Mark Moskowitz and Ameesh Agarwal’s Year-Old Investment Firm UPLAM Wants to Move Fast

Multifamily is the family business for Mark Moskowitz, president and CEO of Argo Real Estate, and Ameesh Agarwal, former president of India-based development firm Bsafal. They grew up accompanying their fathers to project sites, where their young minds became fascinated with every aspect of real estate development.  

Together, Moskowitz and Agarwal are co-founders of University Place Asset Management (UPLAM), a global investment firm headquartered in New York City that officially launched a year ago. 

UPLAM’s focus is on alternative investments in real estate, credit and private equity. The pair had been working together on different deals over the years, hitting about $1 billion in transaction volume since 2023, and decided that 2025 was the right time to rebrand their partnership into a singular firm. 

Agarwal works exclusively with UPLAM, while Moskowitz still works with Argo, the firm his father began in 1952. 

“I was a city kid who grew up on the Upper West Side,” Moskowitz said. “My first exposure to the business was accompanying my father, Henry Moskowitz, on visits to his buildings, where we would check general conditions, tidiness, gauge the superintendent’s work, etc.”

The younger Moskowitz later got involved in managing projects and got exposure to what he described as “the problem-solving nature of the business” via attending meetings with his father. “Henry was known to be an optimistic, out-of-the-box thinker, which certainly helped navigate turbulent markets in 1970s and `80s New York City,” the son said. “I was blessed to start off with a great foundation.”

Agarwal also credits his dad with exposing him to the business and cultivating his passion for it. “Early in my career, I was fortunate to have a long leash thanks to my father,” he said. “He always encouraged me to pursue my ambitions, which gave me the confidence to take risks and the freedom to explore opportunities that ultimately helped shape my career.”

Together they have combined that passion that was cultivated from a young age into successful individual careers. Now they have come together to turn UPLAM into potentially an equally strong success. 

“We bring different skills perspectives to the table,” Moskowitz said. “[UPLAM] represents a great synergy of our respective skills and mindsets.”

Agarwal, the year-old firm’s chief investment officer, and Moskowitz, its president, met in 2018 at the introduction of Rafi Moskowitz, Mark’s nephew and now an associate with UPLAM. 

“I was working with Mark at Argo, and I had a friend who was working with Ameesh,” Rafi Moskowitz said. “Bsafal was building a golf course resort somewhere in India at the time, and my friend had asked if Argo would be interested in investing. Two weeks later, Ameesh and my friend were in the Argo office pitching the golf resort. We didn’t end up investing, but we kept in touch and their relationship just naturally grew from there.” 

Before officially launching UPLAM in January 2025, Agarwal and Moskowitz worked together in 2019 on their first project, 64 University Place, a 28-unit luxury condominium building in Manhattan’s chic Chelsea neighborhood. It was an experience that allowed them to combine their unique skills and perspectives in what would become a wildly successful project. (It also helped inspire the name of the firm the pair would eventually launch together.)

“64 University Place was a big deal because it was so successful. It sold super quickly, even before the marketing materials were available or completed,” Moskowitz said. “It sold out on paper in 10 days. We invested a lot in the design — both in terms of the architecture and the interior design — and it has received awards for its design.”

The building — which features 28 condominium units, with one-bedrooms starting at $1.2 million and a pair of duplex penthouses going for $17 million each in 2022 — was so well received that John Gomes and business partner Fredrik Eklund, a pair of celebrity real estate brokers in their own right, each ended up buying a unit at 64 University Place before sales officially began. The Eklund and Gomes team at Douglas Elliman was hired to sell 64 University Place but were so taken with the building and Agarwal and Moskowitz’s vision for it that they couldn’t pass up the opportunity from both a personal and professional perspective. 

“Ameesh called me one day out of nowhere because Fredrik and I were top brokers, and he interviewed us, and he had me at hello,” Gomes said. “I feel so lucky to have been part of that project.” 

Gomes said he worked more closely with Agarwal on the creative side of things, while Moskowitz was handling more of the business side. When he did see them together, he understood what made them a great team. 

“They have a very complementary relationship,” Gomes said. “Mark is very business-driven, and Ameesh brings this whole layer of creativity. They just really balance one another out.” 

Since launching, University Place Asset Management has done seven deals. That includes $97.5 million in senior construction financing, alongside Axonic Capital, for the Rosewood Residences, a condominium project in Dallas. 

“We refinanced that entire building mid-construction,” Agarwal said. “It was an impending foreclosure. We closed that in 30 days, and the project’s going great. It’s going to be one of the most luxurious condominium developments in Dallas.”

UPLAM also provided a $67.5 million loan to Axonic Capital and Monomoy Property Ventures for the acquisition of a hotel in Atlanta that will be revamped into the Marriott Atlanta, the only such branded hotel in the Georgia capital’s central business district, per reports. 

“They had several institutions who wanted to lend to them, but they wanted someone to close in about 30 days,” Agarwal said. “They wanted certain flexibility with funding mechanics, and we can offer that flexibility.”

The flexibility depends on what sort of leverage lenders want within the capital stack.

“As long as we have the right security interest in terms of guarantees or whatever, we can work around that,” Agarwal said. “If someone says ‘I have certain orders,’ if there are draws that need to be funded every month, but if someone wants an interim draw for an immediate payment, we can make that happen. With technology today, you can fund a draw in four days.”

And, when it comes to the types of assets UPLAM pursues, there’s no line in the sand. 

“We’re industry agnostic,” Moskowitz said. “We’re considering all types of assets — it just has to make sense.”

And one industry that might make sense for the duo in 2026 is data centers.

“We’ve had opportunities just through our network, through our path, through the deals that we’re doing to invest in data centers,” Agarwal said. “And we’ve been actively looking at that, not only in the U.S., but globally. And that’s currently something we might execute in 2026.”

Agarwal and Moskowitz said they would define University Place Asset Management’s first year as a success based on deals and goals met. 

For year two, the executives said UPLAM will focus on continuing to make investments in residential and hospitality markets, while also exploring new avenues, including data centers, and looking at originations from $100 million to $400 million. If interest rates continue to decline, UPLAM will also look harder at more equity deals. There’s nothing at the moment cooking in New York City, but that could change.

“Deals are like bus stops — there will always be more,” Agarwal said. “We are where we want to be. We’re fortunate to be where we are. We did some good projects; and the team is working well together, they are very motivated, and we can always do better. We are well situated for 2026.”

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.