Innovation meets real estate
Helios Real Estate Partners is a specialized private equity and development firm focused on West Coast markets. We execute a full spectrum of investment strategies, ranging from value-add acquisitions and strategic repositioning to complex entitlements and ground-up development. Partnering with institutional funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, we structure strategic joint ventures to deploy capital across a diverse range of asset classes, including office, research and development, multifamily, industrial, life science, and retail.
Innovation meets real estate
Helios Real Estate Partners is a specialized private equity and development firm focused on West Coast markets. We execute a full spectrum of investment strategies, ranging from value-add acquisitions and strategic repositioning to complex entitlements and ground-up development. Partnering with institutional funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, we structure strategic joint ventures to deploy capital across a diverse range of asset classes, including office, research and development, multifamily, industrial, life science, and retail.
About Us
Headquartered in San Francisco, Helios Real Estate Partners (“Helios”) is a vertically integrated investment and development firm focused on the entitlement, design, construction, and operation of real estate assets. By leveraging our principals’ deep-rooted local expertise, we target high-barrier markets and asset classes experiencing exponential demand driven by secular economic shifts and rapid technological advancement.
Helios is currently entitling and developing over one million square feet of advanced research and development, office, and multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, representing a current pipeline valued in excess of $1.5 billion. Beyond our active portfolio, Helios principals have overseen the delivery of several billion dollars in institutional real estate locally and across the country. This extensive track record spans multifamily, hospitality, life science, and office developments, encompassing some of the most ambitious and impactful projects of the last decade.
We actively target overlooked submarkets where there is an emerging vision for higher and better use. By identifying asset types that are underrepresented in neighborhoods with strong fundamental demand drivers, Helios frequently acts as a strategic first-mover. We believe that outsized returns are generated when real estate aligns with local community goals. Our projects incorporate cutting-edge sustainable design and advanced building systems, ensuring they remain at the forefront of technological innovation while creating lasting, positive change.
From sourcing opportunities and coalescing community support to navigating complex entitlements, vertical development, and capital markets, Helios brings a hands-on, highly disciplined approach to every phase of the investment lifecycle. We have built our firm on the foundational philosophy that true institutional success relies on lasting relationships. By prioritizing trust, fairness, and shared success, we consistently deliver exceptional value for our investors, community stakeholders, and trade partners.
Expertise
Identify Opportunities
Helios identifies opportunities through a commitment to local relationships with brokers and sellers, and conviction in a vision for the potential of a property and neighborhood. We focus on risk mitigation while seeking out properties which are positioned for success once reimagined as a higher and better use.
Entitle & Permit
Our approach to project approvals starts with obtaining a robust understanding the land use of the project, any environmental risks, and the goals of community and civic stakeholders. We are proactive in our communication and stakeholder engagement to make sure that we address key components of our projects. Once a project has been submitted for approval, we manage the process and ensure that project deliverables are completed by necessary milestones. We lead our project presentations in person at Planning Commissions and City Councils.
Design & Construction
We pride ourselves in designing and building properties that enhance the built environment. This vision starts with great design and working with industry leading architects and engineers. Helios takes an active role in managing the design process to ensure the quality and performance of the asset. With a background in managing complex construction projects, we leverage our expertise to realize project schedule, budget, and quality.
Manage & Operate
Our tenant’s success is our success. We are committed to operating best-in-class real estate to ensure that our tenants and their business plans are successful. Helios works with third parties for all property management services. We understand that every market and project is unique and we select the property management team that has the most experience in the region and provides the highest level of services to the tenants.
Leadership
Brian Cason
Brian is a co-founder of Helios Real Estate Partners. He brings diverse investment and transaction experience from his prior roles as developer-operator and institutional joint venture partner. At Helios, Brian focuses on new investment opportunities, capital markets, and investment strategy.
Prior to Helios, Brian most recently served as Chief Investment Officer for BMC Investments, a real estate investment and development company. As a founding team member, Brian helped form the investment strategy of BMC and execute on the acquisition and development of over $1 billion in assets.
Brian’s experience spans all major asset classes including ground up development projects in New York City, Denver, Florida, and investments in operating properties across the country.
Brian lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children and is an active member of the UC Berkeley alumni community. Brian holds a BS from University of California, Berkeley, an MSRED from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Peter Banzhaf
As a Co-Founder of Helios Real Estate Partners, Peter brings extensive expertise in development, construction, and complex entitlements, drawing on a comprehensive background as both a developer-operator and a general contractor. Specializing in the entitlement and delivery of large-scale, high-barrier projects, Peter’s institutional pedigree includes successfully leading major developments throughout California for industry leaders such as Irvine Company, CIM Group, and Prado Group.
