It’s often said real estate is not about buildings, but about people. This is especially true in the world of multifamily investment, where strong relationships often lead to stellar outcomes for all stakeholders.

Investment Partners
Relationships are important across the board, but few actions will pay more dividends than building and maintaining relationships with investment partners. From small family offices to global institutions, all investors are more likely to trust their capital with those they have successfully and amicably dealt with in the past.

For example, my firm, EQT Exeter, has sponsored multifamily acquisitions in numerous markets across the globe over the past 15 years. Our partners often work with us on multiple deals because of the relationships we have cultivated. Instead of reaching out only when we have a potential investment to share, we are in frequent contact, discussing the market, understanding their needs and offering guidance and an unbiased opinion – even on deals with which we are not involved.

Relationships require trust. Building that trust can come from knowing when to say “no.” At times, investment partners have approached us with prospective acquisitions, and we advised them the transaction at hand was not the best use of their dollars. This willingness to turn down deals hopefully shows we treat their dollars as if they were ours and care about the ability to have a fruitful relationship for the long term rather than one deal.

Access to Financing
Volatility is roiling the marketplace, which makes the ability to leverage existing relationships on the lending side instrumental. With the rise in interest rates and the likely coming of economic headwinds over the next several quarters, debt guidance is more valuable than ever.

Unfortunately for some, this change in the cycle and a shortage in financing will teach many just how important relationships are in real estate. Past performance may not be predictive of future results, but past relationships are definitely more likely to yield future financing.

Consider, for example, how alike many deals can look on paper. With multiple borrowers vying for the same dollars, banks will rely on intangibles to determine where their funding goes. Those with a proven track record will be more likely to secure funding.

Off-Market Deals
Most real estate transactions will go out to the full market because that approach will generate multiple bids and maximize pricing. However, some circumstances can lead to off-market or limited competition offerings. Buyers and sellers alike should rely on their established relationships to make the most of these opportunities.

There are many reasons why an owner may opt to unload an asset off market. Perhaps they are a developer needing liquidity to launch a project. Maybe they have an upcoming loan maturity, or they’re trying to fundraise and need some wins to show prospective investors. Whatever the reason, one commonality is overall execution. If an owner wants to sell an asset quickly without heavily diminishing their return, they’ll probably turn to someone they have worked with in the past that has previously executed a transaction with them.

On the buying side, the lack of competition in off-market transactions mean extending the value of every acquisition dollar. These deals are inherently hard to source because the seller is not widely marketing the asset. Long career relationships are the simplest path connecting buyer to seller in off-market deals.

Last year, Redwood Capital, now part of EQT Exeter’s multifamily team, acquired 10 properties – seven of which were handled off market. This was only possible because of the relationships we built with other owners, operators and investment sales folks over previous years. All long-term relationships are important – which is why we are willing to pay a fee to the investment sales team that introduced us to these sellers. Though this step isn’t required, it shows to our friends on the investment sales side of the business that we care and are committed to them.

Relationships in New Territory
Longstanding business relationships can have value even when your business goes in an unforeseen direction. Earlier this year, EQT AB, a purpose-driven global investment organization based in Stockholm, acquired Redwood Capital Group, which is now part of the firm’s real estate platform, EQT Exeter.

The relationships these two organizations bring to this merger will strengthen the combined company’s performance in the years ahead. The incoming team can go to their existing partners with new capabilities and better market coverage. In turn, EQT Exeter now has a broader network of business partners and boots-on-the-ground teams to leverage as the company looks to expand in the U.S. multifamily sector.

Strong relationships are vital to multifamily real estate – whether they help to fortify investment partnerships, secure access to financing, source off-market deals or blaze new business paths.

About the Author
Field Stern is the managing director, investments and head of capital markets for EQT Exeter’s U.S. Multifamily platform. He has 17 years of multifamily real estate experience.

TexAmericas Center has earned recognition as the No. 5 Best Industrial Park in the U.S. by Business Facilities’ 18th Rankings Report, an annual assessment of economic development leaders. This is the third year in a row TexAmericas Center has ranked in the Top 10.

