Two multifamily specialists with decades of experience in residential real estate have joined forces to launch Blackfin Real Estate Investors, based in Arlington, Virginia. The new venture will focus exclusively on value-add multifamily assets in East Coast markets from Massachusetts to South Carolina.

Blackfin co-founder Andrew Buchanan spent the past seven years as president of Kettler, while co-founder Doug Root was Greystar Investment Group’s managing director for acquisitions and asset management operations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for the past five years.

Together, they bring more than 30 years of in-depth knowledge and experience in multifamily real estate to Blackfin—Buchanan as managing partner overseeing joint-venture capital, finance and investor relations and Root as managing partner overseeing acquisitions and asset management.

Both cite the appeal of being hands-on with real estate and the ability to be agile in their decision to start Blackfin. “There’s been a lot of consolidation of large corporations in multifamily,” Buchanan said. “The bigger these institutions get, the less nimble and entrepreneurial they tend to be.”

“We’re looking forward to being able to be strategic and opportunity-driven in identifying assets where we see the potential for growth and value-add investments,” added Root. “Doing it for ourselves, and doing it how we want to do it.”

Blackfin’s strategy is to target what its co-founders believe is an unfulfilled demand for Class B rental properties in the wake of an abundant Class A pipeline, and they believe their experiences and background uniquely position them to identify and execute opportunities.

“We come at this from two different perspectives,” Root said, noting his asset management and operations expertise and Buchanan’s strong finance and investor relations background. “We can manage both sides of the value-add equation very well.”

The duo is also looking forward to transforming communities. “It’s really about buying an asset, making it better and making the community a place to be proud of,” Buchanan said.

About Blackfin Real Estate Investors
Blackfin Real Estate Investors LLC is a real estate investment management company distinguished by an experience team with over 30 years of industry experience. Blackfin has an opportunistic approach to finding value for its clients and stakeholders through focused renovations, active asset management and asset repositioning. It is the mission of Blackfin Real Estate Investors to develop a world-class multifamily value-add platform in select markets along the East Coast that generates superior risk-adjusted returns. To learn more about Blackfin, visit http://www.Blackfinrei.com.

About Andrew Buchanan
Andrew Buchanan’s role as a co-founder and a managing partner of Blackfin is to oversee the joint-venture capital, finance and investor relations. Before co-founding Blackfin, he spent 15 years with Kettler, serving as President for the last seven. In that role, he oversaw the acquisition and financing of more than $500MM of apartment value-add acquisitions, as well as over $2 billion in apartment and condominium development.
Prior to joining Kettler, he worked for Carl Freeman Associates, HH Hunt and as a CPA for Ernst and Young and Arthur Andersen. He is a former CPA and a 1990 graduate of The American University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts and Science in accounting.

About Doug Root
Doug Root’s role as co-founder and a managing partner of Blackfin is to oversee acquisitions and asset management. Most recently he was Managing Director with Greystar Investment Group, in charge of the acquisition, disposition, financing and asset management of investments in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. During his tenure at Greystar, he acquired approximately $1.2 billion in multifamily assets.