CIM Group Hires Adam Lerer as Managing Director to Expand Real Estate Equity Platform
LOS ANGELES — September 8, 2026 — CIM Group has appointed Adam Lerer as Managing Director, Investments, the firm announced, adding a commercial real estate veteran with nearly two decades of experience across acquisitions, debt restructuring, and special situations to its Real Estate Equity team.
Lerer will be based in Los Angeles and will focus on sourcing, structuring, and executing new opportunities across CIM Group's real estate strategies while helping grow the firm's Real Estate Equity platform, which spans core, value-add, net lease, impact, and Opportunity Zone strategies across multiple property types.
A Background Built on Complex Situations
Lerer joins CIM Group from PIMCO Prime Real Estate, where he held two senior roles. As Head of Special Situations Group, America, he led commercial real estate debt restructuring and alternative solutions across the U.S. for a $14 billion loan portfolio. He also served as Head of Acquisitions, America at the same firm, directing the real estate acquisition strategy across residential, industrial, office, life science, and retail sectors.
Before PIMCO Prime Real Estate, Lerer held executive roles at Decron Properties Corp. and Norges Bank Investment Management. Earlier in his career, he worked in the Urban Investment Group and Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from New York University.
"Adam brings a wealth of expertise across acquisitions, asset management, debt, and special situations that complements the diverse strategies within our Real Estate Equity business. His experience will be valuable as we continue to expand our capabilities and pursue opportunities across targeted strategies and markets," said Jason Schreiber, Principal and Co-Head of Real Estate Equity at CIM Group.
Lerer described the firm's track record and disciplined approach as central to his decision to join. "I am excited to join a highly respected team and help expand the firm's Real Estate Equity business through the relationships, market perspective, and transaction experience I have developed over nearly two decades," he said.
Part of a Broader Real Estate Equity Build-Out
CIM Group's press release frames the hire as part of the "continued expansion" of its Real Estate Equity team. The appointment follows a July 2026 move in which CIM named Asa Yapa as Managing Director, Investments, with a focus on the net lease sector. Yapa joined the same Real Estate Equity team and is tasked with growing CIM's net lease platform through acquisitions and sale-leaseback originations of long-term, single-tenant retail and industrial assets across the U.S.
Together, the two hires reflect a deliberate effort to deepen senior deal-sourcing and workout capabilities on the equity side. Yapa's mandate targets income-oriented net lease transactions, while Lerer's résumé is weighted toward special situations, debt restructuring, and complex multi-sector acquisitions — a combination that positions the team across a range of transaction types in the current market environment.
CIM Group's Real Estate Platform at a Glance
CIM Group oversees $13.0 billion of real estate assets owned and operated across 296 real estate assets in the Americas and Europe as of March 31, 2026. Across all real assets, the firm manages $31.8 billion of assets owned and operated. Its real estate portfolio carries material exposure to office and retail alongside hotel, industrial, and other property types.
The firm's Real Estate Equity strategies include an Opportunity Zone fund program targeting approximately $5 billion, with investments clustered in neighborhoods across Atlanta, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Dallas. CIM also operates CIM-BGV Impact Ventures, an affordable housing impact partnership whose Affordable Housing Impact Fund closed its first tranche with over $250 million of investment capacity in late 2025, with subsequent closings pushing capacity above $315 million and a target of approximately $1 billion total capacity. Additionally, CIM's Real Assets & Credit Fund, a closed-end interval fund investing across institutional real assets and credit, has received a $20 million commitment from CIM's own capital.
Founded in 1994, CIM Group describes itself as a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender, and developer that has delivered more than $60 billion of real estate and infrastructure projects across the Americas.
Market Context
Lerer's hire arrives as the U.S. commercial real estate market contends with a significant debt maturity wall, elevated distress particularly in the office sector, and renewed transaction activity in net lease and impact housing strategies. His experience managing a $14 billion loan portfolio through restructuring and alternative solutions at PIMCO Prime Real Estate aligns with the types of complex situations that have become more prevalent as borrowers and lenders navigate a higher-rate environment and refinancing pressures.
CIM Group's simultaneous expansion into net lease originations and special situations-oriented acquisitions suggests the firm is positioning its Real Estate Equity platform to pursue opportunities across both stabilized income assets and more complex recapitalization scenarios.
Sources
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