MULTIFAMILY INFLUENCER: Moran & Co.
Since the inception of its third party services arm, Moran & Co. has represented owners in the sale or equity capitalization of $34.5 billion in multifamily transactions.
Since the inception of its third party services arm, Moran & Co. has represented owners in the sale or equity capitalization of $34.5 billion in multifamily transactions. Since 2012, Moran’s transactions have totaled $23.05 billion, including $17.4 billion of income property sales, $4.9 billion of equity placement for existing and development deals, and $744 million of land sales. Of these transactions, more than 50 involved assets valued in excess of $100 million.
Given its success, it’s natural to ask how the company got to this position. The story starts in 1972, when Thomas F. Moran, the company’s founder and co-chairman, began raising equity for apartment development via limited partnerships, for many of which he served as general partner. About a decade later, Mary Ann King, now co-chairman and West managing partner, left a position with Continental Illinois Bank to join Moran in sourcing investment opportunities, raising equity, structuring joint ventures and securing mortgage financing for what was by then a growing enterprise.
Fast forward to 1986—they had funded construction of more than 15,000 apartment units. 1986 was also the year that the income tax laws were changed to be less favorable to real estate ownership and while many owners saw little choice but to surrender their ownership interests to their lenders, Moran and King worked for several years to restructure each of their partnerships, with the goal of maintaining ownership and recovering their investors’ equity. Since that time, approximately 9,000 of these units have been sold, at a profit, and approximately 6,000 more are still owned by the original partnerships.
In 1994 the company recognized that demand for apartments by institutional investors would only increase and formed a complementary brokerage business based in Southern California to serve these sophisticated investors.
As the business evolved, Moran & Co. grew from a Southern California regional shop to an investment sales platform with offices nationwide. Between 2002 and 2013, regional offices were added in Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Washington, DC and Atlanta, with satellite offices in San Francisco, Houston and Boston.
To run these offices Moran and King turned to regional partners from investment banking firms, mortgage lenders, developers and pension fund advisors who could effectively relate with their clients and could add more value to the sales process than the broker who traditionally handled sales to individual investors. Among the key managing partners overseeing the boutique multifamily services firm’s regions are Peter Evans, Midwest; Paul Harris, Southwest; Sean Henry, Southeast; Randal Howard, Mid-Atlantic; and Jeff Williams, Pacific Northwest.
Indeed, among the secrets to its success, no factor has been of greater importance than the culture of partnership Moran and King cultivated over the years—efforts that paid off handsomely as the firm continues its growth.