Team Bios
Travis Pacoe
Travis Pacoe has been continuously involved in real estate since 1990 and has both brokered and invested in nearly every property type, including apartment projects, retail, and industrial real estate. Travis is responsible for the origination of potential transactions; negotiation of transaction terms; marketing oversight; and due diligence oversight.
Travis’ completed transactions total in excess of $2BBN, including properties valued in excess of $990MM that he has acquired as an investor and general partner through various partnerships he has formed. He has been an active principal in the acquisition of multifamily and commercial real estate since 1994 and as an owner has extensive experience in the management of multifamily and commercial properties.
Travis brings his extensive history as a principal investor to bear in completing every property purchase, including extensive transaction management experience, negotiation of relevant documentation and effective navigation through all due diligence matters; accurate valuation of many property types in numerous regions or submarkets; and origination and structuring of a wide variety of financing instruments.
Travis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a dual emphasis in Real Estate & Urban Land Economics and Finance from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, CA, class of 1991.
Chi Nguyen
Chi Nguyen is our Marketing Director who is responsible for developing and executing our marketing strategy on market outreach. Chi helps make sure that our potential customers are increasingly more aware of the Polaris brand and all of its properties on the market. Chi has great project management skills and consistently deliver high quality results on schedule. She also works as our in-house Photographer and Graphics Designer to create original designs and templates for our property websites and marketing brochures.
Chi was originally from Vietnam. She has studied and worked in 3 different countries over the past few years. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Global Marketing from University of Huddersfield, UK in 2013. And in 2015, she graduated from Hult University, San Francisco with a master’s degree in International Marketing. She speaks Vietnamese and English.
Austin Paul
Austin Paul joined the Polaris team as a Financial Analyst in 2022 to assist in portfolio management. Austin is responsible for updating and creating financial models to evaluate both existing and potential assets, analyzing property operations’ financial data to provide forecasting support, creation of property level investment reports and presentations, and study of broad level business and economic trends.
Austin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a minor in U.S history from Occidental College, CA, class of 2020. His major’s area of focus was U.S. macroeconomic policy and history.
Paula Dela Rosa
![Jose](/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Paula.jpg)
Paula leverages her varied background to support Polaris in managing financial transactions and handling a range of accounting responsibilities, working closely with the CFO and Financial Controller.
Paula holds a B.S. in Health Science and a M.S. in Accounting from San Jose State University. When she is not crunching numbers, Paula enjoys photography, videography, and traveling.
Gigi Rosales
Gigi has spent two decades excelling in the competitive landscape of San Francisco real estate, establishing a well-respected reputation. During her previous position, she played a key role in doubling production from $95M to $200M and also facilitated team growth by an impressive 400%. Throughout her career, she has held various positions, including Director of Operations and Director of Transaction Management, which has equipped her with a unique skill set to effectively manage real estate investments from both a micro and macro perspective.
With enthusiasm and excitement, Gigi brings her love for efficiency and team excellence to the table. She prioritizes client satisfaction and retention, always seeking innovative ways to improve processes and streamline workflows to ensure projects are completed within budget and on time. She is a natural leader who takes pride in fostering a positive culture-helping the team achieve their full potential together. She excels in communication and interpersonal skills, building strong relationships with clients and colleagues in the field. Gigi’s unwavering dedication and commitment to excellence make her an invaluable asset to any organization.
Born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area, Gigi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from San Francisco State University in 2001. Additionally, she has been licensed with the California Department of Real Estate since 2017.
Shanika Arboleda
Shanika Arboleda joined the Polaris Accounting team in 2023. She specializes in reconciling financial data, managing financial reports, and building out new processes. She has experience in asset, property, and construction management, where she coordinated seamless communication among diverse entities.
At Polaris, Shanika is focused on streamlining intercompany financial processes and providing insight during implementation of accounting software. Shanika will also start working with property accounting and management to ensure that financials are delivered in a timely and accurate manner.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of California, Merced, as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Golden Gate University. On her days off, Shanika enjoys going to Pilates classes, reading fiction, and traveling the world.
Ron Abta
Ron Abta has over 21 years of residential real estate experience, having completed in excess of $2BBN in transactions as both a broker and investor. He brings multifamily management and remodeling experience to the team, having actively overseen the maintenance, renovation, and financing of multi-unit apartment units and residential properties throughout his career. Ron is responsible for investor relations, marketing oversight, and general transaction management for acquisitions and financing.
