The Thesis Driven TL;DR | Week of September 15th

Everything you need to know about real estate in one little email

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Brad Hargreaves & Paul Stanton
September 15, 2025

🤩 CRE finally gets its reality show
🏠 Brookfield bets $10B+ on manufactured housing
🤠 Texas multifamily distress just getting started…
📚 Workshops & courses: AI, proptech M&A, OpCo-PropCo, and more

Data Viz of the Week: Cost of Living-Adjusted Income

You’re probably familiar with the map of household income - where urban coastal states shine - but what happens when we adjust for cost of living? As you might imagine, the picture changes.

New Jersey and DC are no longer at the top of the pile. Instead, Utah takes the top spot followed by New Hampshire, Maryland, Massachusetts and Colorado.

One thing that doesn’t change? The south central US - Mississippi and Louisiana, specifically - still struggle.

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Three Articles We Loved from Last Week

It’s not easy keeping up with everything. Here are three articles we loved from the past week that you may have missed:

  1. (Financial Times) Brookfield in talks to buy US landlord from Singapore’s GIC in $10bn deal 

    Brookfield is in advanced discussions to acquire Yes! Communities from Singapore’s GIC for over $10 billion. Yes! manages manufactured homes in ~300 locations, especially in the Midwest and Southeast. The deal signals strong confidence in affordable housing amid today’s tight supply and elevated financing costs.

  2. (Business Insider) Commercial real estate gets its shot at TV stardom

    A&E is launching The Real Estate Commission, a reality series set to premiere in October, that follows Todd Drowlette, a broker doing deals involving strip malls, office buildings, and warehouses in upstate New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. The show aims to illuminate the often-hidden complexities of commercial deals rather than glamorizing them.

  3. (The Real Deal) Texas multifamily distress just getting started

    More than $700 million in multifamily commercial real estate loans in Texas are slated for foreclosure auctions this month—up from $400 million in July. Most are older apartment complexes with floating-rate debt taken out in 2022, which now burden owners whose renovation + resale plans have been upended by rising interest rates. Harris County (Houston) is especially hit, with nearly $350 million in debt across 10 properties. 

Developer of the Week: Lionstone Group

The Miami branded residences market stays hot.

Lionstone Group alongside Flag Luxury Group and Ben-Josef Group secured a $61.2M predevelopment loan from BHI for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach.

The project at 1671 Collins Avenue will feature a new 15-story, 30-unit condo alongside a redevelopment of the Sagamore Hotel into a 55-key Ritz-branded property. Designed by Kobi Karp and Studio Munge, units span one to five bedrooms, with penthouses priced up to $69M—or $125M combined. Amenities include pools, a beach club, library, and a José Andrés restaurant. Sales, led by Douglas Elliman’s Eklund-Gomes team, launched in April, with completion slated for 2027.

You can read more about Lionstone on the Thesis Driven GP database here.

Know about a developer doing something cool? Reach out to [email protected] with the tip!

The Ritz Carlton Residences

Investor of the Week: Busch-Assouline

Assouline-Busch Capital is a Miami-based family office platform formed by the Assouline and Busch families.The group focuses on hospitality and multifamily acquisitions in South Florida, targeting boutique hotels and value-add assets with repositioning potential.

Recent activity includes the $33M purchase of the Red South Beach Hotel, financed with backing from MSD Partners, adding to a portfolio of ~$150M in local properties.

Blending the Busch family’s Anheuser-Busch legacy with the Assouline family’s luxury publishing brand wealth, the platform is quickly becoming a notable player in boutique hospitality and niche real estate investing in Miami Beach.

Get more details on Busch-Assouline, including access to executive contacts, on the CapitalStack database here.

—Brad and Paul