Darius Sakhai is a Co-Founder and Principal of Sovereign Partners. Since co-founding the Sponsor with his brother Cyrus Sakhai in 2002, Darius has focused on hands-on value creation to engineer returns in the firm’s portfolio of real estate assets.
While managing the Sakhai family’s investments in the 1990s, Darius acquired and financed numerous buildings throughout the country, creating value through extensive capital renovations and leasing programs. During the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, Darius recognized the opportunity to purchase properties at a significant discount. In particular, Darius acquired office, retail and residential properties in the southwest United States significantly below their prior values, focusing on the underlying fundamentals of real estate assets in the context of that economic downturn.
Darius moved to the United States from England in the early 1980s, where he was exposed early on to his father’s numerous real estate investments while working in the family’s business. As his experience grew, Darius began to oversee and direct the family’s limited partnership investments.
Darius has been responsible for investing in over 20 million square feet of office, multifamily and retail assets across the United States. Mr. Sakhai is currently oversees the day-to-day operations of the portfolio and plays an active role in both acquisitions and asset management.
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+1 212 319 5800 ext 105
Cyrus Sakhai is a Co-Founder and Principal of Sovereign Partners. Cyrus shares responsibility making decisions about Sovereign’s strategic direction and oversees Sovereign’s operations.
Over the past 20 years Cyrus has been responsible for investing in over 20 million square feet of office, retail and residential properties; he is involved in acquiring, financing and repositioning properties throughout the United States.
From 1995 to 2002, Cyrus held a senior role at a large privately held real estate investment firm, where he worked on projects that entailed significant capital improvement programs. While directing a redevelopment project in Manhattan, he created an in-house construction company to lower costs. Cyrus also helped manage his family’s real estate investments and traveled throughout the country overseeing a large portfolio of office properties. That experience required Cyrus to spend considerable time onsite at different locations. Cyrus’s real estate experience began at the age of nineteen, when he relocated to Tampa Bay during the summer of 1989 to manage an office building.
Cyrus attended Bentley College and graduated with a degree in finance. Raised in England, Cyrus moved to the United States in the early 1980s.
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+1 212 319 5800 ext 104
Bill plays an integral role in sourcing and evaluating potential acquisitions as well as performing due diligence and arranging financing.
Since joining Sovereign Partners in 2007, Bill has been involved in over 10 million square feet of acquisitions and dispositions. Bill has played an active role in creating operating efficiencies at the property level, increasing revenue through aggressive leasing and marketing programs while also overseeing accretive capital improvements.
Bill received a BBA in International Business from The George Washington University and an MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Real Estate and Finance. During the summer of 2012, while earning his MBA, Bill worked in the Real Estate and Investment Banking Group at Goldman Sachs.
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+1 212 319 5800 ext 112
Stephan plays an integral role in sourcing and evaluating potential acquisitions as well as performing due diligence and arranging financing. He is responsible for overseeing Sovereign’s equity capital markets team throughout the Country. In addition, Stephan asset manages a portfolio of assets within the United States.
Prior to joining the Sponsor, Stephan worked at iStar Inc., a publicly traded REIT, from July 2013 until December 2016. While at iStar Inc., Stephan focused on financing, developing and asset-managing real estate nationwide. In this capacity, Stephan financed projects with over $2.5 billion in value and assisted in the development of several residential and commercial projects.
Stephan received a BBA in Finance and Accounting from The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Real Estate.
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+1 212 319 5800 ext 109
Kate plays a critical role in asset management and construction management services for Sovereign. In addition, Kate acts as liaison between many of our partners across capital raising, acquisitions and our construction platforms.
Prior to joining Sovereign, Kate worked as a project manager for high-end luxury residential projects in Manhattan; she also handled projects in buildings with commercial components.
Kate received a BFA from the New York School of Interior Design. Raised in England, Kate moved to the United States in the early 1980’s.
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212-319-5800 Ext. 120
Jeff Young is a Vice President of Capital Markets, and is integral to the financing, operations, due-diligence, compliance and marketing within the capital markets team.
Prior to joining Sovereign Partners, Jeff served as Vice President of NorthStar Securities until the company was acquired in 2018. During his tenure at NorthStar, Jeff was responsible for internal compliance and marketing for the Midwest and Southeast territories since 2011.
After qualifying for the National Academic Scholarship Program, Jeff graduated with Marketing and Accounting degrees from Western State Colorado University.
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+1 (720) 371-0688
Terence is General Counsel at Sovereign and is responsible for the oversight and management of legal operations and strategies.
Prior to joining Sovereign, Terence worked in private practice at Loeb & Loeb LLP and Cyruli Shanks & Zizmor LLP, where he represented some of New York City’s largest landlords and tenants in complex real estate matters, including several hundreds of thousands of square feet of leasing transactions. Additionally, Terence worked as in-house counsel at Simone Development Companies in the Bronx, New York, where he oversaw real property legal matters, including for ground-up development projects, and all office, retail and industrial leasing and property management issues.
Terence received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana before moving to New York and graduating from Pace University’s School of Law in White Plains, New York.
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212-319-5800 Ext. 108