He has been involved in the structuring and management of numerous real estate general partnerships. He has also been involved in almost every type of residential purchase over his career, whether it be multifamily assets, tenancy-in-common interests, or single family dwellings. He brings a wide breadth of experience to the team as both an investor, as well as operator of multifamily properties. He has consistently managed to completion a very high number of transactions annually for many years. He has intimate knowledge of the financing side of real estate transactions, having worked as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley and as a product manager at iOwn.com, one of the first internet mortgage brokers (acquired by CitiMortgage).
He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics with a minor in Business Administration at University of California Berkeley; Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business where he also serves as a guest lecturer in the Real Estate Department.
James Hetherington
James Hetherington joined Polaris Real Estate as Legal Counsel in 2022. With over thirty years of experience as a trial attorney and a partner at a San Francisco litigation firm for fourteen years, James has worked with insurers and insureds to resolve complex litigation matters in a variety of practice areas, including negligence, premises liability, employment, construction, personal injury and contractual claims.
James brings his extensive experience in handling legal disputes to Polaris as our Legal Counsel to address and resolve claims, assess risk, control losses and mitigate exposure.
James obtained a BA in English from California State University/Northridge, and a J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law. He has been a member of the California bar since 1990. James is on the Board of a local open space conservatory in San Francisco and is an avid runner and musician.
Belinda Aguirre
![](https://polaris-lp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Belinda.jpg)
Belinda Aguirre joined Polaris Real Estate in 2023 as the Vice President of Operations with over 23 years of experience in multifamily management in the Dallas and Fort Worth Texas region. She will work closely with the management companies to ensure they reach their potential and provide guidance and assistance where needed regarding occupancy, community outreach, income, renovations, permitting and meeting lender expectations.
Belinda has extensive knowledge of property budgets to maximize NOI’s, market surveys, value-adds and has managed all types of renovations for interior and exterior remodels throughout her career. She has managed multiple properties while training new managers at other locations. She works closely with DFW Housing Authorities, DFW Police & Fire and DFW Code Enforcement as well as Veteran Affairs and Domestic Violence organizations for urgent rehousing. She has organized several community outreach programs such as budgeting for adults, computer literacy and child tutoring. She also strongly encourages and promotes all management, residents, surrounding communities and local law enforcement relationships to ensure the wellbeing of the communities.
Belinda received her education from TCC and has a strong work ethic, likes a hands-on approach and is goal oriented. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter. She loves to travel, and her favorite spot is any island with blue water, sun and a good book.
James Choi
James Choi joined Polaris Real Estate as their Chief Financial Officer in 2023. James brings over 20 years of extensive real estate experience having worked in a wide range of asset classes including office, multi-family, single-family, retail, and hospitality assets both on the operational and development sides.
Prior to joining Polaris, James was a Vice President at a publicly traded REIT where he oversaw development and construction accounting for over $3.0B of Class A office assets. He brings a strong background in technical accounting, internal controls, budgeting, forecasting, and multi-entity partnerships. James is an adaptable team leader who prides himself on working cross functionally with all stakeholders to achieve optimal results for investors.
James obtained a B.S. in Accounting from Illinois State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) and Certified Internal Auditor (“CIA”) in the State of Illinois (inactive). In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending quality time with his family.
Stanley Lee
Stanley Lee joined the Polaris’ Accounting team in December 2023. He specializes in process improvement, financial reporting, financial audit, internal control and compliance. He has over 25 years of accounting and finance experiences in various industries including Banking/Financial institution, Education, and Real Estate.
Prior to joining Polaris, Stanley facilitated integration of ERP system and implemented Sarbanes Oxley compliance. He values team building and collaborating within the organization.
He holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance degrees from San Francisco State University. On his days off, Stanley likes to spend time and traveling with his family.
Travis Pacoe
Travis Pacoe has been continuously involved in real estate since 1990 and has both brokered and invested in nearly every property type, including apartment projects, retail and industrial real estate. Travis is responsible for origination of potential transactions; negotiation of transaction terms; marketing oversight; and due diligence oversight.
Travis’ completed transactions total in excess of $1.1BBN, including properties valued in excess of $990MM that he has acquired as an investor and general partner through various partnerships he has formed. He has been an active principal in the acquisition of multifamily and commercial real estate since 1994 and as an owner has extensive experience in the management of multifamily and commercial properties.
