NEW YORK CITY-After identifying a void in the small to mid-size transaction market on the capital side, two local investment firms are teaming up to raise $50 million for a new joint venture equity fund. New York City-based Massey Knakal Realty Services and Stamford, CT-based RiverOak Investment Corp. have launched MKRO I, LLC—a fund that will provide gap equity investments for properties located across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

“There is an enormous need for this in this space,” says James Nelson, a partner at Massey Knakal, who will lead the fund along with RiverOak’s CEO Stephen DeNardo. “This is something that we thought about doing for years.”

The fund team will be made up of George Yerrall from RiverOak, and Robert A. Knakal and Paul J. Massey Jr., who are also members of the general partnership that will sit on the investment committee alongside Nelson and DeNardo. The fund, Nelson tells GlobeSt.com, will focus on equity investments and not the asset level in order to avoid potential conflicts.