After nearly a decade at TruAmerica Multifamily, where he rose to co-CIO, real estate investment veteran Matt Ferrari is launching PXV Multifamily, a private multifamily investment and operating firm with plans to acquire up to $2 billion in assets over the next three years. As founder & managing partner of the new Miami-based firm, he’ll be targeting assets ranging from middle-market value-add properties to institutional opportunities in select key markets across the U.S.
PXV is capitalized with funds from BroadVail Capital Partners, a Houston-based real estate private equity firm that partners with best-in-class management teams to build institutional real estate investment platforms. The partnership with PXV will be BroadVail’s entrance into the traditional multifamily sector. The firm has closed on more than $4 billion in deals for the affordable housing, self storage and industrial sectors to date.
Robby Zorich, a BroadVail managing partner, said in prepared remarks the firm has been searching for nearly three years to find the right person to lead a multifamily platform. Zorich said Ferrari fit the bill, listing off his many accomplishments including leading a successful national multifamily platform as co-CIO, managing institutional relationships, sourcing new deal flow and managing assets across the Eastern U.S.
Ferrari plans to spend the next few months building PXV’s asset management and acquisition teams with high-caliber professionals. No deal announcements are expected until the initial team is in place, which will likely come at the end of the year.
“The team will grow correspondingly with the growth of the firm both in Miami and in potential satellite offices throughout the country,” he told Multi-Housing News.
Growth strategy for PXV
PXV plans to acquire properties directly with its own capital and through joint ventures and aims to build $2 billion in assets under management over the next 36 months. The firm will focus on individual assets and portfolios made up of 1980s vintage and newer assets with 150 or more units in major markets across the U.S.
Ferrari said PXV will be looking at opportunities “nationally out of the gate.” He said the time is right for investments in a sector that is turning a corner with resetting values, increasing transaction activity and improving operating fundamentals. He also pointed to the nearly $750 billion of multifamily loans set to mature over the next three years. Many of the new entrants in the multifamily space during 2021 and 2022 were not operators, leading to a lot of mismanaged assets, he said.
“It’s the most exciting time to be an apartment investor given what has evolved over the past few years. There are upside-down capital stacks, mismanaged properties by inexperienced operators, large numbers of loan maturities and a wide range of motivations for potential sellers to transact,” he told MHN.
Ferrari noted there is a large wave of supply being absorbed which should lead to improved operations fundamentals.
“This creates an incredible time for an operations-focused, multifamily sharpshooter to enter the space and take advantage of this dynamic,” he said.
Asked about challenges in the multifamily sector, Ferrari said there remains some bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers which has led to below trend transaction volume.
“But that continues to improve,” he stated. “Operating apartments is likely to be more challenging on a go-forward basis than in the past. However, that’s something that PXV specializes in, making it an opportunity for us, while being a challenge for many other owners.”
Building his career
Ferrari plans to lean on his roots in operations. He joined TruAmerica Multifamily in 2016 as its Eastern U.S. director of acquisitions, eventually rising to co-CIO. Ferrari played a pivotal role in the growth of the Los Angeles-based multifamily owner and operator. He helped the firm open new markets and increase AUM from $6.2 billion to $15.2 billion during his tenure.
He was previously investments director for AvalonBay Communities Inc., working out of the REIT’s Arlington, Va., headquarters, where he oversaw acquisitions and dispositions in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ferrari started his career as operations director at Archstone responsible for managing a portfolio of multifamily and retail assets in New York City. He earned his MBA from Georgetown University and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Skidmore College.