Peter is known for his highly strategic approach to team building and execution, anchored by a strict focus on accountability and a strong commitment to project stakeholders. He leverages a deep, localized network of trusted consultants, contractors, and civic leaders to consistently drive projects forward. An active industry leader, Peter serves on the Local Product Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Government Affairs Committee for the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of NAIOP.
Peter holds a BS and an MBA from the University of Denver, alongside PMP and LEED AP accreditations. He is a proud father of three and calls the San Francisco Bay Area home.
Our Values
At Helios, we uphold a set of core values that guide our every endeavor. Trustworthiness forms the foundation of our relationships, as we prioritize transparency, integrity, and reliability in all interactions. Creativity fuels our passion for innovation, inspiring us to envision unique and imaginative solutions that exceed expectations. Collaboration lies at the heart of our success, as we foster an environment of teamwork, mutual respect, and shared knowledge to achieve remarkable outcomes together.
Projects
4055 Bohannon Drive | Periodic Labs
Menlo Park, CA
38,000
Advanced Research and Development
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Stabilized
4055 Bohannon Drive | Periodic Labs
Menlo Park, CA
38,000
Advanced Research and Development
Strategically located in the greater Stanford University research cluster, 4055 Bohannon is a Class-A, all-electric advanced research and development facility. Moving beyond standard market-ready space, Helios executed a complex adaptive reuse of the existing asset to support advanced deep-tech and science operations. Designed by DES Architects and engineered by Meyers+, the facility features institutional-grade infrastructure—including high-density power distribution, dedicated process chillers, and specialized hazardous material control areas. The project is 100% leased to Periodic Labs, serving as their state-of-the-art R&D headquarters
Visit Website295 Bay Street | Cursor AI
San Francisco, CA
36,000
Office
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Stabilized
295 Bay Street | Cursor AI
San Francisco, CA
36,000
Office
Helios executed a significant capital expenditure program at 295 Bay Street, modernizing the asset’s core mechanical systems, upgrading all finishes and lighting, replacing the roof, and constructing a new interconnecting stair—all in under 8 months. By actively managing the execution process and transitioning the building to institutional management, Helios completely de-risked and stabilized the asset. Originally a historic movie theater that premiered the first Star Wars, the property is now fully leased as the global headquarters for Cursor AI.
The Landing
Burlingame, CA
500,000
Life Science
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Complete / Leasing
The Landing
Burlingame, CA
500,000
Life Science
Strategically located in Burlingame, The Landing represents Helios’s ability to unlock outsized value through entitlement and zoning strategies in partnership with institutional capital. After sourcing the initial opportunity, Helios partnered with King Street Properties to lead a complex neighborhood rezoning effort. By successfully navigating City approvals and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process in under a year, Helios de-risked the project and then continued to serve as the development management consultant for the vertical construction. The state-of-the-art facility is currently in active lease-up, delivering premium Class-A space to one of the Peninsula’s premier waterfront communities.
Visit WebsiteThe Lab Foster City
Foster City, CA
115,000
Life Science
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Entitled
The Lab Foster City
Foster City, CA
115,000
Life Science
Located in the heart of the mid-Peninsula life science cluster, 388 Vintage Park is a 115,000-square-foot, purpose-built R&D facility developed in partnership with SteelWave. Helios sourced the original opportunity and led the complex entitlement phase, successfully securing a General Plan Amendment and completing a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Surrounded by industry leaders like Gilead and Illumina, the Class-A, LEED project sits directly between the Stanford and UCSF top talent markets, offering immediate access to major transit corridors and highly walkable tenant amenities.
Visit Website1499 Bayshore
Burlingame, CA
320,000
Life Science
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Entitled
1499 Bayshore
Burlingame, CA
320,000
Life Science
Developed in partnership with King Street Properties, 1499 Old Bayshore is a 320,000-square-foot, Class-A life science facility and Helios’s second major project in the Burlingame Bayshore neighborhood. Helios successfully unlocked this high-barrier waterfront site by leading the entitlement process, securing the required use permit, processing a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for CEQA, and navigating complex BCDC approvals. By actively managing these stringent environmental and coastal regulatory hurdles alongside institutional capital, Helios is helping to realize the vision of the Burlingame General Plan and create a premier mixed-use hub along the city’s bayfront, featuring state-of-the-art infrastructure designed by DGA Architects.
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Type of Projects:
All Projects
Active Projects
Residential
Previous Experience
R&D/Industrial
Previous Experience
Office/Retail
Previous Experience
Careers
At Helios, we’re always on the lookout for professionals who are fueled by an enthusiasm for our sector and aspire to become a vital part of our inventive, high-energy team.
If you possess the necessary skills and find your interests aligning with our work, we would be delighted to receive your resume and a cover letter expressing your interest. Please forward them to careers@heliosre.com, ensuring to include your complete name and the type of position you wish to apply for in the email subject line.