Ex-JPMorgan exec joins CityView

George Ochs has been hired at Los Angeles-based investment management and development firm CityView as senior vice president and head of investor relations, in a newly created role.

Ochs, who started on Monday, will be in charge of further developing and expanding institutional investor relationships at CityView, which focuses on urban residential real estate in the western and southwestern US.

“We could not be more fortunate to attract someone of George’s caliber to the CityView team,” Sean Burton, chief executive of CityView, said in a statement. “George will be instrumental in strengthening our existing relationships with pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors, and work to significantly broaden this base through his network of contacts and experience. This is an opportune time for George to be joining us as there is increasing interest from institutions looking to invest in the multifamily real estate asset class.”

Before joining CityView, Ochs was most recently chief marketing officer at Western National Group, where he was responsible for marketing and business development services at the Irvine, California-based multifamily real estate firm from February 2015 to August 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.

However, he had spent the bulk of his career at JPMorgan Asset Management, where he was managing director and worked in real estate portfolio management, client relationship management and business development across the US, Europe and the Middle East from May 1995 to September 2014. Before JPMorgan, Ochs was a senior vice president at Prudential Financial, where he managed the redevelopment of the Prudential Center in Boston.

“CityView is one of the most active multifamily developers working in densely populated areas on the West coast, Colorado and Texas,” said Ochs. “They have an uncanny ability to source attractive investment opportunities… I am very excited to join such a successful, dynamic team and be integral to introducing them to a much wider investor base across the US.”

CityView was founded in 2003 by Henry Cisneros, Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Victor Miramontes. In August, the firm closed CityView Western Fund I, an opportunistic vehicle with a focus on western US multifamily assets on $150 million. Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association was the sole investor in the fund.