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Monday, January 12, 2026

Eastham Capital has raised $160 million of a targeted $500 million for its latest multifamily investment fund. The vehicle, Eastham Capital Fund VII, targets value-add properties with 100 or more units and specifically pursues suburban, garden-style communities. The Boca Raton, Fla., investment manager, founded in 2007, is taking aim at properties that were financed with floating-rate loans that might be coming due. But it isn’t necessarily pursuing properties that are in need of major renovations. “We’re looking less at fixer-uppers that require substantial renovation,” explained Matt Rosenthal, who co-founded the company with Eric Silverman and serves as president. “Those don’t (produce) cash flow for a while because you’re fixing them and there’s a lot of vacancy while you do that.” Fund VII will also focus on pursuing properties throughout the Midwest. Eastham already has a presence in that part of the country but is looking to expand it. The region hasn’t been inundated with new supply that has impacted property fundamentals in other areas, namely the Sunbelt. “Rents in the Midwest are normal. You could even raise them a little,” Rosenthal said. “Your occupancies are awesome,
and no one is offering three months free rent to lease up a new property.” Of the 325,584 units that were delivered nationally last year through September, only 39,638 units were in the Midwest. In contrast, the Sunbelt received 168,100 of those units, or more than half, according to Cushman & Wakefield. So far, Fund VII has acquired one property: the 509-unit Element apartments at 1550 West Dempster St. in Mount Prospect, Ill. It formed a venture with Bender Cos. to pay
$75.3 million for the property and funded it with a $60.77 million Fannie Mae loan provided by Northmarq. Eastham has partnered with Bender in past deals around the Chicago area. Its strategy is to team up with a company that is near the property it is purchasing so the local partner can provide deeper market knowledge and manage the asset. The company pursues properties that it could buy with an equity investment of $5 million to $25 million and typically
partners with a local operator that also makes a substantial investment. Eastham expects to close on another property through Fund VII sometime in February. Meanwhile, it will close on another property in the first half through Fund VI, which was launched in 2021 with a $400 million target. The deal was struck last year but has been slow to close as it involved the assumption of a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This year, the company plans to sell four properties that it purchased through Fund V, which was launched in 2017 and raised $215 million. That vehicle has been completely invested. Last year, it sold eight properties with 1,700 units and purchased six properties with 2,400 units.

Reprinted with permission from Commercial Real Estate Direct
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