Weekend Interview: Faropoint Founder And CEO Adir Levitas

This series gets into the heads of the decision-makers of CRE, the people shaping the industry by setting investment strategy, workplace design, diversity initiatives and more.

Adir Levitas founded Faropoint, an investment company specializing in industrial last-mile assets, in 2012. It purchases individual assets, bundles them and sells the portfolios to institutional investors. Its portfolio is about 20M SF of warehouses, and sustainability has become a major focus, as the company sees climate change as an extremely important issue.

Faropoint is building solar panels on top of its warehouses, and this year it is launching a policy of issuing an environmental report for each asset it acquires so it knows what measures need to be taken to increase sustainability performance and have a better environmental impact. 

The following has been lightly edited for style and grammar.

Bisnow: Tell us about your leadership philosophy and what experiences, words of advice or mentors shaped it along the way. 

Levitas: I take a three-pronged approach to leadership, focusing on people, culture and tactile decision-making. I think it is extremely important to invest in my team and to ensure they have the support and resources needed to be successful. Past experience has taught me that this builds the strongest and most efficient teams. Our company culture goes hand in hand with this: by fostering an environment that encourages collaboration, shared responsibility, transparency and continuous feedback loops, our teams are better equipped to meet their goals. Finally, as a leader I think it is imperative to be thoughtful with my decision-making. I view things in a very analytical way and make data-driven decisions based on scalable information rather than emotional gut feelings. The combination of these three leadership values has allowed me to create a company that optimizes productivity through effective professional collaboration and open communication.

When it comes to mentorship, there are two books that have played a heavy role in shaping my leadership philosophy: What it Takes by Blackstone CEO Steven A. Shwarzman, and Principles by Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates. Both are wonderfully insightful books written by institutionalized leaders that taught me a great deal about decision-making as a CEO, how to approach and navigate unforeseen challenges, and how to build excellent, high-functioning teams. 

Bisnow: How has the role of CEO/business leader changed over time — especially when considering the early days of your career to now? 

Levitas: In the early days of my career as a CEO, I was much more involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. When you’re building something from the ground up and still growing your team, you’re more hands-on and tend to wear multiple hats. As Faropoint has continued to grow and evolve, I’ve realized the value of delegation. I do not micromanage my team and trust employees to execute tasks in excellence, building trust and confidence between us that extends throughout the entire organization. This allows me to be more process-oriented than in the past. By assigning tasks based on employees’ strengths, I’m free to drive the company from a high-level mission standpoint. 

Bisnow: What will the role of CEO look like in 10 years?

Levitas: I believe the role of CEO is becoming much more people-oriented than it has traditionally been in the past. We are seeing a shift where candidates are not just promoted based on their practical experiences, but from their willingness to learn and ability to succeed gleaned from their personal skills and strengths. We are also seeing more acceptance of diversity, and I believe that building a team with diverse backgrounds, ages and genders is imperative for a company’s success. Going forward, CEOs must recognize that the well-being of their employees is just as (if not more) important than making money for shareholders. At the end of the day, it’s the hard work and dedication of your team that generates profit. 

Bisnow: Was leading a company always a goal for you? If so, why?

Levitas: Honestly, no. Growing up I was always the one that organized team activities with my group of friends. This continued when I served in the Israeli Army — they said, “You’re good at telling people what to do,” and suddenly I was in charge of 120 soldiers at 22 years old. When my time in the army ended, I had to decide what my path was professionally, and opening a business seemed like the natural choice given my desire to work directly with people and my ability to lead. 

Bisnow: What has been your biggest mistake as a leader?

Levitas: I don’t like to think of any past experience as a “mistake.” There have without a doubt been situations that I could have handled differently, but I like to view these as learning opportunities. In terms of learning opportunities, I’ve had numerous. I believe, however, that each has given me the opportunity to better understand myself as a leader. For example, if I enter into an unsuccessful partnership, I can re-evaluate after the fact, recognize what went wrong and apply this to future business relationships. Every leader will experience setbacks, but a great leader will leverage these missteps to continuously improve their strategy and outlook. 

Bisnow: Has your thinking changed about the workplace between 2019 and today? How? What will your office strategy be moving forward?

