About Us

Our Mission

The Atlanta Real Estate Collaborative (AREC) is a group of private individuals with extensive real estate experience who have united to share their professional expertise in housing with those in need. AREC has embarked on three programs to deal directly with homelessness and have a sustainable impact. We seek to address the housing needs of homeless individuals through facilitating housing placements, real estate advisory services and development, and advocacy.

AREC’s members have found that having a seat at the table while working collaboratively with the necessary parties can result in favorable outcomes relating to policy, costs, results and communication. AREC brings leading practices from the housing industry to like-minded organizations, and offers its influence, resources and energy to the collective cause of ending homelessness.

Founding Members* and Board of Directors

Charles (Chuck) Shallat*

Executive Vice President - Southeast Region, Lincoln Property Company

Tim Schrager*

CEO, Perennial Properties, Inc.

Matt Shulman*

CEO & Managing Partner, The Ardent Companies

Lee Walker*

Managing Partner, TriBridge Residential

Robert LaChapelle*

Executive Vice President - Regional Managing Director, CBRE

Jon Kleinberg*

Managing Director - Investment Services, Transwestern Commercial Real Estate

Aaron Goldman*

President, Perennial Properties, Inc.

Dave Loeffel

CEO, Highlands Residential

Lee McComb

Marketing Specialist

Select a member at the leftabove to view the full profile.

Charles (Chuck) Shallat*

Executive Vice President - Southeast Region, Lincoln Property Company

Chuck Shallat is Executive Vice President for Lincoln Property Company’s Southeast Region, where he is responsible for overseeing development, acquisitions, dispositions, financings and monitoring on-going property management activities. Since joining Lincoln in 1996, the Southeast region has closed over a billion dollars in development and acquisitions transactions. Shallat’s region also manages approximately 26,000+ apartment units for its own account as well as for third parties. In addition to LPC’s core business, his region includes condominium management, an affordable group and military housing.

Chuck started his career in real estate with JMB Properties Company specializing in the disposition of apartment properties in Denver and Southern California. Following his tenure with JMB, he was a Senior Acquisitions Associate at Metric Realty, an institutional pension fund advisor, where he was responsible for the acquisition of multifamily properties throughout the United States.

Shallat holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics/Marketing/Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently a member of the National Multi-Housing Counsel, a past mentor with ULI, and a former Board Member of the East Coast REIAC Chapter. Chuck and his wife, Renee, are actively involved in their community as members of A Hand Up Atlanta, and volunteer with local charitable organizations. A long time supporter of children’s athletics and educational youth-based programs, Chuck is a year ‘round coach for lacrosse and football.

Tim Schrager*

CEO, Perennial Properties, Inc.

In 1988, Tim Schrager founded Perennial Properties, Inc., an Atlanta based real estate development and property management company. Schrager started as a one-man shop, learning the business from the ground up by building and renovating multi-family projects in Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods. From the beginning, Schrager saw a need for quality housing choices in Atlanta’s older neighborhoods where the rental housing stock was deteriorating. Thus, the company focused on infill development in gentrifying Atlanta neighborhoods. Over more than three decades, Perennial has been responsible for the development of numerous multi-family communities as well as multi-family and retail mixed-use developments in Georgia and in Florida. The company also owns and operates Midtown Bowl, a bowling center in Midtown Atlanta.

Tim was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He received a B.S. degree in Real Estate Finance from the University of Southern California. He is currently involved in several Atlanta community organizations including: the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (Board Chairman Emeritus); the High Museum (Board of Directors); the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (Annual Community Campaign Premier Gifts Co-Chair); Atlanta Apartment Association (Board of Directors, Past Board Chairman, Government Affairs Committee, and 3-time Past Co-Chair of the Association’s Annual Food-A-Thon benefiting the Atlanta Community Food Bank).

In 1986, Schrager moved to Atlanta where he and his wife now live with their three children.

Matt Shulman*

CEO & Managing Partner, The Ardent Companies

Matt Shulman is CEO & Managing Partner of The Ardent Companies, a real estate investment and asset management firm located in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 2012 Ardent has placed over $250 million in capital into debt and equity real estate investments across various property types and geographies. Ardent has affiliate companies that build homes, provide construction services for commercial and residential investors. Prior to forming Ardent, Matt was with Rialto Capital where he was a Managing Director. Prior to Rialto, Shulman was a founding partner at Fairway Capital Partners, a real estate distressed debt firm started in 2007 that purchased nearly $400 million in assets.

Matt grew up in suburban Detroit. He received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona and an M.A. in Real Estate Finance from New York University. Matt was also an adjunct professor of real estate finance at New York University. In 2008, Matt and his wife Karen moved to Sandy Springs, where they currently reside with their two children.

Lee Walker*

Managing Partner, TriBridge Residential

Lee Walker is Managing Partner of TriBridge Residential, leading his team in the sourcing, evaluation, underwriting and financing of all transactions conducted by TriBridge. He has worked with TriBridge or its affiliates since 1992 and has provided strategic and tactical expertise to the firm’s growth and transactional opportunities. Prior to joining TriBridge, Lee was a loan officer at First Texas Savings & Loan and a mortgage banker with the Cunrie Company of Texas and Lomas & Nettleton of Atlanta. He began to specialize in apartment development with Summit Properties in Atlanta.

Walker attended Furman University and the University of South Carolina and received degrees in Marketing and Real Estate Finance.

