Tyler Kimball.
Tyler Kimball, 31
Director at Axonic Capital
While it’s flown slightly under the radar in recent years, Axonic Capital doesn’t mince words or play games. Its young director, Tyler Kimball, is emblematic of this.
Kimball, who’s been involved in more than $10 billion in transactions in his career, joined Axonic Capital as an associate in early 2016. He went through six rounds of interviews before Axonic Capital brought him on.
The firm targets a broad spectrum of investments, including mezzanine loans, whole loans, B notes, preferred equity investments and a mix of commercial mortgage-backed securities. “It’s a good thing too,” Kimball said about the firm’s low profile. “It allows us to be super flexible.”
Kimball originates or acquires loans, preferred equity, mortgage participations and securities pass-through certificates.
“One day I’m working on a Freddie Mac K-series B piece, and the next, a single asset-single borrower AAA, and the next day, I’m underwriting a six-month rescue capital preferred equity piece on a New York City hotel,” said Kimball, adding that, “we’re a fund, and we own and live with every investment we do.”
One of Kimball’s notable deals involved a control-size subordinate class of the financing on the 152-acre, master-planned multifamily development Parkmerced in San Francisco. Overall, it was a $1.7 billion deal securitized in the MRCD 2019-PARK CMBS deal.
Kimball, a Baltimore native, graduated with a finance degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2013, after spending four years as part of its renowned men’s lacrosse team. He immediately leapt into real estate finance.
He got his professional start in the industry at JLL in June 2013, working under brokerage heavyweights like Dustin Stolly (now at NKF) and Aaron Appel (now at Walker & Dunlop) for a brief period, and cutting his teeth in loan sales and origination. “I don’t think there’s a better place to start,” Kimball said about debt and equity advisory. “It’s hard to mimic the amount and types of deals you see.”
Still, he felt the principal side calling him, which ultimately led him to Axonic Capital.
“We see deals through from sourcing to underwriting to financing,” he said. “ It’s hard to get that exposure at other firms. You really touch the investment here from start to finish.”
