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Joshua Benaim
Founding Principal
Aria Investment Group

Joshua Benaim is a founding principal of Aria Investment Group, a real estate investment and development firm with offices in New York City, Washington, DC and Miami. Mr. Benaim founded Aria in 2009 with partners David Arditi and Timothy Gordon to marry a classic value investment strategy with the traditional real estate principles of location, scarcity, and beauty. Aria invests capital on behalf of its principals and partners in both real estate equity and real estate related debt. Under Mr. Benaim’s leadership, Aria has specialized in complex situations including ground up development and adaptive reuse, mezzanine financing for assemblage or construction, preferred equity and joint venture equity. Aria’s development projects are focused on creating distinguished urban infill multifamily and mixed-use properties in great neighborhoods. Notable developments include 321 Ocean in Miami Beach, The Bond and The Alden in Washington DC and 465 Pacific in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, NY. Since inception, Aria has invested in excess of $300 million of equity through joint ventures and its discretionary fund, Aria Investment Partners LP.

Prior to founding Aria, Mr. Benaim was a Managing Principal at Square Mile Capital Management LLC, a $1.5 billion real estate private equity firm, where he focused on distressed debt, loan origination and complex joint ventures in the New York, Washington, DC, South Florida and San Francisco markets. At Square Mile, Mr. Benaim was responsible for structuring a $650 million joint venture build-to-suit development fully leased to the City of New York which was
subsequently exited at a substantial profit.

Mr. Benaim is also a partner in various core multifamily holdings in Manhattan through his association with Manocherian Brothers, a family-run owner/manager which has built a legacy of successful operation in New York City spanning over 60 years. Prior to founding Aria, Mr. Benaim has undertaken multifamily renovation, development and asset management projects on behalf of family partnerships with the benefit of direct mentorship and guidance. Mr. Benaim began his career 20 years ago as an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in the Mergers & Acquisitions and
Principal Transactions Groups.

Mr. Benaim recently served as Co-Chair of the Harvard Business School Real Estate Alumni Association during the initial development of that organization. Outside of the real estate industry, Mr. Benaim is the proud father of three young children and an operatic baritone who has performed with the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Benaim received a A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.