Travis brings his extensive history as a principal investor to bear in completing every property purchase, including extensive transaction management experience, negotiation of relevant documentation and effective navigation through all due diligence matters; accurate valuation of many property types in numerous regions or submarkets; and origination and structuring of a wide variety of financing instruments.
Travis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a dual emphasis in Real Estate & Urban Land Economics and Finance from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, CA, class of 1991.
Ron Abta
Ron Abta has over 15 years of residential real estate experience, having completed in excess of $1.2BBN in transactions as both a broker and investor. He brings multifamily management and remodeling experience to the team, having actively overseen the maintenance, renovation, and financing of multi-unit apartment units and residential properties throughout his career. Ron is responsible for investor relations, marketing oversight, and general transaction management for acquisitions and financing.
He has been involved in the structuring and management of numerous real estate general partnerships. He has also been involved in almost every type of residential purchase over his career, whether it be multifamily assets, tenancy-in-common interests, or single family dwellings. He brings a wide breadth of experience to the team as both an investor, as well as operator of multifamily properties. He has consistently managed to completion a very high number of transactions annually for many years. He has intimate knowledge of the financing side of real estate transactions, having worked as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley and as a product manager at iOwn.com, one of the first internet mortgage brokers (acquired by CitiMortgage).
He holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics with a minor in Business Administration at University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, CA, class of 1993, as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford, CA, class of 1999.
Chi Nguyen
Chi is our Marketing Coordinator who is responsible for developing and executing our marketing strategy on market outreach. Chi helps make sure that our potential customers are increasingly more aware of the Polaris brand and all of its properties on the market. Chi has great project management skills and consistently deliver high quality results on schedule. She also works as our in-house Photographer and Graphics Designer to create original designs and templates for our property websites and marketing brochures.
Chi was originally from Vietnam. She has studied and worked in 3 different countries over the past few years. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Global Marketing from University of Huddersfield, UK in 2013. And in 2015, she graduated from Hult University, San Francisco with a master’s degree in International Marketing. She speaks Vietnamese and English.
James Hetherington
James Hetherington joined Polaris Real Estate as Legal Counsel in 2022. With over thirty years of experience as a trial attorney and a partner at a San Francisco litigation firm for fourteen years, James has worked with insurers and insureds to resolve complex litigation matters in a variety of practice areas, including negligence, premises liability, employment, construction, personal injury and contractual claims.
James brings his extensive experience in handling legal disputes to Polaris as our Legal Counsel to address and resolve claims, assess risk, control losses and mitigate exposure.
James obtained a BA in English from California State University/Northridge, and a J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law. He has been a member of the California bar since 1990. James is on the Board of a local open space conservatory in San Francisco and is an avid runner and musician.
Austin Paul
Austin Paul joined the Polaris team as a Financial Analyst in 2022 to assist in portfolio management. Austin is responsible for updating and creating financial models to evaluate both existing and potential assets, analyzing property operations’ financial data to provide forecasting support, creation of property level investment reports and presentations, and study of broad level business and economic trends.
Austin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a minor in U.S history from Occidental College, CA, class of 2020. His major’s area of focus was U.S. macroeconomic policy and history.
Belinda Aguirre – VP of Operations
![](https://polaris-lp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Belinda.jpg)
Belinda Aguirre joined Polaris Real Estate in 2023 as the Vice President of Operations with over 23 years of experience in multifamily management in the Dallas and Fort Worth Texas region. She will work closely with the management companies to ensure they reach their potential and provide guidance and assistance where needed regarding occupancy, community outreach, income, renovations, permitting and meeting lender expectations.
Belinda has extensive knowledge of property budgets to maximize NOI’s, market surveys, value-adds and has managed all types of renovations for interior and exterior remodels throughout her career. She has managed multiple properties while training new managers at other locations. She works closely with DFW Housing Authorities, DFW Police & Fire and DFW Code Enforcement as well as Veteran Affairs and Domestic Violence organizations for urgent rehousing. She has organized several community outreach programs such as budgeting for adults, computer literacy and child tutoring. She also strongly encourages and promotes all management, residents, surrounding communities and local law enforcement relationships to ensure the wellbeing of the communities.
Belinda received her education from TCC and has a strong work ethic, likes a hands-on approach and is goal oriented. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter. She loves to travel, and her favorite spot is any island with blue water, sun and a good book.
Gigi Rosales – Director of Investor Relations
![](https://polaris-lp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/gigi.jpg)
Born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area, Gigi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from San Francisco State University in 2001. Additionally, she has been licensed with the California Department of Real Estate since 2017.