The category for industrial parks reflects the increasing recognition of their importance to the growth of small- and middle-sized enterprises and weighs the size, space availability, shovel readiness, growth potential, and unique assets in order to rank facilities. The factors taken into consideration for this ranking include size, recent expansions, growth potential, and unique assets such as water resources, on-site utilities, and residential development for industrial park employees.

TexAmericas Center, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary of servicing markets in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, is as a catalyst of economic investment in the Texarkana region. Its 12,000 acres of development-ready land and 3.5 million square feet of space is fully entitled, providing potential tenants of specialized industries options that would be difficult or cost-prohibitive to secure in other regions.

The organization has 41 corporate citizens on the property, including seven property owners and 34 renters. The growth in the number companies on the property represents a 105% increase since 2014, while the amount of leased space has increased by 79%.

In the past year, TexAmericas Center has added rail services to its portfolio of offerings. Now, 11 businesses are taking advantage of transload, rail car storage and movement services on the TexAmericas Center footprint. Additionally, six companies have signed on to use TAC 3PL, a service line that was launched in 2020. Services include inventory management, warehousing, and fulfillment needs.

Among its newest offerings is a 150,000-square-foot speculative building on 24 acres. The multi-tenant, mixed-use facility has 32-foot clear height ceilings, one dock door per 5,000 square feet, and two drive-in doors. The building can subdivide down to 13,000-square-foot units as needed. Upon completion of the building, TexAmericas Center has quickly turned its attention to build-to-suit offerings.

While TexAmericas Center boasts easy interstate, rail, fiber, and air access, it also has low rates for taxes, labor, and its electricity, natural gas, and fiber utilities. A priority has been to build strong partnerships with the region’s leading educational institutions to help create a solid foundation of available skilled employees that will make the region and its sites appealing to prospective businesses. These factors, coupled with the organization’s reputation as problem-solvers and partners in mixed-use industrial development, has led to three years of ranking as a Top 10 Industrial Park in the U.S.

A diversity of industries successfully operates from TexAmericas Center, including defense, transportation equipment, oil and gas pipe, warehousing, construction, trucking, and food additive and supplement manufacturing. The industrial park is a designated U.S. Opportunity Zone, HUBZone, Foreign Trade Zone, and State of Texas Enterprise Zone.

It’s been a popular narrative for years: Online shopping is slowly killing brick-and-mortar retail. But what if this narrative isn’t true?

It’s a question addressed by Lee & Associates in its second quarter 2022 national retail overview. In its latest research, Lee & Associates says that in-person shopping is steadily regaining its popularity.

And this, the company said, is taking a toll on e-commerce sales.

According to the overview, merchant demand for retail space in the United States is higher than its been since 2017. Net absorption in the U.S. retail sector is now on track to expand by nearly 80 million square feet in 2022.

Empty storefronts are filling up, too. Lee & Associates reports that the overall retail vacancy rate fell by 60 basis points in the first and second quarters of this year, dropping to 4.4%. That’s the lowest retail vacancy rate on record.

What’s behind this? Lee & Associates pointed to financially strong consumers. Last year, in-person shopping gained on e-commerce, which Lee & Associates says might be a first. The company pointed to an analysis by Mastercard saying that U.S. online purchases fell in March for the first time in a decade.

Then there’s the Amazon effect. As Lee & Associates says, the retail giant’s online sales fell 3% in the first quarter of 2022 to $51.1 billion. Amazon wasn’t alone, though, in seeing its online sales fall. Etsy and Shopify also posted unexpectedly low sales, Lee & Associates said.

Meanwhile, rent growth for physical retail is averaging 4%, the most in more than a decade in the United States.

Investors are taking note. Lee & Associates said that more than $23 billion in retail properties traded hands in the first quarter of this year, the most ever.

Several Midwest markets are enjoying low vacancy rates in the retail sector. Indianapolis’ retail vacancy rate was 3.6% in the second quarter, while this rate stood at 3.1% in Minneapolis, 3% in Madison, 3.6% in Nashville and 3.9% in Columbus.