Founder & CEO
John X Myers
Soon after arriving in the United States in February 1997, John joined Clarion Partners in New York where he enjoyed four transformative years, raising and investing European equity in a variety of office and retail properties through direct and joint venture structures. John is eternally grateful to the four principals of Clarion of that time for the confidence they showed in him.
Prior to moving to the U.S. John spent almost nine years working at Richard Ellis International in Amsterdam and the Valuation Office and Speirs Gumley Chartered Surveyors in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the US, John was one of the founders of Setanta Gaelic Football Club, he served on the board of early education school Thistlewaithe Learning Center, and was Treasurer of the Building Committee of the Kerrymens’ P&B Association.
In Ireland, he played Gaelic football with Fossa GFC and rowed with Fossa Rowing Club. He also rowed with de Amstel Roevereniging in Amsterdam and played rugby with Boroughmuir RFC in Edinburgh.
He has a degree in Property Economics from Bolton Street/Trinity College Dublin
History
Ceres Property Ventures LLC (“Ceres”), formerly Ceres Real Estate LLC, was legally established in Katonah, New York on September 3rd, 2002, with a funding model of investing capital partners’ equity alongside its own. In the early to mid-2000’s, Class A office and retail properties were priced at below replacement cost at a time when there was very strong tenant and increasing investor demand for core investments. Our strategy was to invest strategically in very well-located properties that with work and/or market improvement, we could then sell to core investors at a significant gain. Initial target markets were New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago.
We acquired 100% ownership and partnership interests in Class A office buildings and high-end retail properties in each of our target markets. In 2008/09 we added residential development and, with our Irish based partner, developed the 149-unit residential condominium The Cambium located in Larchmont, New York.
We acquired investment interests with a Gross Asset Value of approximately $615 million (excluding our development and acquisition only transactions) and realized aggregate returns of 2.95 times equity invested.
Operations
Ceres is an investor – not an asset manager. We are the General Partner /Sponsor and strive for total alignment of interest with our equity partners – usually Limited Partners or LLC Members. We do not charge management fees and apart from an Acquisition Fee, renumeration is wholly success-based underscoring our motivation to maximize returns in as short a time as possible.
Ceres’ Founder John X. Myers is responsible for all aspects of acquiring, formulating, and executing asset strategies, including organizing asset sales. Ceres retains on behalf of ownership best-in-class agents to undertake leasing, property management and sales; accountants and attorneys to provide counsel on legal, tax structuring and compliance matters; and architects, engineers and general contractors for any construction or landlord work projects.