US - Stonelake Capital Partners, Austin-based investment firm, is aiming to raise $125m (€89m) for a private equity fund to be invested in real estate, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The fund, Stonelake Opportunity Partners II LP, had raised $30m as at 1 March from eight investors. Subsequent closings are due over the next 12 months.

Kenneth Aboussie Jr and John Kiltz are co-founders of the firm. Both had worked as partners at Cypress Real Estate Advisors, another Austin-based private equity firm.

At the time of Stonelake's inception in 2007, the company said it planned to raise a total of $150m.

At the time, Aboussie and Kiltz had said the money would be used to invest in urban multifamily and mixed-use properties from Arizona to Florida. 

Other members of Stonelake's management include Travis Eickenhorst, vice-president of Stonelake, who was also formerly with Cypress Real Estate Advisors, where he worked across numerous product lines.

Meredith Baird, who heads the financial operations, has formerly worked in the Dallas-office of Ernst & Young.

Stonelake has offices in Texas and Dallas.

Prices on US commercial property had been registering impressive gains since the fourth quarter of 2010, showing a clear bottoming out of the US real estate market, according to MIT's Commercial Property Price index.

Economists believe as the US economy continues to rebound, and as more jobs become available, demand for property is likely to kick in, pushing up transaction volume and prices in the real estate market.

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