Richard Claes is the President & CEO of Chicago-based Bluestone Diversified Investments, LLC, a real estate private equity firm that provides capital to investors, developers, and operators of premier real estate assets throughout the United States. Bluestone Diversified Investments manages a pool of capital provided by high net worth individuals and large family offices. Since its inception in 2009, Bluestone Diversified has acquired properties in Boston’s Back Bay, in the Upper East Side and Union Square neighborhoods of New York City, and in Beverly Hills, California.
Prior to co-founding Bluestone Diversified, Rick had a multi-faceted career as a real estate professional and senior manager in the multi-unit retailing industry. Rick had a 14-year career with Thornton Oil Corporation, a 170 unit chain of high volume convenience stores and fuel centers, where he served as its president & CEO from 1998 until 2001. In 2002, Rick negotiated the acquisition of Eatzi’s Market & Bakery, a Dallas-based chain of upscale specialty food stores from its parent company, Brinker International, raising nearly $20,000,000 of private equity capital to fund the transaction. Rick served as the president & CEO of Eatzi’s and Eatzi’s Chicago until 2008. Rick is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent college of Law and is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois.