Kyle Corkum, Managing Partner
Kyle is the President and co-founder of L Star. He is a National Urban Fellow, a full member of the Urban Land Institute, and is a member of the Raleigh Chamber Board of Advisors.
Kyle also co-founded The Flying Fish Project, a charitable organization that supports children in need and the disadvantaged.
Over the past 28 years, he has been responsible for the acquisition of nearly 11,000 housing units in six states. The first 22 years of his career were spent in the high barrier-to-entry submarkets of the Northeast where he gained extensive experience in residential development. Kyle manages operations, site selection, land planning, and permitting for L Star.
In 2008, after operating his firm as a traditional land development company for nearly eight years, Kyle formed a new company which is the largest firm in the Carolinas specializing in the acquisition and management of distressed assets. He assembled senior real estate executives who collectively have more than 200 years experience in asset management, site selection, land development, finance/accounting, market analysis, sales, marketing and real estate law.
Prior to founding L Star, Kyle managed site selection for Toll Brothers, where he was hand-picked by Mr. Toll to revive their New England operation. Within three and a half years, Kyle was able to create 1,500 housing units in three states generating more than $54 million in profits for the company.
During the course of his career, Kyle has acquired and successfully developed more than 60 communities totaling more than 11,000 residential units.
Among those projects were: Main Street Square in North Attleboro, MA which received the "Preservation Award" from the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1984; and Brook Ridge in Hooksett, NH which received the award for "Best New Land Lease Community in the United States" in 2006.
In anticipation of the dominance of the national homebuilders as buyers of distressed lot inventory, Kyle specifically assembled his team with senior executives from the following firms: Lennar, KB Home, Beazer, Pulte/Del Webb, Toll Brothers, WCI and D.R. Horton. As a result, L Star has a distinct advantage when underwriting for and working with these builders.
Since its formation, L Star has partnered with affiliates to acquire more than 10,000 residential units in the Carolinas.
Email: kyle@lstarland.com
Steven Vining, Managing Partner/General Counsel
As Senior Vice President and general counsel for LStar, Steve provides extensive legal and development experience from his 26 years in practice. He is responsible for all contract negotiations, environmental compliance, legal underwriting, risk management, and zoning review. Prior to co-founding LStar, Steve was in private practice with a focus on real estate law, first in California (12 years) then in Cary, North Carolina (10 years). He has broad experience managing the acquisition of large commercial and residential assets. He has gained a well-respected reputation for his experience in permitting complex zoning applications in onerous regulatory environments across California and the Carolinas.
During his career he has been involved in the permitting and acquisition of residential projects totaling over 8,600 units. Additionally, he has been involved in day-to-day management of numerous projects since joining LStar.
Steve assists Kyle in the oversight of all planning, permitting, acquisition and operations management of L Star's assets. He also helps manage all business operations and is a key manager of the underwriting of Special Assets and REO portfolios from banks.
Email: steve@lstarland.com
Jeffrey Milligan, Partner
As Senior Vice President and an original member of the L Star staff, Jeff has been instrumental in the firm's growth and success including the firm's re-building efforts to focus on distressed asset acquisition. In 2004 he managed the firm's expansion from the Northeast into the Carolinas, overseeing the relocation of its headquarters from Connecticut to Raleigh, NC. Prior to joining L Star, Jeff spent nearly a decade in direct marketing and advertising developing integrated marketing strategies for Fortune 100 clients including IBM, Merck, UPS and Compaq Computers.
Jeff is responsible for the marketing of all new acquisitions. He oversees all branding, re-positioning, advertising and communications strategy. He is solely responsible for the management of all marketing consultants, internet management and the creation of collateral materials. Jeff has spear-headed the firm's exploration of web-based sales and marketing tools and has pioneered the firm's use of social media. He also assists Kyle in the oversight of all planning, permitting, acquisition and asset management activities.
Email: jeff@lstarland.com
Jones Holcomb, Partner
As Vice President of Finance, Jones oversees all finance and accounting matters for L Star. Before joining L Star, Jones worked with national homebuilders KB Home and Pulte Homes in their Florida, Texas and North Carolina operations. During his tenure at Pulte, Jones was involved in the underwriting and financial management of over 6,900 homes. In Raleigh, NC, for KB Home nearly 2,700 homes. Also while at Pulte, Jones was either the president or served on the HOA board for 14 communities.
Jones is also a licensed CPA. For the past 16 years, he has gained significant experience in capital management, accounting, compliance, process improvement, legal and contractual matters, and valuation & analysis. Jones manages all accounting, financial planning, budgeting, financial modeling and cash flow management. He is responsible for all financial reporting relative to our partnership obligations and HOAs. Jones also manages all third party accounting, on-site bookkeepers and works closely with the project manager or general manager to ensure each project meets its financial projections.
Email: jones@lstarland.com
Ric J. Rojas, Partner
Ric has over 17 years of residential homebuilding experience. He plays a key role in the acquisition and disposition of L Star's residential assets. Through his career to date, he has been involved with projects totaling over 15,000 residential lots.
