Hudson Valley Property Group

Great to spend time in the Hamptons with real estate leaders and family office investors discussing where we’re seeing opportunity in the market today. I enjoyed moderating a conversation with John Ritter, Robert Byron and Jeff Greene that covered everything from changing demographics and population trends to some of the most interesting opportunities we’re seeing across real estate. Two themes stood out: patience and relationships. There’s plenty of capital looking for a home, but having the discipline to wait for the right opportunity matters. And when that opportunity comes, relationships and trusted partners can make all the difference. That’s certainly been true building Hudson Valley Property Group. Some of our best opportunities have come from relationships built over many years and being patient enough to wait for the right moment to act. A thoughtful conversation and a good reminder that sometimes the best investing edge is knowing when to wait - and having the relationships to act.

I think one of the more interesting questions as institutional interest in affordable housing grows is what investors should actually be looking for in a manager. Affordable housing is specialized. It’s not just another version of multifamily real estate. You’re working across different regulatory programs, partnering with housing authorities and government agencies, and operating properties where taking care of residents is a fundamental part of the job. You need people who understand those relationships, know how to do this work and are committed to the sector for the long term. Those capabilities take time to build. We’ve spent years building that experience at Hudson Valley Property Group, so it was interesting to see many of those same themes come through in FundFire’s recent piece on what institutional consultants look for when evaluating affordable housing managers. I appreciated the opportunity to speak with Richard J. Chang for the article and share some of what we’re seeing as more institutional capital enters the sector. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gQpf-dxV

I’ve increasingly come to think we may be putting affordable housing in the wrong investment category. We call it real estate. But when you look at what infrastructure actually does - provide something essential that communities depend on every day - affordable housing starts to look a lot more like infrastructure. That distinction matters. How we classify an asset influences how investors think about risk, return and duration, and ultimately where capital flows. Regulated affordable housing has many of the characteristics infrastructure investors already value: essential demand, long asset lives, durable cash flows and public-private partnership. And perhaps most importantly, it houses the people who make the rest of our infrastructure work. I wrote more about the idea in my latest newsletter below.

A recent health and wellness summit in Vancouver left me thinking about a question I didn’t expect to be asking: what role can affordable housing play in helping people live healthier lives? We hear a lot about advances in healthspan and longevity. But some of the biggest drivers of health are still relatively simple: movement, nutrition, preventative care, social connection and healthy living environments. Affordable housing owners aren’t healthcare providers, but we do have an opportunity to make some of these fundamentals more accessible at scale. I wrote more about where I think housing fits into this conversation in my latest newsletter below.

When Andrew Cavaluzzi and I started working together, we weren’t sitting around asking ourselves how we could change the world. We wanted to build a business. Something that provided real value to people, but also something that could become big and successful. We also knew that building a company takes an almost irrational level of persistence. If we were going to spend years pushing through the hard parts, it had to be around something we genuinely believed in. The truth is, institutionalizing affordable housing wasn’t some grand master plan from day one. We more or less stumbled into it through an initial opportunity. But the more time we spent in the space, the more compelling it became. There was a real need, very little institutional capital focused on it, and a clear opportunity to build a company around doing the work well. It wasn’t sexy, but it resonated with us. Andy and I both grew up in working-class families with parents who were teachers, in communities that were economically and ethnically diverse. The work felt connected to the values we grew up with, and we felt as qualified as anyone to do it right. So we went all in. I moved back into the house I grew up in to keep my expenses low and give myself as much runway as possible to get the company off the ground. One opportunity became another, and eventually became Hudson Valley Property Group. One of the things I’ve come to appreciate is how tangible this work is. You can walk through a property before and after we invest in it. You can see what changed. And you know these are homes that people rely on every day. More than 16 years later, after tens of thousands of residents served and billions of dollars in projects, I think one of the things we got right was not choosing between ambition and purpose. We wanted to build something substantial. And we wanted to believe deeply in what we were building. What started with one opportunity has grown into something much bigger than Andy and I could have imagined at the time. Now, the goal is to keep building – and take the firm well beyond what we dreamed of when we started.

Sixteen years ago, Andrew Cavaluzzi and I started Hudson Valley Property Group in my childhood basement without a track record or institutional platform. What we did have was conviction and a clear point of view. We believed affordable housing preservation was critical – but often too fragmented, undercapitalized and mismanaged. So, we set out to build a better approach, grounded in real estate discipline, public-private problem solving and a long-term genuine commitment to the communities we serve. All these years later, relationships, trust, and thoughtful execution drive everything we do. Our focus hasn’t changed, but our platform has evolved and strengthened. Our domain expertise in a fragmented and often overlooked corner of the market allows us to take on more complex executions with discipline. Strong relationships across a broad set of public and private partners support our growth and differentiation in the market. We aim to continue to create value through thoughtful structuring and better execution – not by relying on passive market appreciation. When paired with our purpose to provide families and seniors with stability, opportunity, and pride in their home, we can improve lives and strengthen communities while delivering value to our investors. Last week’s Investor Day was a meaningful moment to reflect on this journey and look ahead to Hudson Valley’s future. To everyone who joined us, thank you for your time and partnership. We're excited to continue building something very special together.