Randy Efron
Founder & CEO
Randy Efron started the company after spending 15 years sitting on all sides of the “closing table” as a real estate private equity investor/owner, lender, and broker. Over the course of Mr. Efron’s career, he has closed in excess of $2 billion of commercial real estate deals.
Originally from New York, Mr. Efron began his career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) while working at Deloitte in Tampa. After realizing that his passion was real estate, he left the accounting sector and accepted a land acquisition and development position with Lennar Corporation, a fortune 500 homebuilder (NYSE: LEN) that was buying tracts of land throughout Hillsborough and Pasco Counties near Tampa.
Having a knack for finance, Mr. Efron relocated from Tampa to Manhattan during 2006 and landed a role at Trinity Hotel Investors L.L.C. (“Trinity”), a real estate private equity investment firm that acquires hotels and resorts. While at Trinity, Mr. Efron was responsible for asset managing a 22 hotel portfolio comprised of full service; limited service; extended stay; and independent hotels and resorts spread over 2 countries; 12 states; 12 brands; and 5,000 aggregate rooms. He managed over $100 million of renovation projects that included rebrandings of properties; conversions of multifamily assets into hotels; and the reconcepting of restaurants and bars. During the Great Financial Crisis, Mr. Efron restructured over $250 million of CMBS debt and worked with special servicers to create cash management procedures for properties.
During 2013, Mr. Efron pivoted to the lending side of the business but continued working with Trinity on a part time basis. While lending capital during the day, Mr. Efron spent nights and weekends working on prospective hotel acquisitions with Trinity. During 2015, Mr. Efron partnered with the principals of Trinity to acquire a 696 key full-service resort and casino located adjacent to the Las Vegas strip. During 2019, the partnership successfully sold the asset prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Efron founded Skylatus Property Capital LLC (“Skylatus”) after working with capital brokers for many years. When he was buying properties, the capital brokers worked for him because he hired them to raise capital for his deals. When he was a lender, Mr. Efron worked for the capital brokers because they brought him loans to fund. Based upon his personal experiences, Mr. Efron recognized that real estate investors could greatly benefit from having a capital broker with firsthand ownership and lending experience that has sat on all sides of the closing table. Additionally, Mr. Efron also recognized that he could add value to clients’ transactions by bringing his New York City capital relationships to smaller markets, such as Tampa.
Prior to launching Skylatus, Mr. Efron was with Walker & Dunlop Commercial Property Funding, LLC (“WDCPF”); a lending platform that was originally a joint venture between Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD) and a fund managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG)). While at WDCPF, Mr. Efron wrote a wide variety of loans including CMBS; bridge; mezz; pref equity; Fannie; Freddie; and HUD. Mr. Efron and his team closed in excess of $1 billion of loans across all property types.
Mr. Efron holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of South Florida; a Master’s degree in real estate finance and investment from New York University; and he is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).
Outside of Skylatus, Mr. Efron enjoys flying helicopters; riding motorcycles; experiencing different cultures through travel and food; and outdoor adventure activities. He is the founder of Real Estate Adventure Club; a networking club for people that are interested in commercial real estate and outdoor adventures.