AEW vet joins Carmel as IR head

In a newly-created position, David McWhorter will join the San Francisco-based multifamily specialist as managing partner.


A former investor relations director for AEW Capital Management is joining Carmel Partners to head up its investor relations division. 

According to the San Francisco-based multifamily investment firm, David McWhorter will join Carmel on July 8 as managing partner and head of investor relations. In addition, he will serve as a member of the firm's investment committee. He will be based in the firm’s San Francisco headquarters.

A spokesperson for Carmel told PERE that this is a newly-created position. Previously, the IR role has been filled by managing partners who also held other responsibilities.  With the firm’s current level of investment activity, Carmel felt the time was right for an executive to fill the post full-time.

McWhorter comes to Carmel from AEW, where he served as a director in investor relations for more than 10 years. There, he was responsible for building and maintaining client relationships with US institutional investors, including public and corporate pension plans, endowments and foundations.

“We are very excited to have a professional of Mac's caliber join the Carmel team,” said founder and chief executive officer Ron Zeff in a statement. “He has a broad set of skills and experience, and he is a proven leader in managing institutional investor relationships.”

Founded in 1992 by Zeff, Carmel currently employs 605 professionals and manages 16,907 apartment units. The firm pursues a strategy of opportunistic and value-added investing in multifamily properties in supply-constrained US markets with high barriers to entry. It also invests in new development and high-yielding multifamily debt opportunities with compelling risk-adjusted returns. Carmel's core markets currently include northern and southern California, New York, Seattle, Denver, Washington DC and Hawaii. 

Carmel currently is investing its latest fund, Carmel Partners Investment Fund IV. Fund IV closed in 2012 at its hard cap of $820 million, exceeding its original $700 million target.