Former EQR exec Robert Garechana joins Sun Communities as CFO

Dive Brief:

Former Equity Residential Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Robert Garechana has landed at Sun Communities as an executive vice president and CFO, effective Sept. 8. He will replace Fernando Castro-Caratini, who will transition to an advisory role with the REIT.
Garechana was Equity Residential’s CFO and a member of the company’s executive and investment committees from September 2018 to 2025. He moved to the CIO role in 2025. He joined EQR in 2004 and served as treasurer from 2008 to 2018, per the release.
After the AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential merger, the firms announced that AVB would have five of the seven management spots at the combined company, which was later named Vivmark Residential. AVB leaders will have a strong say over capital allocation, while the two EQR executives will lead property operations and legal.

Dive Insight:

Sun Communities owns and operates, or has an interest in, manufactured housing and recreational vehicle communities.

Sun Communities CEO Charles Young said that his firm was confident that Garechana’s two decades of REIT experience would “help drive long-term growth,” according to the release.

“He brings deep finance and capital markets experience that will help advance our strategic priorities, including disciplined capital allocation, operational optimization, and ongoing financial system improvement and investment,” Young said.

On Aug. 17, EQR and AVB closed their massive “merger of equals” after shareholders approved it on Aug. 12.

Benjamin Schall, president and CEO of AvalonBay, is president and CEO and trustee of the combined company. Mark Parrell stepped down as CEO of Equity Residential after 30 years at the company.

“I think most people expected a little bit more balance in a merger of equals,” Haendel St. Juste, managing director and senior REITs analyst for investment bank Mizuho Securities, told Multifamily Dive in emailed comments in June. “But the AVB c-suite has a bit more tenure and experience generally.”

St. Juste added that the executive team could take a different shape down the road. “I’m not sure what the longer-term internal succession plans are beyond this current post-merger slate,” he said.

The combined company’s board of trustees initially consists of seven AvalonBay directors and seven Equity Residential trustees. Steve Sterrett, EQR's lead independent trustee, will serve as chairman of the combined company.

Vivmark Residential has a pro forma equity market capitalization of about $53 billion and an enterprise value of roughly $71 billion, per a July 30 press release. The combined firm will own more than 180,000 rental apartments with another 10,000-plus units under construction. The firm would have ranked No. 1 on the most recent National Multifamily Housing Council list of Top 50 owners.