Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Founder and CEO at A-Rod Corp.
If you didn’t know him through his 22-year stint swinging lumber and flashing leather in Seattle, Dallas and the Bronx, you’ve probably heard his name at some point over the last 18 months associated with the commercial property sector.
Three-time Major League Baseball MVP and 14-time All-Star Alex Rodriguez made his first real estate acquisition in 2003 — a south Florida duplex — about nine years after he made his MLB debut at the tender age of 18 as a kid out of Miami’s Westminster Christian School.
While real estate investment and development was what started his investment career, he’s become much more front-facing about his company’s activities, most notably its real estate activities in New York and his stomping grounds in Miami — not to mention he and his fiancee, global entertainment icon Jennifer Lopez, are currently leading one of a handful of groups who are vying to buy the New York Mets, something most Mets fans would gladly welcome; if successful, they’d be taking over from long-time owners, the Wilpon family, who are the heads of real estate firm Sterling Equities.
Rodriguez’s firm A-Rod Corp. now employs around 500 people, with real estate being a core focus of the company — it has acquired more than 15,000 residential units since inception and it has had a focus on workforce housing — despite the fact it can be found in sports, wellness, media and entertainment, as per its website. His firm has also invested in hospitality company Sonder as well as multimedia messaging company SnapChat, and it has also dabbled in e-sports.
Under the A-Rod Corp. umbrella is Monument Capital Management, his multifamily division, which has purchased more than $700 million worth of residential assets since 2012, as well as Newport Property Construction, a commercial and residential design and development arm — it has been involved in over $1.5 billion and 15 million square feet worth of development activity since it was founded in 2008. A-Rod Corp. is also the lead investor in a C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing platform called Petros PACE Finance, which is based out of Austin, Texas.
Last fall, Rodriguez publicly indicated his intent to tackle Manhattan real estate, hinting that his team was in contract on a multifamily asset in the borough. And although he’s eyeing Manhattan, the pinnacle of New York real estate, he also showcased a bit of interest in development and investment around Concourse Village or Willets Point — the surrounding areas around Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, respectively.
While he may be a few years out from making serious, high-profile splashes in Manhattan, he’s been slowly amassing a collection of investors and partners eager to inject capital into his growing real estate and investment empire — one that might soon include Queens’ cathedral of baseball.—M.B.
