About Brickstone Partners
A real estate firm built on discipline, durability, and the long view.
Our Story
Twenty-five years of investing in places that matter.
Brickstone Partners was founded in 2001 by Daniel Otis — then 20 years old and still in college, redeveloping student housing around his alma mater — on a single conviction: real estate is a long-duration asset, and it deserves a long-duration approach to ownership.
In the years since, the firm has been involved in more than $2 billion of real estate — across multifamily, student housing, retail, and office — with more than $500 million of that volume concentrated in the University of Colorado Boulder market, where Brickstone has become one of the largest operators of student housing.
The thesis that started the firm is the same one that drives it today. Identify markets where land cannot be replicated. Underwrite for fundamentals, not financial engineering. Build and operate assets that improve the neighborhoods they sit in. And hold them long enough for that work to compound.
Brickstone today is a vertically integrated platform. The firm originates, acquires, develops, finances, and operates its portfolio in-house — alongside the Cornerstone family office, which anchors the firm’s largest commitments and ensures principal capital is meaningfully aligned with every partnership.
Principles
Four ideas we underwrite every deal against.
01
Constrained Supply
We invest in markets where geography, zoning, and demand together limit new construction. Scarcity protects rents and protects capital.
02
Legacy Locations
We focus on places people want to live for decades — university corridors, lakefront neighborhoods, downtown adjacencies — not the next emerging submarket.
03
Operating Discipline
Acquiring well is the start. We hold for the long term, reinvest in our communities, and treat operations as an investment thesis in its own right.
04
Aligned Capital
Our principals invest meaningfully alongside our partners. The Cornerstone family office anchors the firm's largest commitments.
Track Record
A quarter-century of compounding work.
Founded in Franklin, Tennessee
Daniel Otis founds Brickstone Partners with a focused thesis: invest in residential and commercial real estate in highly constrained legacy markets.
The Boulder platform begins
Acquisition of The Lodge — a 220-unit, 371-bed student housing community five minutes from the University of Colorado — and The Parker on Marine Street. The Lodge becomes the cornerstone of the firm's CU Boulder platform.
LakeHaus breaks ground
Brickstone and KMK Capital break ground on LakeHaus — a $115M, 200-unit luxury multifamily tower at 3100 W Lake Street in Minneapolis.
LakeHaus stabilizes
LakeHaus opens on the shore of Bde Maka Ska, defining a new standard for the West Lake corridor.
Fort Collins expansion
Acquisition of Landmark, Stone Creek, The Junction, and The Alpine — extending the platform into Colorado State University's market.
Boulder portfolio recapitalization
Clarion Partners and Blackstone Real Estate provide institutional financing for the Brickstone Boulder student housing portfolio.
$58M Blackstone refinancing
Brickstone secures a $58 million refinancing of the Fort Collins portfolio from Blackstone, validating the underlying thesis and cash flows.
LakeHaus realized
Brickstone and KMK Capital sell LakeHaus, completing the full development cycle — from groundbreaking in 2018 to a stabilized landmark on Bde Maka Ska.
Full ownership of The Lodge
Brickstone Partners and Daniel Otis acquire complete ownership and control of The Lodge at Boulder, consolidating one of the firm's flagship Boulder holdings.