Levitas: The past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have without a doubt increased flexibility in the workplace, specifically in where and how people complete their work. In some ways remote work has increased productivity, especially when completing independent tasks that require solitude and focus. What we, as leaders, need to figure out is how to maintain an active office culture without sacrificing this newfound flexibility. I will always maintain that in-person, direct collaboration is crucial when building a cooperative and productive work environment. 

On the flip side, the improvements in office technology over the past few years have helped collaboration between local market teams tremendously. Faropoint is a company with a large national footprint, and the ability to meet and have business discussions virtually increases visibility and information sharing between teams, overall fostering camaraderie between employees and creating new opportunities for collaboration across markets. 

Bisnow: There is a massive conversation underway regarding advancing more people of color and women into the C-suite. What are you doing to address those voices and that movement within your own organization?

Levitas: Faropoint currently has two women in the C-suite — a female chief technology officer and general counsel — which unfortunately is not commonplace in this industry. Having teams that are diverse in background, culture and gender is imperative for company success and for effective collaboration. At Faropoint, we are intentional about creating opportunities that are open and accessible to women and other minority groups, as well ensuring that every team member feels heard and included at every level within the organization. It is not enough to simply hire a diverse team; we must stay vigilant in providing everyone with a seat and voice at the table. 

Bisnow: What do you think about the recent focus on sustainability and climate change? Is it overblown? Insufficient? Is your company tackling climate change in any way or taking it under consideration in your planning? 

Levitas: Climate change is an extremely important issue and a big challenge that we at Faropoint make an effort to stay cognizant of when developing our strategies and management processes. One tangible example is the installation of solar panels on our properties. Rather than renting the roofs out to third-party companies, we have undertaken this initiative in-house because we feel we have a responsibility as investors and asset managers to be as sustainable as possible in our operations. 

Oftentimes companies can be more concerned with how their ESG [environmental, social and governance] policies appear publicly than they are actually taking action to implement sustainable practices into their business model. In 2022, Faropoint will begin an environmental report for each asset we acquire in order to have visibility into what measures need to be taken to increase sustainability performance and undertake initiatives to hopefully make a more positive environmental impact across the board. 

Bisnow: What is something CRE gets wrong in your eyes?

Levitas: The commercial real estate industry has traditionally been tech-averse, but as data revolutionizes all industries, the question becomes: Will we embrace data or fall further behind? Commercial real estate players should be leveraging institutional data in order to streamline business processes and make better, more informed decisions. Technology is not implemented to replace people’s jobs or decrease interpersonal collaboration, but rather to help us perform more efficiently. Specifically in commercial real estate, data science can help expedite deal execution, eliminating many unknowns and questions that come up during the process. For example, when negotiating a price, having access to organized data about the property allows us to quickly pinpoint factors that have a contribution to the price and ultimately streamlines the settlement process. 

Bisnow: What asset class or location will perform best over the next five years? Why?

Levitas: Asset classes that embrace structural trends like working from home and e-commerce will continue to grow. The industrial real estate industry will also benefit from this as these emerging structural trends support having locations close to the end user. In terms of location, markets with high population density and job growth potential will thrive, as these regions continue to produce attractive real estate investment opportunities. 

Bisnow: What book, article or TedTalk meant the most to you? Why?

Levitas: I would say the book that has made the most meaningful impact on how I run my company is No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. This book has given me the most practical advice in terms of how to build a successful and healthy company culture. Hastings emphasizes the importance of transparency throughout an organization, something I have since implemented at Faropoint. When we distribute culture questionnaires, I encourage employees to attach their name to their responses and stand behind their comments in order to establish trust and show that there will be no retaliation for constructive criticism. This allows us to foster an environment where everyone’s voice is heard and valued, without fear of punishment. 

Bisnow: What is your all-time favorite TV show? Why?

Levitas: In all honesty, I don't watch much TV that isn’t educational, except at the request of my wife. 

Bisnow: How do you spend your Saturdays?

Levitas: On Saturdays I travel from our home in New Jersey to New York City with my family, the kids ride bikes around Central Park, and we all enjoy a meal together.