Columbia Creek began with a residential flip around 2017. Alex needed financing for the project, and Ivan, who first invested in real estate in 2013, provided a hard money loan. It was Alex's deal and the first investment they completed together.
In 2020, Ivan acquired the first parcel in Lewis County, WA, for a vertically integrated business that would manufacture luxury modular homes. Ivan and Alex formally partnered in 2021, acquired additional land, and built three houses. Combining manufacturing, homebuilding, and land development proved overly complicated, so they moved away from modular manufacturing and focused on land development.
Although the land projects were profitable, rural residential land was difficult to sell quickly and difficult to scale into a repeatable business. Columbia Creek transitioned to acquiring and stabilizing retail, industrial, and flex properties. Since then, the firm's projects and acquisition work have included Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky.
As Columbia Creek moved into commercial real estate, Ivan and Alex took on the roles they hold today. Alex leads construction and investor relationships. He has more than 20 years of construction experience and built a Seattle remodeling company that now employs more than 40 people. Ivan leads asset management and operations. His product and operations work spanned Disney, Microsoft, and Samsung, and he was the main co-founder of a platform for paying traffic tickets and buying car insurance that grew to more than four million monthly users. Ivan and Alex make the firm's final investment decisions.
Garvit Dhingra joined Columbia Creek in February 2025 and now serves as VP, Acquisitions. He holds an electrical engineering degree from Texas A&M and manages the acquisition process from initial screening and underwriting through closing. He reviews OMs, T12s, rent rolls, leases, title, surveys, zoning, lender requests, third-party reports, and closing checklists, and coordinates with brokers, attorneys, lenders, inspectors, insurance brokers, and property managers.
