Updates on Tides Equities’ Sean Kia and Ryan Andrade

ByAmeliaSeptember 28, 202633 Mins read3

The last time Tides Equities’ Sean Kia and Ryan Andrade made headlines, the poster children for value-add multifamily syndicator flame-out were ordered to pay Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Mortgage Capital $50 million out of their own pockets.

The firm didn’t just default on hundreds of millions in loans tied to its 30,000-unit Sun Belt multifamily portfolio; the principals’ personal guaranties were triggered when Tides allowed liens to be filed against the properties, making Kia and Andrade personally liable for the debt.

Witnesses to Tides’ rapid rise and fall predicted that the judgments, born out of personal guaranties, would bankrupt Kia and Andrade, but a year later, the co-founders appear to have escaped financial ruin — for now. Despite teasing a comeback at the end of 2024, their portfolio has shrunk, and they’ve made little progress toward Tides 2.0.

Neither Kia nor Andrade responded to requests for interviews.

Settling up

Kia and Andrade founded Tides Equities in 2016 while in their mid-20s, after the 2012 JOBS Act opened the door to real estate crowdfunding.

Driven by plans to buy and revamp old Sun Belt apartments, raise rents and sell the properties for a profit, the firm’s portfolio surpassed 30,000 multifamily units and swelled to a $7.5 billion valuation by late 2022, Kia told media.

Almost as quickly as Tides crested, it plunged. Rising interest rates jacked up the cost of the floating-rate debt the firm used to finance its acquisitions, spurring a flurry of capital calls, loan modifications and foreclosures.

Long Island-based Acres Capital opened the floodgates for lenders’ lawsuits in October 2024 when it sued Kia and Andrade for defaulting on a recourse guaranty and claimed they were personally on the hook for the outstanding balance on a $33 million loan. Acres claimed the pair owed $5 million, after the lender took back the asset in question with a $28 million credit bid.

Lenders including Starwood and Electra Capital filed similar suits. By May 2025, Starwood had notched over $50 million in judgments against Kia and Andrade. Court documents show the Tides principals quickly satisfied the Starwood judgments between July and September 2025. They also settled their cases with Acres and Electra Capital by the end of 2025.

Tides’ pain

That’s not to say the pair’s financial issues are definitively in the rearview mirror.

The firm’s holdings shrank to a fraction of what they were at Tides’ peak. The firm first made the National Multifamily Housing Council’s 2023 list, ranking 37th. It moved up a spot the following year and fell off the list in 2025, when distress really started eating away at the firm’s holdings.

For example, in Dallas-Fort Worth, one of the firm’s biggest markets, Tides appears to have maintained control of 11 properties, down from at least 45 in 2022.

Liens throughout what remains of the Tides portfolio point to possible future pain points. Since the beginning of the year, vendors have filed liens on the properties, alleging over $500,000 in unpaid labor. Two of the four Tarrant County properties have liens from the city of Fort Worth, totaling almost $130,000.

Tides’ foreclosures haven’t abated since the firm started experiencing distress. Its most recent Texas foreclosure was Tides on Westcreek, at 6776 Westcreek Drive. Benefit Street Partners provided the $32.8 million loan and is poised to take back the property at an October foreclosure sale.

Still, the firm is looking to offload properties and sold a Phoenix asset in June. Tides on McDowell, a 274-unit property at 4620 West McDowell Road, fetched $41 million. The new owner is Nitya Capital, Swapnil Agarwal’s Houston-based multifamily syndication firm.

What about Tides 2.0?

When Kia and Andrade spoke at The Real Deal’s L.A. Forum in September 2024, they hinted at a plan to revive Tides by shifting to investment in Class-A apartments.

Of course, rising from the ashes would require surviving the current economic cycle. At the time, the industry predicted a 2025 finish line, anticipating rate cuts would relieve the financial pressure. Heading into the final quarter of 2026, rates are trending in the opposite direction, and it’s unclear what the Tides principals are up to next.

Kia has been a bit more active online than his co-founder — which is to say, still pretty quiet. Aside from a periodic congratulatory comment on LinkedIn and a few Instagram posts about his basketball card collection, he recently registered multiple LLCs in Nevada, hinting at a possible second act in real estate.

He’s listed as the manager of KEPMG, an entity created in May whose address matches the Tides office: 11726 San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 370. KEPMG is the manager of Blue Summit Property Management, a Nevada entity registered in April.

Offloading mansions

The co-founders’ professional moves have been minimal, but when it comes to personal finances, both have offloaded multimillion-dollar Southern California mansions since the beginning of 2025.

Andrade sold his 6,100-square-foot Encinitas mansion in June for $3.6 million, swapping the 2006-built home at 1749 Noma Lane for a less lavish, 2,700-square-foot home in Carlsbad. He purchased the house at 2794 Woodwind Road, also in June, for $1.5 million.

In February 2025, Kia flipped the Brentwood estate he purchased from Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel’s ex-wife Sarah Addington in 2023, selling it for $22.3 million. He had purchased the nearly 10,000-square-foot property at 414 South Cliffwood Avenue for $14.5 million. The half-acre property features a 7,000-square-foot main house and a 2,800-square-foot guesthouse, as well as amenities like a home theater and resort-style pool.

It’s unclear whether Kia ever lived in the house; he told TRD he planned to renovate and flip it when he purchased the property in 2023.

Kia currently owns a 1,600-square-foot house in Culver City. He bought the 1940s home at 3957 Marcasel Avenue in July 2019 and recently transferred it to a separate entity, Bruni Lee LLC, in August 2024. It’s valued at $3.5 million.

Kia also appears to be monetizing his hobbies. After he shared a few photos of his basketball card collection on Instagram, a Sept. 21 post announced his latest venture. CKK Capital, a “sports card investment vehicle,” offers the deep-pocketed a brand-new reason to give Sean Kia their money.