Mr. Halpern is a Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Executive Officer of HREV. Mr. Halpern manages the firm and its investment strategies and has oversight of the Fund portfolio, investment origination, and transaction management.

Mr. Halpern has over 30 years of professional experience in Real Estate investing. Mr. Halpern began his career in 1985, stepping in to lead Halpern Enterprises, one of New York’s leading regional commercial and residential property owners & operators. Mr. Halpern successfully navigated the franchise through the real estate correction in the 1990’s. In 1994, he partially exited Halpern Enterprises’ commercial office portfolio through an UPREIT merger with Reckson Associates Realty (RA:NYSE), New York’s leading commercial office owner, and joined the company as Executive Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors upon Reckson’s public listing on the NYSE. In addition to his management and corporate governance roles, Mr. Halpern co-founded the Reckson Opportunity Partners fund, through which he acquired and supported management to develop multiple real estate operating companies including HQ Global Workplaces, the world’s largest serviced office company and American Campus Communities, the US leader in student housing (ACC:NYSE). After the successful exit of the HQ Global investment in 2000, Mr. Halpern was asked to take leadership of the company in late 2001, as it faltered in the technology driven economic downturn. Between late 2001 and 2003, he served as CEO of HQ Global investment, successfully restructuring the business.

In 2003, Mr. Halpern was charged with launching the Real Estate Private Equity business at Marathon Asset Management, an $11 billion global investment management firm. Between 2003 and 2010, Mr. Halpern was responsible for the firm’s multi-billion-dollar real estate business. Mr. Halpern was invited to join Marathon’s leadership team as both Partner and Executive Management Committee member.

In 2011, Mr. Halpern recognized the opportunity and value in a hybrid investor/operator model and founded HREV to develop a scalable real estate investment, operating, and advisory platform. HREV brought together a core team of senior professionals to build a best-in-class real estate investment, operating, and advisory platform.

Mr. Halpern recently moved to Boulder, Colorado from Tribeca, New York where he and his family were actively involved in the New York Community. Mr. Halpern continues to serve on the Westchester Medical Center Foundation and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, and previously served on the Hudson River Park Trust. Mr. Halpern received a Bachelor of Science in Business with concentrations in Real Estate and Finance, from the University of Colorado.

Joel Halpern is the Managing Director of Investments at Halpern Real Estate Ventures. Mr. Halpern joined HREV in 2016 as a Development Manager and lead the construction, stabilization and recapitalization of The Mason MVS apartments. Mr. Halpern was a key team member in the creation of the HREV Opportunity Zone Fund and oversaw investment origination, financial planning, and transaction execution for the fund’s acquisitions. Currently, Mr. Halpern plays an integral role in the planning, management and execution of all HREV investments, as well as prospective investment opportunities.

Prior to joining Halpern Real Estate Ventures, Mr. Halpern was a project manager at JMH Development, a Brooklyn based boutique developer focused on high-quality residential and hospitality projects throughout the New York Metro and South Florida markets.

Mr. Halpern received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with concentrations in Finance and International Affairs from the George Washington University.

Mr. Simon joined HREV in 2019. Prior to joining HREV, Mr. Simon served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of ACRE Realty Investors, Inc., a commercial real estate investment and operating company which was publicly traded on the NYSE MKT, and as a Senior Vice President of Avenue Capital Group’s Real Estate Strategy. Avenue is a global investment firm focusing on distressed securities and private equity. Before joining Avenue, Mr. Simon was a Senior Vice President at Glenmont Capital Management LLC, an institutionally backed manager of closed-end opportunistic real estate funds, where he was responsible for overseeing Glenmont’s asset management and legal activities. Prior to that, he was Counsel in the real estate department of Herrick Feinstein LLP and, prior to that, Counsel in the real estate department of Hogan & Hartson LLP and an associate at a predecessor firm.

Mr. Simon received a B.A. from Emory University (1988) and a J.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law (1992).

Mr. Douglas joined HREV in 2022.  Prior to joining HREV, Mr. Douglas served as an independent finance and real estate consultant for a variety of multi-family and commercial property owners in the operation, restructuring and disposition of their portfolios.  Prior to that time, he spent over 18 years with Edgemark Development, a commercial real estate developer based in Chicago and Denver with concentrations in retail and self storage development, where he led finance and portfolio operations and had direct involvement of all aspects of project underwriting, development, operation and disposition.  Mr. Douglas also worked at Merrill Lynch in its Executive Employee Stock Option administration division.

Mr. Douglas earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in German and Russian language and literature, with a concentration in Political Science from the University of Denver, a Master of Arts degree in History from the University of Chicago and a Master of Science degree in Finance from the University of Colorado.

Lauren Hughes is a Senior Associate at Halpern Real Estate Ventures.

Ms. Hughes previously was a Senior Associate in KPMG’s Deal Advisory group in New York, NY where she conducted pre- merger & acquisition financial due diligence on behalf of corporate and private equity clients, with transaction experience on the buy- and sell-side. Prior to KPMG, she was a Research Analyst at Cook Street Consulting – an institutional investment advisory firm in Denver, CO – where she began her career.

Ms. Hughes received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Sarah has had a lifelong passion for environmental preservation. Earlier in her career she worked in marketing primarily for real estate and environmentally focused companies. She then ran the Solid Waste and Zero Waste Programs for the NYC Mayor’s Office. Her work there focused on implementing the Zero Waste Plan by increasing commercial, school, and NYCHA composting and recycling, encouraging waste reduction, reuse, and donation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from waste, and developing/improving waste policy. She is responsible for helping create the Zero Waste section of OneNYC and leading the development of the Waste section of Mayor de Blasio’s 80×50 plan. Sarah also ran the multi-agency Zero Waste Steering Committee, co-lead the OneNYC Water Fountain and Bottle Refiller Task Force, developed and lead the Mayor’s Zero Waste Challenge, and pushed forward groundbreaking work around light pollution, before co-founding Think Zero LLC.

Sarah is Chair of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB), a Board Member of Earth Day New York and a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of the Atlantic, one of the leading sustainability colleges in the US.

Sarah holds a B.S. from Boston University School of Management and a certificate from New York University. She is certified as a TRUE Zero Waste Business Associate by GBCI.