NEW YORK CITY—Lightstone has debuted a $300 million development finance REIT. Lightstone Real Estate Income Trust is the firm's fourth public, non-traded REIT and intends to invest the proceeds of the offering to originate, acquire and manage a diverse portfolio of real estate related investments that finance development and redevelopment projects. Its objective is preservation of capital while providing monthly income to stockholders.

“While the demand for development and or redevelopment projects has increased,” according to Lightstone's announcement of the REIT, “funding sources to fund such projects have not kept pace with demand and traditional lenders have reduced their commitment to development financing, making it difficult for developers to obtain traditional financing. This presents an opportunity for investment vehicles such as Lightstone Real Estate Income Trust.”

“Coming out of the economic downturn that began around 2007, the development sector of the real estate industry has been steadily growing with continuous opportunity in new construction projects,” says David Lichtenstein, chairman and CEO of Lightstone. “This growing demand allows us to provide loans to developers at a very attract return-to-investment.”