investors like us who specialize in opportunistic deals, we may be on the precipice of some attractive opportunities.”
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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
William Welder, 817-898-0244
Skywalker Property Partners identifies, underwrites, acquires and executes highly opportunistic and value-add investments on behalf of When Opportunity Knocks LLC and Cash Flow Fever LLC, funds formed in 2017 to build a $200 million portfolio of office, industrial and retail properties in Texas and surrounding states. The strategy targets transactions from $2 million to $15 million. Additional information about the investment group is available at www.SkywalkerProperty.com