Spotlight: Lightstone Group, Its Non-Traded REITs and the Lightstone DIRECT Platform

Lightstone closes each Lightstone DIRECT deal on its own balance sheet and keeps at least 20% of the equity, a structure that reached about $225 million in investment volume in under a year.

November 4, 2026

Lightstone is a privately held New York real estate company that acquires, develops, lends against and manages property in 28 states. Since November 2025 it has also sold interests in individual deals directly to accredited investors through Lightstone DIRECT, a platform built on Lightstone's own balance sheet. As of September 2026 the firm reported a portfolio of more than $12 billion across 243 properties, including more than 25,000 multifamily units and more than 16 million square feet of industrial, life sciences and commercial space.

David Lichtenstein founded Lightstone in 1986, according to its website, and remains chairman and CEO. Mitchell C. Hochberg is president. Before Lightstone, Hochberg founded and ran Spectrum Communities, a northeastern residential developer, for 20 years, then served as president and COO of Ian Schrager Company.

The Lightstone Value Plus REITs

Lightstone has sponsored public non-traded REITs since 2005. Five remain, Lightstone Value Plus REIT I through V, with combined assets under management of $1.8 billion according to the firm, and all five are closed to new investors. Two came to the lineup under other names: REIT IV operated as Lightstone Real Estate Income Trust until 2021, and REIT V operated as Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II until 2017, according to SEC records. Lightstone CFO Seth D. Molod also serves as CFO of all five REITs. Lightstone has developed Moxy-brand hotels in gateway markets, and REIT IV holds a 75% stake in the 216-room Williamsburg Moxy Hotel in Brooklyn, with REIT III owning the remaining 25%.

Lending, reinsurance and ventures

Lightstone Capital, the firm's real estate debt platform, launched in 2018 with more than $500 million of discretionary capital. It makes senior bridge loans from $10 million to more than $100 million at up to 75% loan-to-value and 80% loan-to-cost, priced from SOFR plus 300 basis points, and mezzanine loans and preferred equity priced from SOFR plus 800. Lightstone says it can close as soon as five business days after a term sheet is signed. Loans listed on its site for 2026 include $28 million on Houston multifamily in September and $31.5 million on multifamily in Gaithersburg, Maryland, along with senior housing in Denver and student housing in Elon, North Carolina.

Lightstone also owns Converge RE, a Puerto Rico Class 5 life and annuity reinsurer that the firm describes as A- rated, and Lightstone Ventures, which invests at seed through Series A in companies working in real estate, construction, insurance and finance. Its property management subsidiary, Beacon Management, operates more than 15,000 multifamily units.

How Lightstone DIRECT works

Lightstone acquires each Lightstone DIRECT property and closes on it with its own capital before outside investors come in. Accredited investors then buy in at the same basis, redeeming part of Lightstone's equity, and the firm keeps at least 20% of the equity in every transaction. Lightstone says that in most cases no other equity investors sit in the deal. Minimums start at $100,000 and can vary by offering. The platform launched under Chief Growth Officer Soren Godbersen and Chief Investment Officer Greg Fink.

The firm gives two reasons for the launch. It says many real estate crowdfunding platforms of the past decade fell short on risk controls, transparency, sponsor alignment and fees, and that this left an opening for an established owner-operator offering its own deals. It also names growth in its own assets under management.

Four offerings have opened. Abernathy Industrial Park in South Carolina came first, and its first series close drew more than 70 accredited investors. Hidden Lakes Apartments, a value-add complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan, followed. OKC Outlets in Oklahoma City opened to investors in August 2026 as the platform's first retail deal, and it draws on an older line of business: Lightstone owned outlet operator Prime Retail from 2003 to 2010 and recapitalized a 22-property outlet portfolio to Simon Property Group for $2.33 billion in 2010.

The fourth, Arlington Industrial, opened Sept. 30, 2026. It is a six-building shallow-bay property of 170,390 square feet between Dallas and Fort Worth, 95% leased to 24 small-business tenants, and Lightstone says it bought the property at roughly 45% below estimated replacement cost. With that offering the firm put Lightstone DIRECT's total investment volume at about $225 million, and it reported that the platform had met every targeted monthly distribution since payouts began in April 2026.