Nick Falker of Cambridge Realty Partners | The Elm in New Haven | Second Cities
Courtesy of Cambridge Realty Partners
Second Cities
In this week’s episode, I speak with Nick Falker, the Managing Partner at Cambridge Realty Partners based in New Haven, Connecticut. His firm has been investing and developing in real estate opportunistically since 1978. Beginning in 2015, the company pivoted to focus on the New Haven multifamily residential market. In today’s episode, we will discuss The Elm, a new construction multi-family building in Downtown New Haven. More broadly, we will also speak about the rise of the second city during COVID and what other cities may learn from it. As we will learn, New York’s loss is perhaps New Haven’s gain.
Located in the heart of Downtown New Haven, The Elm caters to young professionals and Yale affiliates. It is a mix of studios and four bedroom units with a rooftop deck and an industrial feel. There are some shared workspace areas where people can break off into study groups or work from home in a more comfortable place overlooking the city.
Join us on today’s episode as we discuss strategies for multifamily development and real estate development, how COVID is changing the game for developers, and popular neighborhoods that have been growing in New Haven. We will be exploring these topics in-depth, including Nick’s previous experience working for Cigna Realty Investors in Connecticut and the Bristol Group Inc in California.
“The biggest challenge in my opinion, is the capital. It’s a capital intensive business. You are buying hard assets and there’s all of the good that comes with that. People always talk about the tangible nature of it relative to other asset classes and the challenges of that, which is it’s by definition, capital intensive, because you’re buying a real asset or you’re building a real asset either way. There’s an inherent conflict there when you’re going for a startup, but you need heavy capital. That obviously doesn’t exist with internet startups. You need to have either an angel investor, a family member, someone that’s willing to back you, or you need to be old enough and have been in the game long enough to show a track record and have in your back pocket, a staple of more institutional investors that are ready to back you for professional reasons.”
Courtesy of Cambridge Realty Partners
About Nick Falker
Nick Falker is the Managing Partner at Cambridge Realty Partners based in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm has been investing and developing in real estate opportunistically since 1978. Since then, they have focused on office assets in the Northeast US, Texas, and Mexico — and most recently in multi-family developments in Connecticut. Previously, Nick worked for Cigna Realty Investors in Connecticut and the Bristol Group Inc in California.
Courtesy of Cambridge Realty Partners
Episode Timestamps
2:27 – You started out your career at Eastdil Secured, the investment sales brokerage. Why did you start there and what did you learn from that?
6:21 – You returned to Connecticut and worked with your father, Michael Faulker, who started Cambridge Realty Partners. What aspects of the firm did you retain when you took over and what did you change?
15:03 – The Element is located in downtown New Haven. What is special about the city for you and what drew you to this particular site?
20:14 – Tell us about the development strategy in more detail and who else is working on this project with you.
26:16 – Walk listeners through what they would experience if they were to walk through The Elements when it’s done.
31:02 – Talk to us more about who you thought your renters were going to be as you were underwriting this deal, how that changed over the course of the project, and who actually is renting at the property.
34:50 – Could you give us a look at what the residential market was like in New Haven before and after COVID?
36:59 – Tell us more about the popular neighborhoods that are in New Haven and what you think makes them great places to live.
41:37 – What does New Haven have going for it in terms of getting there and getting around?
Connect with Nick Falker:
Courtesy of Cambridge Realty Partners
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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