Robert Ferman Departs Newmark, Forms CRE Investment Firm With Jake Movsovitz

Just over a year after leaving Marcus & Millichap to join Newmark (NMRK)’s private capital markets group, Robert Ferman has teamed up with Jake Movsovitz, formerly of Blackstone (BX), to launch a real estate investment firm focused heavily on the Brooklyn market, Commercial Observer has learned.

Ferman and Movsovitz co-founded Sollevare Group, and the duo has raised $17 million in equity for the new platform so far for acquisition opportunities in select parts of Brooklyn along with some areas of Manhattan. Ferman’s last day at Newmark was Feb. 28 following a nearly 14-month stint that involved facilitating several Brooklyn investment sales.

Movsovitz departed Blackstone in January after helping manage a $2.5 billion real estate fund with more than $300 million of deal volume executed during his time with the private equity giant. 

“Our best friends from high school went to Stanford together, and because we were on very similar paths and share very similar ambitions they introduced us about a year and a half ago,” Ferman told CO. “Our skill sets complement each other extremely well.”

The company’s investment strategy will initially target the multifamily, retail and office sectors.

The Sollevare company name was influenced by Ferman from learning Italian during a college study abroad trip to Florence while a student at Syracuse. He noted the word is Italian for “raise,” which symbolizes the firm’s heavy focus on scaling investments in Brooklyn neighborhoods with Italian roots like Gowanus, Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. 

Ferman said the investment thesis for homing in on particular Brooklyn submarkets stem largely from demographic trends in these neighborhoods, heavily concentrated with millennials who want to raise families in Brooklyn rather than move to the suburbs. He noted that Brooklyn’s brownstone neighborhoods have an undersupply of two- and three-bedroom apartments, which provides an opportunity to find buildings with spacious layouts that can be converted to larger units. 

Movsovitz said Ferman’s ability to source attractive transactions on an off-market basis, coupled with his institutional knowledge gained at Blackstone arms Sollevare Group with a competitive advantage compared to other new sponsors. 

“When we work with investors it feels as though they’re working with groups like a Blackstone or another top-tier institution, whereas oftentimes when investors are investing a new sponsor, it may feel a little bit fast and a little bit loose,” Movsovitz said. “We have extremely high-standard materials in our reporting, and we want to make the process for existing investors and prospective investors feel as high level as possible.”

Sollevare Group, which has a Midtown Manhattan office at 445 Park Avenue, is in the process of developing a consulting arm with plans to eventually build out a full real estate private equity firm. Ferman said the company may also form a lending platform in the future.

The firm is now raising funds on a deal-by-deal basis from some high-net-worth family offices and will eventually aim to raise a fund from institutions, according to Ferman. He said the company is positioned for success in the current market environment with other private equity firms having more difficulty raising funds amid higher-for-longer interest rates 

The young ages of both Ferman, 27, and Movsovitz, 26, will also help distinguish Sollevare from the competition.

“I think our age is an advantage,” Movsovitz said. “We both left very, very good opportunities because of the amount of conviction we have in each other.”

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com