Robert LaChapelle*

Executive Vice President - Regional Managing Director, CBRE

Robert LaChapelle is the Executive Vice President and Regional Managing Director for CBRE’s Debt & Equity Finance Group in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon receiving a B.S. in Management from Tulane University in 1983, Robert began his career with Coldwell Banker in New Orleans as an apartment broker, moving to the firm’s Financial Services division in Atlanta as a mortgage banker specializing in multi-family finance in 1986. In 1988, LaChapelle joined First Fidelity Mortgage where he continued his specialization in multi-family finance and expanded his relationships to include numerous life insurance correspondents and pension clients. He then went to Shoptaw-James, Inc., becoming a partner in the firm L.J. Melody & Company (now CBRE’s Debt & Equity Finance) when it acquired Shoptaw-James, Inc. in May 1998.

Since 1993, Robert has continued to focus his efforts in procuring debt and equity for multi-family clients, and has been instrumental in originating new sources of debt and equity for the company’s clientele. During his career, LaChapelle has been recognized as a top producer by numerous institutions including Allianz Life Insurance, Allstate Life Insurance, Freddie Mac – Southeast Region, Nationwide Life Insurance, and PPM Finance. He is a eight-time recipient of the Coldwell Colbert Circle Award which recognizes the top three percent of commissioned salespeople worldwide.

Jon Kleinberg*

Managing Director - Investment Services, Transwestern Commercial Real Estate

As managing director of Transwestern’s Investment Services group in Atlanta, Jon Kleinberg and his partners oversee all of the firm’s investment sales brokerage services in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. He is consistently ranked nationally among Transwestern’s Top Investment Brokers. Jon offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted background, successfully marketing and negotiating the sale of a wide variety of assets including multifamily, office, retail and industrial.

Kleinberg has 26 years of commercial real estate experience in brokerage, dispositions, lending, and portfolio management. In his 18 years of investment sales brokerage, he has represented both private and institutional clients in the sale of investment properties valued in excess of $2 billion. Prior to joining Transwestern, Jon spent ten years with Insignia/ESG in the firm’s Capital Advisors Group, and seven years in the real estate department of the Traveler’s Insurance Company.

Jon received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Government from St. Lawrence University and his MBA from Duke University.

Aaron Goldman*

President, Perennial Properties, Inc.

Aaron Goldman is the President and co-owner of Perennial Properties, Inc., a development, investment and management firm focused on multifamily rental housing accompanied by retail establishments.

Perennial’s existing portfolio is centered in Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods including West Midtown, Virginia Highland, Morningside, Piedmont Heights, Emory, Buckhead, Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward. Perennial has acquired or built over 20 properties in metro Atlanta. The company has also developed projects in Athens, Georgia as well as Tampa and Orlando, Florida.

Raised in Milwaukee, Aaron is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Real Estate Program and served on the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association Board of Trustees. While working in finance in Chicago, Aaron served as a volunteer and board member of the Cabrini Green Youth Program. Goldman served for six years as a board member for Cool Girls, Inc., a nationally recognized mentoring and afterschool program serving Atlanta’s at-risk girls in eleven elementary and middle schools. Aaron is married with three children and resides in Atlanta’s Morningside neighborhood.

Dave Loeffel

CEO, Highlands Residential

Dave Loeffel is the CEO of Highlands Residential. Highlands Residential develops, owns and manages age-exclusive rental communities. Dave began his real estate career at Walton Communities working in various aspects of the business, starting with property management and maintenance before working with the chief financial officer in all financial activities. Dave created Walton Communities’ affordable housing business platform, building partnerships with various housing authorities in the state.

As a board member of the Atlanta Real Estate Collaborative (AREC), Dave has been integral to addressing the housing needs of homeless individuals in Atlanta. As part of that effort, he spearheaded Open Doors’ Limited Rent Guarantee to reduce risks and increase program participation by owners. His strong ties in Cobb and Gwinnett counties helped Open Doors enter those difficult-to-penetrate markets.

Dave also serves on the Georgia Affordable Housing Coalition and the PTF Board of his children’s school. He is involved in the mentor programs at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory’s Goizueta Business School. Dave received an MBA from Emory’s Goizueta Business School in 2011. He earned a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech and is a chartered financial analyst (CFA). He lives in East Cobb with his wife Laura and three kids, Nate, Luke, and Sophia Kate.

Lee McComb

Marketing Specialist

Lee McComb is a freelance marketing strategist with experience in both real estate and the non-profit world. During four years with CBRE Southeast Multifamily Group, Lee’s marketing efforts were instrumental in over $12 billion in successful transactions with the brokerage team’s highest profile national assignments for multi-market portfolio listings across the United States. In the non-profit world, Lee has provided strategic marketing work for the national marketing committee of the American Cancer Society and for High Meadows School in Roswell, Georgia.

Earlier in her career, Lee spent almost a decade in the advertising agency business, where she served as Vice President and Account Director for a national advertising firm. During her agency tenure, she was named by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the “best marketing minds” in the Atlanta advertising industry.

In addition to her work with AREC, Lee and her family have served as a volunteer host family for ChildSpring International, an organization that provides U.S. medical aid to children from developing countries. Lee grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and earned a B.S. in Communications from the University of Tennessee and an MBA in marketing from Vanderbilt’s Owen School of Management. She and her husband, Malcolm, have three adult children.