Real estate investment veteran Matt Ferrari has launched PXV Multifamily, with plans to acquire up to $2 billion in assets under management with its own capital and through joint ventures with limited partners over the next three years. The private multifamily investment and operating company will target assets from middle-market, value-add properties to institutional-quality opportunities in select markets throughout the United States.
The company, based in Miami, will be focused initially on individual assets and portfolios comprising 1980s vintage and newer assets with 150 units or more in markets in the Eastern United States. However, it has plans to build out several regional offices to ensure a national presence. In addition, the next few months will be spent building the asset management and acquisition teams.
The time was right for Ferrari, who served as co-chief investment officer and head of asset management in the East and Central regions for TruAmerica Multifamily for nearly a decade, to launch the firm as he sees the multifamily investment market turning a corner with resetting values, increasing transaction activity, and improving operating fundamentals. The timing also aligns with nearly $750 billion of multifamily loans set to mature over the next three years.
The idea for PXV Multifamily began this spring, with the deal signed off on during Ferrari’s recent summit of Mt. Everest on May 27. This led to the company’s name, derived from Mt. Everest’s original name during the 19th century—Peak XV.
Ferrari notes PXV Multifamily is going to have a strong focus on operations.
“While we are well capitalized, to generate strong returns in this next cycle, you need more than capital, you need operational precision, and PXV will be a multifamily sharpshooter, which can drive alpha through operations, not just acquisitions,” says Ferrari. “That DNA—operations-first—is going to be embedded throughout this company.”
Ferrari, who started his career on the operations side of the multifamily business with Archstone 15 years ago, says he learned the industry through the operating and management lens before entering the transaction space years later.
“Over the last few years, it became evident that there were a lot of firms capable of raising capital and acquiring properties, but, when the operating environment turned, interest rates rose, cap rates expanded, expense inflation took off, and rent growth became more challenged—many owners were not set up or staffed to handle such challenges,” he says. “We will evaluate all opportunities through an operational lens and plan to be a multifamily sharpshooter with a built-out and highly capable asset and construction management teams supported by robust technology and data analytics. Operations will be part of our DNA throughout the entire organization.”
The venture is capitalized with funds from BroadVail Capital Partners, a Houston-based real estate private equity firm, marking its entry into the traditional multifamily housing sector.
“We’ve waited a long time to find the right team within this highly mature sector, but we believe our patience will be rewarded with Ferrari at the helm,” says Robby Zorich, a managing partner at BroadVail. “After a nearly three-year search for an individual to lead a multifamily platform, Matt stood out among the crowd, having actively led a highly successful national multifamily platform as co-CIO, while at the same time managing institutional relationships, sourcing new deal flow, and asset-managing assets across the Eastern U.S.—the combination of which we see as incredibly unique.”