About the firm
An operator-led commercial real estate investment firm
Kaizen Properties USA acquires and improves recession-resistant commercial real estate — and shares the upside of disciplined operations with its investors and communities.
Our story
Built on continuous improvement
Kaizen is a Japanese term for continuous, incremental improvement — the idea that meaningful results come from steady, disciplined work rather than dramatic gestures. That philosophy is the foundation of how we invest and operate.
Kaizen Properties USA acquires overlooked or under-optimized commercial real estate, improves operations and systems, and creates long-term value for investors, tenants, residents, and the communities we operate in. Since 2019, the firm has built a portfolio spanning self-storage facilities, mobile home and RV parks, and select commercial assets across multiple states.
We are not a fund chasing whatever is fashionable. We focus on a defined set of durable-demand property types, underwrite conservatively, and create value the hard way — by running properties better than the previous owner did.
Founder
Gabe Petersen
Gabe Petersen is the founder of Kaizen Properties USA and a commercial real estate investor and operator. He has spent years acquiring and improving durable-demand commercial real estate, with direct, hands-on experience across self-storage, mobile home parks, RV parks, and small commercial assets.
He is also the host of The Real Estate Investing Club, a podcast through which he has interviewed hundreds of real estate investors, operators, and industry professionals. That ongoing dialogue — combined with operating his own portfolio — has shaped a practical, operator-minded approach to investing: focus on assets you understand, protect the downside, and create value through better operations rather than financial engineering.
Gabe's approach is deliberately unflashy. The goal is to be a credible, thoughtful steward of investor capital and a professional, reliable counterparty for the sellers and brokers Kaizen works with.
What we value
Principles we operate by
Continuous improvement
Kaizen means steady, incremental improvement. We apply it to every property and to our own process as investors and operators.
Straight talk
We communicate plainly with investors, sellers, brokers, and partners — including when the answer is no.
Downside discipline
We protect capital first. Conservative underwriting and sensible structures matter more than chasing the highest possible return.
Stewardship
We aim to leave properties, residents, tenants, and communities better than we found them.
Work with Kaizen
Explore passive investment opportunities or bring us a property to consider.