Paula Dela Rosa
![Jose](https://polaris-lp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Paula.jpg)
Paula leverages her varied background to support Polaris in managing financial transactions and handling a range of accounting responsibilities, working closely with the CFO and Financial Controller.
Paula holds a B.S. in Health Science and a M.S. in Accounting from San Jose State University. When she is not crunching numbers, Paula enjoys photography, videography, and traveling.
James Choi joined Polaris Real Estate as their Chief Financial Officer in 2023. James brings over 20 years of extensive real estate experience having worked in a wide range of asset classes including office, multi-family, single-family, retail, and hospitality assets both on the operational and development sides.
Prior to joining Polaris, James was a Vice President at a publicly traded REIT where he oversaw development and construction accounting for over $3.0B of Class A office assets. He brings a strong background in technical accounting, internal controls, budgeting, forecasting, and multi-entity partnerships. James is an adaptable team leader who prides himself on working cross functionally with all stakeholders to achieve optimal results for investors.
James obtained a B.S. in Accounting from Illinois State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) and Certified Internal Auditor (“CIA”) in the State of Illinois (inactive). In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending quality time with his family.
Stanley Lee
Stanley Lee joined the Polaris’ Accounting team in December 2023. He specializes in process improvement, financial reporting, financial audit, internal control and compliance. He has over 25 years of accounting and finance experiences in various industries including Banking/Financial institution, Education, and Real Estate.
Prior to joining Polaris, Stanley facilitated integration of ERP system and implemented Sarbanes Oxley compliance. He values team building and collaborating within the organization.
He holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance degrees from San Francisco State University. On his days off, Stanley likes to spend time and traveling with his family.
Shanika Arboleda
Shanika Arboleda joined the Polaris Accounting team in 2023. She specializes in reconciling financial data, managing financial reports, and building out new processes. She has experience in asset, property, and construction management, where she coordinated seamless communication among diverse entities.
At Polaris, Shanika is focused on streamlining intercompany financial processes and providing insight during implementation of accounting software. Shanika will also start working with property accounting and management to ensure that financials are delivered in a timely and accurate manner.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of California, Merced, as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Golden Gate University. On her days off, Shanika enjoys going to Pilates classes, reading fiction, and traveling the world.
Our Criteria
Our long history in investing in both distressed and mature real estate projects of widely ranging asset types gives us the capability to efficiently and quickly analyze, structure and complete our targeted investment assignments.
News
Polaris Hosts Valentine’s Day Celebration
Polaris celebrated this Valentine's Day with a heartwarming community-wide event. The management team at Polaris created a memorable occasion for residents, ensuring a delightful experience for all. The properties’ leasing offices and clubhouses were decorated with...
2023 Review and 2024 Outlook
San Francisco, CA (January 2024) – Polaris Real Estate Partners (“Polaris”) is pleased to share the achievements of 2023 and outline its plans for 2024. The past year included team expansion and portfolio income growth. We remain committed to enhancing residents'...
TURKEYS AND FOOD GIVEAWAY DURING THANKSGIVING AT POLARIS PROPERTIES
Dallas, TX (Dec. 2023) – Embracing the spirit of gratitude this Thanksgiving, Polaris Real Estate Partners (“Polaris”) held heartwarming food giveaways across all of its properties to express sincere appreciation to its residents. On Thanksgiving Day, onsite...
NEW SERVICE CENTER LAUNCHED AT PACIFICA APARTMENT HOMES
Dallas, TX (Nov. 2023) – Polaris Real Estate Partners (PREP) was thrilled to celebrate our recent launch of our brand-new career site at our Pacifica Service Center in October, along with an exciting Family Fun Day event! This collaboration with the South Dallas...
POLARIS REAL ESTATE PARTNERS’ 2023 ANNUAL SCHOOL BACKPACK GIVEAWAY
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (AUGUST 2023). Polaris Real Estate Partners (PREP) proudly continues our annual back-to-school backpack giveaway tradition this year. We are delighted to share that we distributed a total of over 1,000 backpacks, the largest number we have given...
POLARIS COMMUNITY UNVEILS EXCITING SUMMER ACTIVITIES FOR THEIR RESIDENTS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 2023) — Polaris Real Estate Partners (PREP) is thrilled to announce a series of engaging summer activities designed for our residents. This promises to be full of fun, learning, and community building for everyone at our properties. “Safety...