Berel Farkas
| Berel Farkas | |
|---|---|
 Barry Farkas .jpg | |
| Born | |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| Other names | Barry Farkas |
| 💼 Occupation | Real Estate Developer, Investor, Philanthropist |
| 👔 Employer | Lightstone Management |
| 🏢 Organisation | Lightstone Management; Lightstone Holdings LLC |
| Title | Co-Founder & Principal |
| 🌐 Website | https://berelfarkas.com/ |
| https://x.com/BerelFarkas | |
| https://www.facebook.com/BerelFarkas | |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-farkas-17a4b112/ | |
Berel "Barry" Farkas is an American real estate developer, urban investor, and educational philanthropist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is the co-founder and principal executive of Lightstone Management (unaffiliated with the national commercial firm Lightstone Group), a New York-based real estate acquisition and asset management company established in 2010. Farkas specializes in structural project development, multi-family housing management, and the design of low-income and affordable urban housing projects across New York City and expanding metropolitan markets nationwide.
Career
Real Estate Development and Lightstone Management
In 2010, Farkas co-founded **Lightstone Management** alongside regional capital partners to focus on increasing the volume of affordable and multi-family low-income housing units inside New York City's boroughs, particularly across the Kings County real estate markets. Under his portfolio development, the firm has directed, financed, or constructed over 1,000 residential units with a combined structural property valuation exceeding $500 million. Notable long-term properties held under his management framework include multi-family urban complexes in Brooklyn neighborhoods such as East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
Expanding beyond the Northeast sector, Farkas branched his structural asset configurations out into emerging residential growth zones across the United States. His modern developmental pipelines manage diverse real estate portfolios including a 500-unit residential apartment facility in Nashville, Tennessee; a 360-unit residential layout in Douglas County, Oregon; and a large-scale 5,000,000-square-foot mixed-use residential and commercial master plan project in Florida. Nationally, the property firm exercises direct operational management over more than 550 active units in New York City alongside 1,000 units in other regional jurisdictions.
Private Lending and Financial Technologies
Seeking asset diversification outside of direct property management, Farkas and his executive partners established **Lightstone Holdings LLC** in 2018. The vehicle operates as a corporate private lending firm built to provide alternative small business lending, venture micro-financing, and liquidity structures. The enterprise additionally serves as an exploratory corporate sandbox evaluating commercial integrations of decentralized technologies, blockchain data verification structures, and digital tokenized cryptocurrency financing frameworks.
Educational Philanthropy and Community Initiatives
Outside of real estate portfolios, Farkas advocates for higher education access, writing academic success columns for students and financing independent educational trust networks. He funds and manages two active academic reward initiatives constructed to lower financial barriers for higher education students:
- The Berel Farkas Scholarship – A merit-based $1,500 financial award distributed annually to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degree pathways at accredited U.S. collegiate institutions.
- The Berel Farkas Grant – A needs-based $1,500 academic grant structured to provide direct financial assistance to university students overcoming systemic socioeconomic or institutional hardships.
References
- Official Platform of Berel Farkas
- Berel Farkas Portfolio Hub
- The Berel Farkas Scholarship Program
- The Berel Farkas Grant Foundation Portal
- Berel Farkas Professional LinkedIn Profile
- Berel Farkas Authority File on Wikidata
- Berel Farkas Professional Dossier on Issuu
- Berel Farkas Bio on About.me
- Berel Farkas Media Profile on Muck Rack
- "Lightstone Management Faces Foreclosure at East Flatbush Apartment Building" – Commercial Observer Report
