BentallGreenOak Expands with Austin, TX Office

AUSTIN, TX – Global real estate investment management advisor and real estate services provider, BentallGreenOak has expanded its presence to Austin, TX with the opening of a new office.

The Austin office will be led by the firm’s newly-hired managing director and head of Texas coverage, Mike Leifeste.

BGO’s expansion throughout the US has increased its client base and investment activity, primarily throughout the Sunbelt states. Within Texas, the firm manages more than $2.3 billion in commercial real estate and land for development; more than 90% of which is in the industrial and multifamily sectors. The company intends to more than double that value in the coming years.

Within his new role, Leifeste will focus on deepening BGO’s regional investor relations activities and he will serve as a critical touch-point for all Texas acquisitions. He will also work to develop new operating and developer partner relationships.

For the past seven years, Leifeste served as head of real estate and real assets at Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. He worked in various capacities at TTSTC for the past 24 years. As head of real estate and real assets, Leifeste was responsible for the firm’s 15% allocation to real assets and private equity energy investments, including a portfolio of real estate, private equity and private credit funds that comprised more than 85 funds and more than $2 billion in commitments.

“Mike brings tremendous knowledge and capability to our team in a region of significant importance to our firm, and we are eager to establish our presence in the region under his strong leadership,” states John Carrafiell, co-CEO and founding member of BentallGreenOak. “We share with Mike a common culture of client-centricity and a belief in the importance of investing in local capability to bring our investor clients closer to the action.”

“I am pleased to be joining BentallGreenOak at an exciting and high growth period for the firm, with a clear and ambitious mandate for developing our investor and partner relationships, and a real estate portfolio that is built to respond to the economic and social aspirations of the state of Texas, now and into the future,” says Leifeste.

Leifeste adds, “BGO’s timely presence in Austin will enable us to draw on the strength of our local relationships and knowledge base to deliver outcomes that bode well for our investor-clients, our future tenants and residents, and the broader communities in which they will reside.”