BH3 Management

BH3 primarily sources through distressed debt acquisitions and UCC foreclosure proceedings, purchasing defaulted mortgage and mezzanine notes rather than bidding on marketed properties. This legal-intensive channel, led by litigator-trained Co-CEO Gregory Freedman, gives BH3 an edge in obtaining assets at below-replacement cost. The firm frequently negotiates directly with defaulted borrowers or takes control of assets via court-supervised auctions.

Co-founders Gregory Freedman and Daniel Lebensohn met as law students at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Freedman practiced as a litigator, a background that directly shaped BH3's legal-heavy sourcing model around UCC foreclosures and debt enforcement. The pair launched the firm with a single distressed condo deal in Miami during the foreclosure crisis and have scaled it into a multi-billion-dollar platform.

BH3 concentrates on South Florida and the New York metropolitan area. In South Florida, the firm has been one of the most active opportunistic investors in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale condo markets. Its New York presence has included distressed note acquisitions and opportunistic development plays, mirroring its Miami strategy.

BH3 operates as a real estate investment manager deploying outside institutional capital alongside co-investment from the founders. The firm has historically structured investments through discrete deal-level vehicles and longer-duration credit funds. It is not structured as a single-family office but as a traditional alternative asset manager with external limited partners (per public record).

Mezzanine debt is central to BH3's deal flow. The firm acquires junior debt positions and mezzanine loans in already-distressed capital stacks, often at a deep discount. When the borrower defaults, BH3 can use Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure procedures to consolidate ownership of the underlying real estate, bypassing traditional mortgage foreclosures which can take years in Florida.

Notable assets have included 1800 Biscayne Plaza, an entire downtown Miami city block that BH3 transformed into a mixed-use tower, and the X Miami residential tower. The firm also acquired and repositioned the Paramount Bay condo tower early in its history. Its 2024 acquisition of a stalled Fort Lauderdale development site for $550 million is one of the largest recent basis plays in the South Florida luxury condo pipeline.

Yes, BH3 operates BH3 Capital, a merchant-banking arm, and BH3 Growth Ventures, a proptech investment vehicle. These units expand the firm's exposure into real estate technology and broader special-situation equity, though the firm's core remains its opportunistic real estate and distressed credit strategies.