TruAmerica Multifamily, a leading multifamily investment firm, continues to expand and strengthen its national acquisitions team to support its growth trajectory across its flagship value-add platform, investment management business, and expanding strategies. It recently announced a strategic reorganization of its leadership team to deepen regional presence and expand execution depth across its priority markets.
Wes LaBar, executive managing director and head of acquisitions, continues to lead the firm’s national acquisition efforts. The firm has added and elevated several senior acquisition leaders, including:
- Ammanuel Metta, managing director, acquisitions, who will oversee acquisitions across the Central and Northeast regions, including Boston, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, suburban New York and New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas;
- Julien Lipps, director, acquisitions, who will continue to lead the Southeastern acquisition platform, with expanded responsibility across Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina;
- Dylan Barreira, senior director, acquisitions, who was promoted to lead acquisitions efforts across the West, overseeing activity from the Pacific Northwest through California and the Desert Region; and
- Colin Riley, director, acquisitions, who joined to lead acquisitions across targeted Western markets, including Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
“The scale of activity we’ve seen over the past year required us to continue investing in leadership and structure,” says LaBar. “By expanding responsibility across key regions, we’re ensuring the organization is positioned to executive consistently and support continued growth as market activity accelerates.”
Multifamily Executive talked with LaBar to discuss these latest moves, TruAmerica’s continued growth, and the multifamily investment landscape for 2026.
TruAmerica completed $2.5 billion in transaction volume in 2025—what market conditions made that level of activity possible, and how are those conditions evolving in 2026?
Many operators spent 2025 on the sidelines. TruAmerica was able to remain an active buyer primarily due to our deep, longstanding industry relationships that sourced off-market and limited-process opportunities, along with proprietary insights into our 65,000-plus units allowed TruAmerica to identify early “green shoots” ahead of broader market signals. We expect to continue to leverage these advantages throughout 2026 as multifamily fundamentals remain intact and the sector sees stable, steady growth.
Where are you seeing the most compelling value-add opportunities today, and how has that shifted over the past 12 months?
With 65,000 units, we are able to see patterns early and in real time, whether that’s expense normalization, favorable lease trade-outs, or demand inflection points. We closely evaluate submarket-level performance within our portfolio, including development pipelines within a 5- to 10-mile radius and forward rent growth projections, which informs our acquisition targets before the broader market moves. During the last few quarters, we have targeted markets that experienced softness in recent years yet are now showing improving entry points and clearer forward visibility.
What operational challenges or opportunities prompted this reorganization of the national acquisitions team?
2025 was a defining year for TruAmerica that focused on platform maturation, not just growth. The strategic reorganization and expansion of the acquisition team strengthens TruAmerica’s investment capabilities in a more selective market. With the launch of our three new verticals in 2025—Affordable Housing, Structured Finance, and Residential Development—the construct of our acquisition team positions TruAmerica for sustained growth while maintaining a disciplined, long-term focus. We also believe strongly in promoting and growing talent from within, alongside making strategic appointments and targeted new hires. That balance of internal leadership development and external experience strengthens our platform as we continue to scale.
From a leadership standpoint, what have been the biggest lessons from TruAmerica’s recent growth phase?
During a selective capital markets environment that has provided pockets of dislocation, it is clear that now more than ever capital and credit increasingly favor proven sponsors like TruAmerica. Another key lesson has been the importance of investing in people and platform alongside transactions. As we’ve grown, maintaining alignment across teams and elevating internal talent has been just as important as executing on deals.
TruAmerica has already made several acquisitions to start the year. How are these early acquisitions shaping your expectations for transaction volume and opportunities in 2026?
These recent transactions reflect TruAmerica’s deep local relationships and our ability to navigate periods of market dislocation. Environments like this tend to create opportunity for scaled, experienced operators with discretionary capital and execution certainty. We believe ongoing capital stack dislocation will continue to surface compelling investment opportunities throughout 2026.