AST Development has been in business for 35 years, but as of this week, the company now goes by AST.

On March 29, the Lavallette-based boutique real estate firm unveiled its rebrand, which it says marks the next phase in AST‘s evolution “as a leader in building and enhancing value across asset class and locations, creating unique opportunities for positive, long-term change in local communities.” As part of that evolution, the company said it will align its ground-up development and value-add capabilities with its AST Financial and AST Realty subsidiaries to create a fully integrated real estate development, financing and realty platform.

To coincide with the new name and strategy, the company also launched a new website.

“We have been guided by an unwavering commitment to bringing transformative development projects to local communities for over 35 years,” AST founder and President Robert D’Anton said in a statement. “While the development and acquisition of commercial real estate for our own portfolio will always be the core of our work, our ongoing diversification has enabled us to better leverage our experience to help our partners find success as well.

“Through our new identity, we are now able to unite all our services under one umbrella and better capitalize on value creation opportunities in an increasingly complex commercial real estate marketplace,” he added.

All together now

AST’s independently owned development arm takes a “builder-first” approach, the company said, to ground-up development and acquisition opportunities. According to the company, throughout its history, AST has been responsible for more than $1 billion in development and investment activity across several asset classes throughout the northeastern and southeastern U.S.

AST Financial, a fully integrated lending platform, extends construction, bridge financing and preferred equity through direct-to-lender capital programs developed “by builder for builders.” According to the AST, the unit has provided financing valued at more than $20 million since it launched in 2015.

Working with the Financial component, AST Realty is a brokerage model that offers the builder community services designed to add value throughout the construction process.

“Our expertise in development, finance and realty has enabled us to serve as a trusted real estate partner for some of the most successful transformative projects in the region,” said Director Shane Soranno. “We look forward to building upon our success as we enter into this exciting next phase of our company’s growth.”