Prior to joining L Star, Ric served as the Regional President for Lennar. He was responsible for managing more than 100 active communities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. He has also held key positions with national builders D.R. Horton and WCI Communities in Texas and Florida. While with D.R. Horton, Ric reported directly to D.R. as the Vice President of National Accounts negotiating all national building material contracts for the company which spent over $4 billion in material and labor in 2005 to build over 50,000 homes in 24 states.
Ric oversees all vertical construction-related activities for L Star. He is the primary contact with all national and regional builder clients. In this capacity, Ric is responsible for underwriting assets from a homebuilder's perspective and negotiating the sale of lots to the homebuilders. Additional responsibilities include design and construction of all amenities, project management, homebuilder negotiations, construction underwriting, market analysis, working with homeowners’ associations, and site selection.
Email: ric@lstarland.com
Pete Sullivan, Partner
Pete has over 18 years of engineering, due diligence underwriting and construction management experience, including work on over twenty five projects with over 5,200 lots in Raleigh and Charlotte. As a licensed Professional Engineer (NC and SC), Pete provides invaluable experience to the site design and engineering process. Prior to joining L Star, Pete served as Vice President of Land for KB Home in the Raleigh-Durham Division. He was responsible for all land development and site selection in Raleigh for the firm. Pete has overseen the design, permitting and development of over 5,400 lots.
Of his many career achievements, one of Pete’s proudest is the management of engineering and development for the first Martha Stewart Community in the nation.
Pete oversees all civil engineering, permitting, and infrastructure construction for L Star. His specific responsibilities include management of all due diligence, oversight of the engineering design, construction cost estimating and bidding, and oversight of utility, pavement and lot construction. He is also instrumental in homebuilder underwriting and lot disposition negotiations. Pete works very closely with Ric Rojas to underwrite each asset and to create disposition strategies. He also plays a key role in market analysis and assists with site selection.
Email: pete@lstarland.com
ML Mueller, Partner
ML is an accomplished sales and development strategist with 20 years of real estate experience. She began her career in new home sales and marketing. She was ranked as a top 15 real estate agent in the Carolinas for seven of the nine years prior to joining L Star. Additionally, ML was a partner in a custom home building company producing an average of 80 homes per year in the Raleigh-Durham MSA.
ML has spent more than a decade managing site selection, development and performing strategic marketing across Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Coastal Carolina.
During her career she has been involved in the strategic marketing and new home construction of over 3,682 residential lots and has participated in the creation of 1,223 residential lots and two commercial sites prior to joining L Star.
Email: ml@lstarland.com
Adam Ashbaugh, Partner
Adam has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of land development planning, engineering, surveying and construction management totaling over 65 projects and more than 23,000 residential units in North Carolina, Florida and California. His largest project was Julington Creek Plantation, a 4,150 acre mixed-use Development of Regional Impact (DRI) master-planned community where he personally managed the development of over 5,000 single family residences, 1,200 multi-family residences and 390,000 square feet of commercial and office uses.
Adam also has extensive experience working in communities financed with Community Development District bonds either as the engineer of record or as the district engineer. The five projects he managed included over 10,000 single family and 2,500 multi-family units with bond issuance totaling over $255 million.
As a licensed Professional Engineer and Certified Planner, Adam has managed all facets of land acquisition due diligence, property investigation, yield study, proforma analysis, entitlements, re-zonings and comprehensive plan amendments. He has also been responsible for the direction and oversight of development activities, permitting, design and construction for a wide variety of large scale residential and mixed-use projects. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional. As such, he has been actively involved in design, review and permitting to ensure that the intended plan of development is environmentally sensitive and meets or exceeds the requirements of federal, state and local regulations.
Email: adam@lstarland.com
Dan Leff, Partner
Dan has over 15 years of experience in multi-family financial analysis, underwriting, acquisitions and development. Dan began his professional career as an options trader on the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Before L Star, Dan worked for The Preiss Company where he was responsible for the acquisition and development of more than $200 million in multi-family student housing assets in the Carolinas. He has been involved in the purchase or development of nearly 1,700 units across the Southeast and Chicago.
Dan also works on the creation of financial models, particularly in the areas of cash flow and expense modeling. He is a major contributor to L Star's site selection process, as he is the primary investigator of assets that are not publicly identified as "distressed" or pre-REO. In addition, he works closely with bond companies identifying disposition or partnership opportunites among their holdings.
Email: dan@lstarland.com
Rachel Vrandenburgh, Partner
Spanning a 25 year career, Rachel's experience ranges from Senior Vice President of Operations for a successful start-up to Human Resources Director of a 12 person department for a software developer. While with the software developer, she managed the growth of the company from 30 employees to 600 employees in only five years, including the staffing of two international offices.
Rachel brings her experience to our larger communities by managing all aspects of human resources including: hiring/firing, benefit analysis, customer service, updating insurance policies, creating training programs, risk management and instituting compliance guidelines. Rachel is instrumental in fostering positive relations between existing homeowners, employees and L Star management while minimizing the firm's liability exposure.
Email: rachel@lstarland.com