Steven Kersten is the owner and president of Lakeview Realty Investors. He began investing in real estate in 1993, when he bought at auction a group of distressed loft buildings in Chicago’s West Loop. The market was in a downturn and it seemed like a good time to get started in real estate. Mr. Kersten demolished the buildings, built a surface parking lot and waited for the market to recover. In time, the market came back and he was able to sell the properties at a significant profit. Using the proceeds of this original investment, Mr. Kersten has now built a portfolio that includes 20 properties, over a million square feet of space and 350 acres of land for development.

Lakeview Realty Investors was established in 2015 to build on the success of the preceding 24 years of investing. We have put together a team of experienced professionals to acquire, develop and manage industrial real estate. Our goal is to be one of the leading real estate investment firms in Chicago.

In addition to investing in real estate, Mr. Kersten is also the owner and president of two manufacturing companies, WaterSaver Faucet Co. and Guardian Equipment Inc. These two companies together employ over two hundred people in Chicago and are the worldwide leaders in their industries.

Mr. Kersten has a BA degree from Harvard University and a JD degree from the University of Chicago. He is an active member of numerous organizations in Chicago, including Manufacturing Renaissance, North Branch Works and World Business Chicago. He is a past president of Business and Professionals for the Public Interest and currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago.

As Vice President of Lakeview Realty Investors, Frank Sciackitano is in charge of acquisitions, leasing and capital construction. He also runs day to day company operations.

Prior to joining Lakeview Realty Investors, Frank was Vice President at KTR Capital Partners. During his decade-long tenure there, he was responsible for the property management of over 70 buildings totaling more than 11 million square feet of space.  In addition, he performed  tenant improvement and spec building construction for all Chicago-area projects and redeveloped over 6 million square feet of property totaling in excess $20 million.

In all, Frank has more than two decades of experience in real estate, having also worked with Duke Realty and Prologis. He is a current member of NAIOP Chicago, BOMA Suburban and is LEED AP certified.

He received his B.A. in Political Science from DePaul University.