PODCAST: Cain International's Jonathan Goldstein On Businesses' Role Fixing Society's Biggest Problems
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On this episode, we hear from Jonathan Goldstein, the CEO of Cain International, a privately held investment firm with almost $11B under management.
Cain was formed in 2014, when Goldstein joined with Todd Boehly, a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers. In the UK, Cain backs Maslow’s coworking and members club in London, as well as the all-female members club The Allbright. It has also invested in has Competitive Socialising, which owns leisure brand Swingers, a concept that combines mini-golf, cocktails and street food.
It also just announced plans to build a £1.5B student portfolio in the UK, and last week, acquired a £550M U.K. logistics portfolio from real estate investors Firethorn.
The firm is making some major advancement in the U.S. as well; Cain is behind One Beverly Hills, a 17.5-acre development in LA, which has one of the biggest master plans for a private real estate project in the country. It is also developing luxury hotels, residential offerings and brand-new offices in Miami, New York and Boston.
In Miami, Cain is developing office tower 830 Brickell, which the company says is over 50% leased at rents of more than $100 per SF. In New York City, it is joint venturing with Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners to build a new office tower on Billionaires' Row and loaned OKO Group — the development company formed by Aman CEO and Chairman Vladislav Doronin — $750M in 2019 to finance the conversion of the upper part of 730 Fifth Ave.
On the show, Goldstein discusses making acquisitions during the pandemic, why he believes in the future — and how businesses need to accept their role in dealing with major social problems like the housing crisis and homelessness.
“We as business leaders need to take a lead in saying we can do more, we are prepared to do more, we're prepared to pay more. Taxation is not a bad word, if you understand what your money is being used for, and it's being used to solve some of society's problems,” he said. “Governments need to understand that they simply are incapable of solving these problems, and they need to delegate and work in collaboration with the business leaders, because I have yet to be in a room with leading property developers around this world who don't care about this issue.”
