Rick Aidekman

New York, New York
Founder,
RA Property Holdings LLC
raidekman@gmail.com

Mr. Aidekman, who  is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers Law School, started his career as an attorney practicing for five years with Olshan Frome & Wolosky, a prominent New York City real estate firm.

Mr. Aidekman was the co-founder of Prime Realty Holdings, LLC (“Prime”) in 1986. Prime’s business focus was the acquisition, rehabilitation, and management of fully occupied multi-family apartment buildings located in New York City.  In 2004, the market value of the Prime portfolio was more than $800 million.    Mr. Aidekman was the CEO and in charge of acquisitions, financing, raising equity and retail leasing.

Prime purchased its first multi-family property in 1986 with investment from friends and family.  In  1991, Prime owned three buildings with 114 units in New York City.  By 2004, Prime, with its investors, , owned and managed, through its wholly owned management company, more than 8,100 apartment units and retail stores in 167 buildings in upper middle- and moderate-income neighborhoods in New York City.    Prime consistently brought both high cash on cash yields and increased values to the assets under its control.   At its peak , Prime employed over 450 employees.

Prime also owned and operated Renovations Plus, LLC, which renovated over 400 apartments per year, and with its staff of over 60 employees performed the primary repairs and maintenance required to provide  the superior support necessary to satisfy the residents of  such a large portfolio.

Prime’s growth was supported by its principal investors including The Prudential Life Insurance Company (through its Prudential Real Estate Investors division), Trust Company of the West, Oaktree Capital Management LLC, and numerous high net worth individuals.  In addition to multi-family, Prime managed a 1,400-unit garden apartment complex in the Bronx, N.Y. for Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette.

In 2002, Mr. Aidekman successfully completed the acquisition of 11 high rise properties in central Manhattan 9 of which were financed by the Oregon State Pension Fund and was owned and operated in partnership with Greystar of Charleston, South Carolina.     The other two were acquired by Prime.  The transaction was prominently featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Between 2004 and the end of 2006 all the assets were sold, providing Prudential and Prime’s other partners, IRRs more than 20%.   Prudential made an Internal Rate of Return  of more than 24% in the approximately five-year holding period.      

Mr. Aidekman has also been an advisor to several high net worth real estate investors in their pursuit of multi-family opportunities in New York City.    He has also worked with several owner/operators and developers in raising capital for multi-family development projects, and for hotels.

In 2005, after his success in owning and operating multi-family properties in New York City, Mr. Aidekman, together with his wife, Ellen Sackoff opened the celebrated Cornelia Day Resort, a 22,000 square foot luxury spa and hair salon in the Ferragamo flagship building on Fifth Avenue. Cornelia was recognized by media, the industry, and clients for redefining the ‘Day Spa’ category.  Mr. Aidekman acted as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating officer of Cornelia Fifth Avenue. In this capacity, he managed over 180 employees at the Day Resort.   In 2008 it generated $10.4 million in revenue making it the second highest revenue day spa in America.    Mr. Aidekman sold the Day Resort in 2009 at the beginning of the recession.

Mr. Aidekman continues to invest in real estate in New York and has acted as an advisor to various hospitality and real estate ventures.

In 2022, Mr. Aidekman was responsible for bringing two large partners to a just closed transaction in Jamaica, Queens, New York.   These included a 345,000 Square Foot parcel to be developed by Teachers’ Village workforce housing and a 200,000 Square Foot parcel to be developed for Success Academy.     Mr. Aidekman has also brought Montgomery Street Partners as a ground lessor to a Teachers’ Village development site in Atlanta, Georgia.

He is also involved in several other development sites in Newark, New Jersey in bringing in capital partners for Teachers’ Village.   Finally, Mr. Aidekman is working on creating joint venture projects between several large multi-family companies throughout the United States and has acted as a co-broker on several other development sites in Utah and Georgia.   He has also arranged for a joint venture with a senior housing company and a workforce housing company to joint venture the development of several ground up developments.