TruAmerica to open New York/New Jersey office, hires acquisitions and fund-management leaders

TruAmerica Multifamily is opening a New York/New Jersey office and has hired two senior leaders to bolster its portfolio management infrastructure and run its Northeast growth, naming Danny DeMarco director of acquisitions and Joe Deliberto managing director of fund management, according to a press release the Los Angeles-based Top 50 owner and investor shared with Multifamily Dive.

DeMarco will lead TruAmerica's acquisitions in the Northeast and establish the office in New York City, which the release describes as a New York/New Jersey office. Deliberto's post is described there as a consolidated position elevating portfolio management functions, and it carries a comprehensive overview of the firm's investment vehicles: their performance, portfolio construction, business plan execution and realization strategy. He reports to the chief operating officer, Mark Enfield.

Enfield said in the release that Deliberto's experience and dedicated focus in the newly consolidated role would strengthen how the firm approaches portfolio construction, capital deployment and performance as it continues to grow. Deliberto arrives from Ashcroft Capital, where he was director of asset management overseeing its Dallas and Orlando portfolios; before that he was senior director of portfolio management at Benedict Canyon Equities, where the release credits him with leading refinancing and disposition efforts across $2.5 billion in multifamily transaction volume. He brings more than 15 years of institutional real estate investment experience to the job, and told Multifamily Dive in emailed comments that being based in Dallas leaves him well positioned to support the firm's longstanding commitment to maintaining a local presence in, or within close reach of, every market where it invests.

DeMarco told Multifamily Dive by email that TruAmerica is continuing to target high-quality multifamily investments in supply-constrained submarkets where attainable housing is needed most, and pointed to its entry into New Jersey earlier this year with the acquisition of The Grove in Somerset as a base for expanding its footprint. The shared copy of the release does not name the markets beyond that.

The two seats split the work between sourcing and reporting: one hunts deals in the Northeast, the other explains how the vehicles holding them are performing. Hiring both at once, alongside a physical Northeast presence, suggests a firm preparing for a wider investor base and a bigger pipeline, though the release supports that reading only in outline. It says the investment vehicles are growing and evolving and that the new leaders were brought on to bolster portfolio management and manage Northeast growth.

What that infrastructure produces is the part a press release cannot settle. The Grove in Somerset gives the New Jersey entry a first data point, and DeMarco's mandate is Northeast acquisitions run from the new office. The firm's stated target, high-quality multifamily in supply-constrained submarkets where attainable housing is needed most, is the standard the next few quarters of closings will be measured against.