Berkshire Residential Investments to Acquire Full Ownership of MF1, the Leading Private-Label Multifamily Mortgage Lender

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Berkshire Residential Investments (“Berkshire”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Limekiln Real Estate Investment Management, LP’s (“Limekiln”) 50% interest in MF1 Process LLC (“MF1”), making Berkshire the sole owner of MF1. Upon closing, MF1 will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire. MF1 is the leading private-label multifamily mortgage lender, having originated multifamily loans aggregating $32 billion since 2018. MF1 has also been a leading issuer of commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations (“CRE CLOs”). MF1 was launched in 2018 as a 50/50 joint venture between Limekiln founder Scott Waynebern and Berkshire.

As part of the transaction, it is anticipated that most Limekiln employees will become Berkshire employees. Limekiln’s origination, capital markets, servicing and legal leaders will all join Berkshire: Russ Avery will serve as Executive Managing Director, Capital Markets Investment; Tom Keefe will serve as Executive Managing Director, Co-Head of MF1; Michael Squires will serve as Senior Managing Director, Head of Production; and Sandy Vergano will serve as Executive Managing Director, Legal, Investments. In addition, Jon Pfeil, Partner at Berkshire, will become Chief Investment Officer of Berkshire’s Credit and Lending business and will continue to report to Eric Draeger, Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Carolyn Burgess will continue as Partner and Chief Credit Officer, and John Roach will assume the role of Executive Managing Director, Co-Head of MF1 alongside Tom Keefe.

Eric Draeger, Partner and Berkshire’s Chief Investment Officer, said, “We are thrilled to welcome the Limekiln team into the Berkshire family. The joint venture that we formed eight years ago with Limekiln has been very successful and we are pleased to now have fully integrated multifamily equity, securities and debt origination platforms. We look forward to serving our investors and borrowers as one Berkshire team.”

Scott Waynebern will remain CEO of Limekiln, which will focus on building a new CRE strategy outside of multifamily debt.

Waynebern added, “I love being a builder of businesses and teams and am excited to go out and create again. The management textbooks all say JVs never work. This one did, which is a testament to the quality of people on both sides of the partnership. Combined into one team going forward at Berkshire, I expect MF1 to continue to be a market leader.”

About Berkshire Residential Investments

Berkshire Residential Investments is a privately held investment management company known for its innovative, vertically-integrated operating platform and 60 years of experience in U.S. residential real estate. Berkshire makes investments throughout the capital stack and across the risk spectrum. Berkshire, a registered investment advisor, is headquartered in Boston and has offices in Dallas and San Francisco with over 1,000 employees. As of June 30, 2026, Berkshire had approximately $34.7 billion¹ of real estate assets under management on behalf of a wide range of global institutional investors. Berkshire owns, manages, and oversees approximately 480,000 residential units through equity and debt investments. Through its residential platform, Berkshire sponsors a closed-end, value-add fund series, a private lending fund series, a credit fund series and an open-end core fund. In addition, the Firm manages separate accounts focused on equity and debt investments. For more information on Berkshire, please visit www.berkshireresi.com.

About Limekiln Real Estate

Limekiln is a commercial real estate credit-focused investor founded in 2011 by Scott Waynebern and based in New York. Over the past 15 years Limekiln has built and sold a CRE debt platform, invested in NYC real estate development and been an innovator in almost all phases of the CRE debt and securitization markets. Limekiln executes its high yield CRE securities strategy via separate accounts and until Q3 2026 executed its market-leading direct lending strategy via the MF1 partnership. As of March 2026, Limekiln reported AUM of $17.5 billion.

Advisors

Berkshire Global Advisors is serving as financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as legal advisor to Berkshire Residential Investments. Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (US) LLP is acting as legal advisor to Limekiln Real Estate.

¹ Assets under management ("AUM") reported in this advertisement are calculated as the sum of the gross asset value of the Firm’s real estate investments in each of its investment vehicles (debt/equity) & unfunded capital commitments for such vehicles.