Marc D. Schnitzer CEO and President of Centerline Resigns to Join Island Capital Group

New York– Marc D. Schnitzer, CEO and president of Centerline will resign from all his roles at the company to join an affiliate of Island Capital Group LLC.

Robert L. Levy, who joined Centerline in 2001 and has been its Chief Financial Officer since 2006, was appointed to Centerline’s board of trustees and named COO of Centerline. Levy also will assume the role of president of Centerline in place of Schnitzer. Levy is a 23-year veteran of the commercial real estate finance industry and will concentrate on the expansion and diversification of Centerline’s multifamily finance and asset management platforms.

In his role as CFO of Centerline, Levy has been responsible for overseeing the corporate finance, capital markets, accounting, tax and treasury departments. “I appreciate the confidence the board has shown in providing the opportunity for me to help lead Centerline back to its position as an affordable and conventional multifamily finance industry leader. I do not expect it to be an easy process, but we have the systems and people in place to achieve our goals and I look forward to the challenge,” says Levy.

Schnitzer has been part of Centerline, and its predecessor companies, Related Capital Company and CharterMac, since 1986, where he assembled and led a team that raised and deployed $10 billion of investor equity in a portfolio of more than 1,400 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties. In his new role, he will establish and lead a new business venture to expand the investor base in the affordable housing industry.

“Tax credit market conditions have created unique opportunities for savvy investors to take advantage of historically attractive deal terms and risk adjusted yields,” says Schnitzer. “I will use my 24 years of experience in the affordable housing industry to make these opportunities available to new, non-traditional investors as well as investors already familiar with the affordable market. In our new venture, we will strive to increase primary and secondary market liquidity in the tax credit industry and help build more affordable housing.” In addition, Schnitzer will provide advisory services to affordable housing investors and identify non-LIHTC investment opportunities that exist within the affordable housing industry as a result of distressed market conditions.