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about us

Gravel Road is a investor and developer of multifamily real estate with a focus on workforce housing.  We pride ourselves on generating creative solutions to deliver supply to an underserved portion of the rental housing market and are generally investing in supply constrained markets with strong long-term fundamentals.  The company has a defined expertise executing public-private partnerships with local governments to ensure long term affordability.  

 

The firm's founders have over 50 years of combined experience working in commercial real estate with a broad set of expertise including acquisitions, development, asset management, restructuring and strategy on behalf of global institutions. The founding partners came together to form Gravel Road after serving as executive team members for a global workplace and hospitality company.  

team

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Michael Burke

founding partner

Michael was formerly the Global Head of Growth for Convene – a leading meetings/events and workplace hospitality company – where he served as a member of the Executive Team and was responsible for strategic growth of the company. Formerly a Director at Arlington Economic Development, Michael was responsible for developing relationships and helping private sector real estate companies interface with the local government. Prior to that, Michael worked in leasing and investment sales at what was then Cassidy and Pinkard (now Cushman and Wakefield) in Washington D.C. Over his career, Michael has been involved in over $2B worth of commercial real estate transactions. Michael holds a degree in economics from Villanova University and studied for his masters of professional studies, real estate at Georgetown University. Michael has served on numerous non-profit boards in the disability space and currently serves as an Advisor to Youth Apostles. He lives in McLean, VA with his wife, son and daughter.

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Thomas Toepke

founding partner

Thomas was formerly the Head of Real Estate Acquisitions for Convene – a leading meetings/events and workplace hospitality company. While in this role Thomas oversaw the Acquisitions team that was responsible for growing the Convene portfolio of locations from six locations to over thirty locations in seven US cities and the UK. Prior to Convene, Thomas was a Vice President of Real Estate at HBC, a global retail chain of over 60 million square feet of owned and leased assets. Prior experience includes HBC, Hines, and NRDC Equity Partners where he held various positions in acquisitions, store planning and design, project management and development & entitlements. Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lehigh University where he was a member of the Men’s Division-I Lacrosse Team. Following his time at Lehigh Thomas attended The Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell University where he earned a Masters in Professional Studies in Real Estate and Development. Thomas lives in Greenwich, CT, with his wife and three sons. When he is not coaching one of his sons in youth sports, Thomas enjoys golf, tennis and gardening with his family.

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Tyler Herbert

founding partner

Tyler was formerly the Global Head of Real Estate for Convene – a leading meetings/events and workplace hospitality company – where he served as a member of the Executive Team and focused on strategic growth of the portfolio domestically and internationally overseeing acquisitions, asset management, underwriting, and construction. Formerly a Director at Invesco Real Estate, Tyler managed over $650M of institutional investments on behalf of open and closed-end funds and separate accounts. Prior experience includes Deloitte’s Real Estate Consulting Group, Fortress Investment Group, and Cushman & Wakefield’s structured finance and investment sales groups where he underwrote and restructured over $1.7B of commercial office, retail, and multifamily projects. Tyler holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Stetson University where he was a member of the Men’s Soccer Team and recognized as a Collegiate All-American Scholar and Academic All-Conference. In 2011, Tyler was a recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Tyler graduated with a MBA from the University of Oxford. While studying at Oxford, Tyler was the Chairman of the Venture Capital Fund and was awarded the Robert H. Hayes Award for Operations Management, and won distinction for his Entrepreneurship Project that established a market-based importation and distribution enterprise, providing a sustainable supply chain solution for affordable micronutrient powder to over 2 million impoverished children in rural Kenya. Tyler has been a speaker at multiple investor conferences and Real Estate / PropTech panels and sits on the Executive Advisory Board of Prysm Capital, the Advisory Board of Soft Cell Biological Research, and the Board of Trustees for the National World War II Museum. Tyler lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two children.

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Jennifer Paik

senior vice president, asset management & operations

Jen was formerly a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Real Estate Consulting practice. In this role, she was responsible for co-leading the Lease Advisory practice serving Fortune 500 clients across asset classes. She sold and managed large scale contract compliance audit projects, technology implementation projects, real estate operations transformation projects, and served as a real estate subject matter expert on numerous internal audit engagements. Prior to Deloitte, Jen was the Senior Director of Asset Management for Convene. In this role, Jen built the company’s Asset Management function to support the forecasting and reporting of over 30 locations. Prior experience also includes Cove – a proptech company - where she was the Director of Business Development. Jen holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of California, Los Angeles. Jen lives in Brooklyn, NY and enjoys fostering dogs in her free time.

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