Sares Regis Group of Northern California announced that Chief Investment Officer Drew Hudacek and President of Development Dave Hopkins would become the San Mateo-based firm’s co-CEOs, according to a press release shared with Multifamily Dive on Sept. 9.
Hudacek, a 30-year real estate development veteran who joined Sares Regis in 1999, oversees executive management of the firm's operating divisions, according to the release. He also runs capital relationships and land acquisitions for the firm's capital-risk development activities.
Hopkins, who joined Sares Regis in 2007, leads the firm's strategic direction and Regis Homes' development activities, per the release. The nearly three-decade industry veteran also oversees executive management.
Roughly 90% of the firm’s development has been within a 90-minute radius of its office in San Mateo. Despite the strength of the Northern California rental market, financing costs mean “it's still not a no-brainer” to start deals today, Hudacek said.
“The thousands of units that we are entitling, some of those are for our own account, and some of those are for existing landowners, of which we will have a mix of joint venture and probably fee development opportunities,” Hudacek told Multifamily Dive. “But almost all of those units will be a 2027 or 2028 go vertical or later.”
Hudacek said “valuation uncertainty” is still a major hurdle to starting new projects.
With “interest rates having gone up so much in the last few years, and obviously interest rates being very volatile at the moment, it impacts your ability to get both equity and debt for the project the day you kick it off,” Hudacek said. “It also means that what we tend to call the reversion cap rate and the terminal valuation of those assets when you go to either sell them or refinance them in five, seven or 10 years, is very uncertain.”
Long track record
Mark Kroll and Rob Wagner founded Sares Regis in 1993, which is independent from Southern California’s Sares Regis Group.
The firm’s management team also includes Janice Yuen, appointed CFO in 2023, and President of Multifamily Investment Kenneth Gladstein, who has overseen the firm’s acquisition efforts since 2003, per the release.
Sares Regis Group of Northern California and its affiliates, Regis Homes Bay Area and Regis Contractors Bay Area, have developed more than 8 million square feet of commercial properties valued at over $7 billion and have more than 2,800 residential units in the pipeline, per the release.
Sares Regis Group of Northern California has two funds focused on investments that it operates jointly with Sares Regis in Southern California. Once those wind down, it will have an independent multifamily acquisitions business.
While some companies, like Camden Property Trust, have exited California and others have expressed concern about political risk, Hudacek said plenty of investors still want to be in the state.
“I think investors are like a moth to a flame when it comes to California,” Hudacek said. “California has historically been, and I think continues to be, one of the brightest markets anywhere.”
Hudacek said Sares Regis Group of Northern California has long believed in the state and sees a window opening as fewer new properties come online over the next few years.
“Because we operate here all of the time through good markets and bad, we maintain relationships that allow us to do what we think are the best of the best deals, rather than doing commodity deals that maybe others do from afar,” Hudacek said. “That has been part of our strategy, and that has served us very well.”
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