Daniel Palmier, president and CEO of UC Funds, recently met with John Picard of the New York Real Estate Journal for a Question & Answer session.
Q: You recent­ly changed your name to UC Funds. Why did you change your name and how will it affect your firm?
A: We changed our name for a few different reasons: 1) UC Funds is entering a very exciting phase in our business growth cycle. Over the last 3 1/2 years, we have invested nearly $1 billion in equity spread over 100 transactions nationwide, and we con­tinue to successfully expand our capital base through successive series of funds. 2) The name change coincides with our next fund offering - our fifth fund to date! UC Funds will maintain its seasoned team with talented additions to our staff, and we will continue to provide exceptional service and the best capital solutions in the commercial real estate industry. To learn more, see our redesigned website at www.UCFunds.com.
Q: What are your market predictions for the rest of 2014?
A: As the U.S. commer­cial real estate market continues to rebound, we're seeing huge growth in redevelopment, construction and adaptive re-use projects, particularly in urban environments like New York, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and ma­jor Texas cities. Our team has also seen a marked capital demand increase around the country. UC Funds offers 15 creative capital solutions throughout the capital stack to help real estate entrepreneurs meet their needs, including construc­tion, condo conversion and adaptive re-use capital.
Q: What do you attribute your firm's success to? How are you able to fund so many transactions?
A: Hard work, infinite persistence and more hard work. I think Ted Turner said it best when asked about success in business, "early to bed, early to rise, work your butt off and advertise." Seriously, I attribute our success to an extremely dedicated, veteran team that truly understands the needs of real estate entrepreneurs and the inherent value in real estate investments. We have vertically inte­grated, in-house core disciplines that allow us to walk sponsors through the entire investment process, from screening and underwriting to servic­ing and asset management. Through our best-in-class asset management group, we act as partners and advisors to our borrowers during the duration of their investment. As a result, our borrowers are able to focus on what they do best: creating value. The experience of our team also enables us to engineer creative capital solutions that work for our borrowers. We are able to quickly analyze and close deals, usually in less than 30 days. We see value where others do not. The combination of our experi­ence and competitive advantages has led us to successfully close over 100 transactions in three and a half years.
When we focused on our recent body of work and why we are success­ful, we came up with the UC Funds 21 points - 15 different products provided with six competitive advantages. Our website expands on these points.
With all the aforementioned, we have created tremendous goodwill over the last 3 ½ years. Our referral network of sponsors is second to none.
Q: Tell us about a recent funding success story?
A: Occasionally, for the right deal, we will do a "no money down" transaction. We recently funded a $13 million multifamily acquisition transaction in Raleigh, NC, for a repeat borrower at 100% loan to cost. We closed the deal in under 21 days. The property was a 400 unit multifamily "value add" property that needed $3 million in renovation dollars. UC Funds is fund­ing that capital need over the next 12 months as work is completed.
Q: What's next for UC Funds?
A: UC Funds will continue to expand as a "One Stop Shop" for commercial real estate solutions nationwide. UC Funds is looking to hit the $1 billion mark of invested equity in 2014 while expanding our equity base. We are actively closing deals nationwide across a variety of markets, although our core remains in the multifamily, office/retail and hospitality sectors. We have a creative, seasoned and reliable team that is eager to deploy capital to visionary real estate investors. We will continue to grow in 2014 through both new capital raises and investments, and I am confident that 2014 will be our best year yet! Tags: