Meet Our Team
Avir is an opportunistic investor adding value through the improvement of properties in any number of ways. We seek to reposition real estate assets in the market.
George Gowen
George Gowen went into the commercial real estate business in 1984, starting as an industrial sale and leasing broker at Jackson Cross Company. Since becoming a partner at Avir Corporation in the early 90’s, his roles have included acquisitions dispositions, analysis, debt origination and the full range of asset management, leasing and property management
Ivan Stern
Ivan Stern founded Avir Corporation in 1967 to provide scientific and engineering consulting services to government and industry. Starting in 1973, he changed Avir’s focus to investment and development of commercial and residential real estate. Since then, the firm acquired and developed 22 properties for a total investment of $117 million.
Richard F. Smith, Jr.
Acquisitions, Sales and Leasing
Richard F. Smith, Jr., principal of Avir Realty Group, Inc. of Pennsylvania, has served multi-market corporate clients in the North American marketplace from a base in suburban Philadelphia for 17 years. Recently, Mr. Smith has represented national clients in 23 states with over one million SF of transactions.
Our History
In 2003 Avir sold $25m in properties and since has bought $18m of office and industrial buildings in the Middle Atlantic states. Generally, assets are held for
5-10 years, with historic unleveraged returns of 12% and annualized leveraged returns of 15%-25%. Over the past 10 years, members and limited partners have enjoyed average annualized internal rates of return of 15-25% on leveraged investments.
While the overall record of private equity returns in Avir investments is very positive, not every project has been successful.
Avir forms a new entity to own each project. Principals of Avir co invest in each property, aligning our interests with our partners. Each investment entity is discreet, owned by an LLC or limited partnership which is managed by Avir.
Private equity investments are made via the purchase of units of ownership through subscription agreements. The subscribers are passive investors who acquire up to 75% equity interest in an individual project. Investors are also called Members within the Operating and Subscription Agreements. Avir increasingly uses Limited Liability Companies or LLC’s as the ownership entity, replacing Limited Partnerships.