Partners

Serving as La Cité's Chief Executive Officer, Dan Bythewood, Sr. was a real estate investor and managing partner in Neptune Capital LLC, a limited liability company that invested in emerging new economy companies. He was an investor and limited partner in Flag Luxury Properties LLC, a real estate development company that was responsible for constructing high-end properties for the Marriott Group in the United States. One project, the Miami South Beach Ritz-Carlton, is a 375-room hotel and spa with banquet facilities, specialty restaurants and luxury retail stores, which opened in 2002. Another development is the Ritz-Carlton Club in Jupiter, Florida. Dan Bythewood, Sr. participated in raising money for investment into these projects. During the mid 1980s, Dan, Sr. established Wildwood Gaming, Inc., a riverboat gaming corporation seeking riverboat gaming licenses within the United States. In addition, he owned and operated Jet Routes Unlimited, a private jet charter service with contracts with ABC Sports and Jim Henson Properties. The company was sold in the early eighties, and Dan Bythewood, Sr. served as its President and Chief Operating Officer.

As a Founding Partner of La Cité Development, Dan Bythewood, Jr. serves as President and Managing Partner of the company. A real estate financier and developer, Mr. Bythewood has extensive knowledge of the real estate market and has fully structured and negotiated real estate ventures from initial concepts through building, renovation, lease up and completion. Prior to the founding of La Cité Development, Dan Bythewood was an acquisitions manager at New York Equity Fund, a division of the National Equity Fund, the largest syndicator of tax credits. While at the New York Equity Fund, Mr. Bythewood managed the construction and ultimately administration of large development and disposition programs within the City of New York such as the Neighborhood Redevelopment Program (NRP), Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Program (NEP), and the Neighborhood Homes Program (NHP). While at the New York Equity Fund, Dan Bythewood was in charge of in excess of a billion dollar portfolio of projects, and personally developed and invested $150 million dollars in net equity. The multi-faceted nature of the tax credit portfolio allowed Mr. Bythewood to fully understand co-ownership ventures and to establish superb banking relationships with traditional and non-traditional lenders, tax credit allocating agencies, city governments and joint venture partners. A seasoned entrepreneur both in the United States and abroad, including Europe, the Middle East, and Ghana, Africa, Dan Bythewood is a series 6 registered and licensed representative with the NASD. Mr. Bythewood earned his BA from Adelphi University.

Ian G. Arias – La Cite's Executive Vice President & Co-Founder, Ian G. Arias, has 22 years of advanced real estate finance, development, investor & public relations experience. He leads transaction closing teams on all aspects of 80/20 bond developments, HUD, and Tax Increment Financing. Mr. Arias oversees IT while also sharing in the full operational responsibilities directly with La Cité's President. Over the course of his career, he negotiated, structured, and closed $900MM of equity into $2BN of complex 4% and 9% housing developments throughout New York State. Prior to La Cité, he was SVP of Acquisitions and Investor Relations at IFG Capital where he facilitated the closing of an in-place Acquisition/Rehab project with Goldman Sachs. Mr. Arias was also a VP/Senior Originator for PNC Bank where he established PNC’s NYC presence by closing some of the most complex 80/20 and 50/30/20 4% bond transactions with Jonathan Rose Companies, Forrest City Ratner, Albany Housing Authority, and CPCR to name a few. Before PNC, he was Senior Development Officer/Fund Manager for the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation where he co-managed the New York Equity Fund (NYEF), a $2.9B multi-investor housing fund that worked directly with NYC’s Housing Finance agencies. Some of NYEF's investors included: JP Morgan, Warren Buffet, Fannie Mae, American Express, and Deutsche Bank. Mr. Arias was also a Real Estate Finance graduate lecturer at the New School for Social Research. He holds a Master’s in Management & Urban Policy from the New School for Social Research and a Bachelor’s Degree in History from UCLA.

Khephra Burns was an investor and limited partner in Flag Luxury Properties, LLC which developed properties for the Marriott Group, which has developed such sites as the South Beach (Miami) Ritz-Carlton and the Ritz-Carlton Club in Jupiter, Florida. Mr. Burns’ 24-year career as an author, editor, television writer and producer, has afforded him opportunities to develop personal and business relationships with movers and shakers in media, business and government, locally, nationally and internationally.

Robert Johnson is the founder and former President of Brockport Ford and Bob Johnson Chevrolet in Greece, NY. After 20 successful years of business, during which time Mr. Johnson's companies were listed among Black Enterprise Magazine's "Top 100 Auto Dealers" and as one of upstate New York's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Businesses," Mr. Johnson sold both dealerships in 2001 and has since concentrated on investment opportunities primarily within the real estate development industry. An equity partner in Loft 5, LLC, as well as La Cité Development, LLC and 110 West 127th Street, LLC, Bob Johnson brings a lifetime of experience as a businessman and self-made entrepreneur to his current endeavors in the real estate world.