About Us
Blue Talon is a New York-based, vertically integrated real estate investment and development firm founded in 2021 as the next generation of Iliad Realty Group, a multifamily sponsor previously focused on lower-middle market multifamily assets. The firm pursues opportunistic value-add and redevelopment strategies across the residential sector in metropolitan markets that exhibit strong secular growth fundamentals.
Over the last 15 years, the Blue Talon team has completed more than 40 acquisitions, representing over $1.2 billion in aggregate transaction volume and more than 20,000 housing units. Its principals collectively have over 60 years of institutional real estate experience and have successfully acquired, repositioned, and/or developed over $4 billion of residential and commercial real estate assets across New York City, California, and Texas.
Our team worked together for over two decades across various institutional investment firms, eventually specializing in residential investment, development, and execution. What brought us together is a shared entrepreneurial spirit and unique strategic vision for how to improve residential communities while concurrently creating long-term value for our partners and stakeholders. We pursue institutional scale projects but stay selective, hunting for value in places that others may overlook. We place extraordinary value on our capital relationships and take particular pride in our foundational identity as operators. That combination of scale and attention is what we believe produces results and builds long-term trust and loyalty across our relationships.
Our approach is unusually hands-on. No matter the size of a given transaction, we drill down on details – from fixtures to furniture. That level of oversight isn’t inefficiency, it’s how we ensure quality, protect value and maintain a higher standard. Our partners know that the people they meet are the same people overseeing construction, contractor negotiation, and daily decision-making.
We believe communities benefit when they are modernized, maintained and efficiently operated, and our team takes pride in leaving them better than we found them. Improving community identity, operations, and the tenant experience at large isn’t just the right approach, it’s good business.
Blue Talon operates nationwide, with particular focus within NYC, Texas and Sunbelt markets. We maintain a vertically integrated approach: we identify opportunities, negotiate acquisitions, manage rehabilitation, oversee operations, and execute exits. Every step is handled by our team.
Leadership Team
Elliot Aronson, Principal
Elliott co-founded Blue Talon to make opportunistic equity investments in commercial real estate, following on 15+ years building Iliad Realty Group, a multifamily investment/operating platform that successfully acquired and repositioned over 10,000 multifamily units across various sunbelt markets.
Elliott has over 30 years of industry experience that includes commercial real estate consulting, capital markets, securitization, construction, and loan origination. Prior to founding Blue Talon, Elliott founded Iliad Realty Group to acquire and reposition multifamily assets, and Jane Street Realty Capital LLC to provide advisory services to clients involved in various aspects of commercial real estate including debt acquisition.
Previously, he built his career at large financial institutions including Credit Suisse ($5bn in loan origination), Wells Hill Partners and Chemical Bank.
Elliott received a BA in History from Rutgers College and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.
Christopher Donnelly, Principal
Chris Donnelly is a Principal and co-founder of Blue Talon, where he is responsible for the formulation and execution of Blue Talon’s investment strategies, including underwriting, operations, financing and development. He has over 20 years of institutional investment experience and previously spent seven years expanding Iliad Realty Group’s multifamily investment platform and spearheaded its expansion into additional markets, including New York and Nevada.
Earlier, Chris served in senior roles at some of the largest and most active real estate firms in New York City, executing over $5 billion of acquisitions and development projects, including several residential conversions and ground-up projects. Previously, Chris was a core member of the Acquisitions & Capital Markets Group at Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) where he was involved in the successful execution of transactions with an aggregate dollar value in excess of $1.5 billion.
Chris started his career in investment banking at Citigroup, where he specialized in real estate, project finance and infrastructure projects, including corporate mergers, acquisitions and public-private partnerships. In that role, he completed capital markets and advisory transactions valued in excess of $6.5 billion. He received a B.S. in Architecture and a B.S. in Civil Engineering, graduating with Highest Distinction, from the University of Virginia, and is a member of the ULI.
Matthew Chin, Principal
Matthew Chin is a Principal and co-founder of Blue Talon and his real estate expertise includes acquisitions, development, capital markets, private capital raising, joint venture structuring, and equity/debt workouts. Together with his partners at Blue Talon, he is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm, the pursuit of new investment opportunities, and overall management of the company. He has over 20 years of institutional investment experience and has closed over $3.5 billion in real estate transactions to date.
Matt is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, including serving on the Small Scale Development National Product Council. He studied at the University of Chicago, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Julie Morris, Vice President
Julie brings a diverse background in finance, marketing and project management. Prior to joining Blue Talon, Julie spent nearly a decade growing Iliad Realty Group’s multifamily platform, holding critical operating and investor relations roles. Previously, Julie worked in equity research at Citigroup covering closed-end and exchange-traded funds and in equity derivative sales at Merrill Lynch. She has also consulted to startups in the technology and restaurant industries.
Julie graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Psychology and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Columbia Business School. While at Columbia, she was the recipient of the Merrill Lynch Fellowship. Julie sits on the board of the Trustees Council of Women at the University of Pennsylvania.
Shannon Bauer, Senior Advisor
Shannon Bauer brings a range of expertise to Blue Talon, having previously co-founded Iliad Realty Group and led its capital markets platform for a decade. Today she offers an exceptional breadth of real estate advisory services to Blue Talon, having previously spent many years in acquisitions, development, investor relations, capital markets, private capital raising, joint venture structuring, direct lending, and equity/debt workouts.
Shannon joined Iliad in 2014 from Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) where she was Vice President of Acquisitions and Capital Markets. While at Vornado, she led the capital markets activities associated with several billion dollars of New York City office, retail, and multifamily acquisitions. Shannon was also responsible for significant property and corporate-level financings, debt acquisitions, and private capital-raising, including Vornado’s $800MM fund, Vornado Capital Partners, LP, for which Shannon served as the investor relations contact for the fund.
Shannon previously worked at Credit Suisse, first in real estate work-outs and then as an Associate in the Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group, where she supported $5+ billion dollars of loan originations and structuring. She received her B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin—Madison in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics and her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. While at Columbia, she was the recipient of the WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate Scholarship.
