• Wharton Equity Partners invests in a variety of sectors including residential and commercial real estate, biotech, energy, and other commercial enterprises

Wharton Land Partners has been formed to take advantage of opportunities to acquire distressed, larger scale, residential development projects located primarily in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States.

With the strengthening of banks' balance sheets, coupled with the passage of time which has enabled banks to gain control over troubled assets, there are an increasing number of properties becoming available for sale. Further, unlike income producing assets, banks are more apt to dispose of land at attractive prices as there is a less ready secondary market of buyers, and land development is an involved, complex business where banks do not have adequate expertise.

Wharton Land's main office is located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is headed by Kyle Corkum who has almost 30 years of experience in residential development. Complementing Mr. Corkum is a team of 9 real estate executives with over 200 years experience, collectively, in residential development. Expertise covers asset management, site selection, land development, finance/accounting, market analysis, sales, marketing (Wharton Land has in-house legal and engineering). Moreover, many of these individuals were employed with the major national and regional homebuilders (Lennar, KB, Beazer, Pulte/Del Webb, Toll Brothers, WCI and DR Horton), thus providing in-depth relationships and unique understanding of these companies' acquisition criteria.

While Wharton Land has the capability of engaging in large-scale vertical construction (e.g., construction of homes), the company focuses solely on preparing and marketing lots to builders. Wharton Land is also aggressively pursuing the acquisition of debt, particularly projects encumbered by Community District Development Bonds (Florida) and similar instruments, in other states.

WHARTON LAND

  • Kyle Corkum
    Kyle Corkum, President

    Mr. Corkum is the President and co-founder of Wharton Land. Over the past 28 years, he has been responsible for the acquisition of nearly 9,000 housing units in six states. The first 22 years of his career were spent in the high barrier-to-entry submarkets of the Northeast where he gained extensive experience in residential development. Kyle manages operations, site selection, land planning and permitting for Wharton Land.

    Prior to founding Wharton Land, he managed site selection for Toll Brothers, where he was hand-picked by Mr. Toll to revive their New England operation. Within three and a half years, Mr. Corkum was able to create 1,500 housing units in three states generating more than $54 million in profits for the company.

    In 2008, after operating his firm as a traditional land development company for nearly 8 years, he de-constructed and re-built the company into the largest firm in the Carolinas specializing in the acquisition and management of distressed assets. Mr. Corkum, through affiliates, has acquired nearly 4,000 residential units in the Carolinas.

    In anticipation of the dominance of the national homebuilders as buyers of distressed lot inventory Mr. Corkum specifically constructed his team with senior executives from the following firms: Lennar, KB, Beazer, Pulte/Del Webb, Toll Brothers, WCI and DR Horton. As a result, Wharton Land has a distinct advantage when underwriting for and negotiating against these builders.

  • Steven Vining, Esq.
    Steven Vining, Esq., Partner / General Counsel

    As senior vice president and general counsel for Wharton Land, Mr. Vining has gained extensive legal and development experience from his 25 years in the industry. He is responsible for all contract negotiations, environmental compliance, legal underwriting, risk management, and zoning review. Prior to joining Wharton Land, he was in private practice with a focus on real estate law for more than 21 years. He has considerable experience managing the acquisition of large commercial and residential assets. He has also gained a well-respected reputation for his experience in permitting complex zoning applications in onerous regulatory environments across California and the Carolinas.

    Mr. Vining assists Mr. Corkum in the oversight of all planning, permitting, acquisition and operations management of Wharton Land's assets. He also helps manage all business operations and is a key manager of the underwriting of Special Assets and REO portfolios from banks.

  • Jeffrey Milligan
    Jeffrey Milligan, Partner

    As a Senior Vice President, Mr. Milligan is responsible for the marketing of all new acquisitions. He oversees all branding, re-positioning, advertising and communications strategy. He is solely responsible for the management of all marketing consultants, internet management and the creation of collateral materials. He has spear-headed the firm's exploration of web-based sales and marketing tools and has pioneered the firm's use of social media. He also assists Mr. Corkum in the oversight of all planning and permitting.

    Prior to joining Wharton Land, Mr. Milligan spent nearly a decade in direct marketing and advertising and developing integrated marketing strategies for Fortune 100 clients including IBM, Merck, UPS and Compaq Computers.

  • Jones Holcomb, CPA
    Jones Holcomb, CPA, Vice President of Finance

    As Vice President of Finance, Mr. Holcomb oversees all local finance and accounting matters for Wharton Land. Before joining Wharton Land, he earned exceptional distinctions with national homebuilders KB Home and Pulte Homes in their Florida, Texas and North Carolina operations. For the past 16 years he has gained significant experience in capital management, accounting, compliance, process improvement, legal & contractual matters, and valuation & analysis.

    Mr. Holcomb oversees all accounting, financial planning, budgeting and cash flow management. He is responsible for all financial reporting relative to our partnership obligations. Jones also manages all third party accounting, on-site bookkeepers and he works closely with the project manager or general manager to ensure Wharton Land meets its financial projections.

  • Ric J. Rojas
    Ric J. Rojas, Vice President of Construction

    With over 16 years of residential homebuilding experience, Mr. Rojas plays a key role in the acquisition and disposition of Wharton Land's residential assets. Prior to joining Wharton Land he served as the Regional President for Lennar. He was responsible for managing more than 100 active communities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. He has also held key positions with national builders D.R. Horton and WCI Communities in Texas and Florida. While with D.R. Horton, Mr. Rojas reported directly to Mr. D.R. Horton as the Vice President of National Accounts negotiating all national building material contracts for the company.

    Mr. Rojas oversees all construction-related activities for Wharton Land. He is the primary contact with all national and regional builder clients. In this capacity he is responsible for not only underwriting assets from a homebuilder's perspective, he is also responsible for negotiating the sale of lots to the home builders. He is also responsible for the design and construction of all amenities. Responsibilities include project management, homebuilder negotiations, construction underwriting, market analysis and site selection.

  • Pete Sullivan, PE
    Pete Sullivan, PE, Vice President of Land Development

    Mr. Sullivan has over 17 years of engineering, due diligence underwriting and construction management experience. As a licensed Professional Engineer, he provides invaluable experience to the site design and engineering process. Prior to joining the Wharton Land, Mr. Sullivan served as Vice President of Land for KB Home in the Raleigh-Durham Division. He was responsible for all land development and site selection in Raleigh for the firm.

    Mr. Sullivan oversees all civil engineering, permitting, and infrastructure construction for Wharton Land. His specific responsibilities include management of all due diligence, oversight of the engineering design, construction cost estimating and bidding, and oversight of utility, pavement and lot construction. He is also instrumental in homebuilder underwriting and lot disposition negotiations. He works very closely with Ric Rojas to underwrite each asset and to create disposition strategies. He also supervises market analysis and assists with site selection with the help of his assistant, Jason Vickers.