Eli Edwards is a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Equity, US at Fortress Investment Group, based in Menlo Park. Since joining Fortress in 2011, he has focused on opportunistic equity and distressed debt acquisitions across property types and markets throughout the United States.

Prior to joining Fortress, Eli worked in real estate investment banking at Barclays and previously worked at Bank of America on defaulted CMBS loans. He received a B.S. in Economics from Duke University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

INSIGHTS FROM ELI EDWARDS ON MARKET SELECTION AND INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Having the ability to invest across the capital structure creates a different kind of challenge. The opportunity set is broad, so the discipline comes from deciding where the risk is actually worth taking. Eli Edwards has spent years at Fortress making those calls, and one of the clearest lessons from that experience is that distress by itself is not enough.

That distinction has shaped where Fortress has been willing to lean in and where it has stayed away. Eli points to Class B office as an area where cheaper pricing did not outweigh weak long-term fundamentals, while San Francisco multifamily and senior housing presented a different setup. In those cases, the short-term disruption came with enough long-term support to justify building a thesis and putting resources behind it.

In this episode of The Dealmakers’ Edge, Aaron Strauss and Eli Edwards discuss how Fortress identifies real estate markets and investment themes, why some distressed assets become value traps, where Eli sees opportunity in senior housing and multifamily, and how interest rates and growth factor into equity investment decisions.

1:36 - Starting at Bank of America during the Global Financial Crisis

3:46 - Moving from CMBS servicing to real estate investment banking at Barclays

5:03 - Joining Fortress to move from advising companies to making investment decisions

6:17 - How Fortress evolved across debt, equity, and public real estate investing

9:49 - How Fortress structures its real estate equity team around investment theses

10:40 - Why not all real estate distress creates a good investment opportunity

12:03 - Building the San Francisco multifamily thesis after COVID

14:30 - Finding dislocations before the broader market catches on

15:09 - Why Fortress moved into senior housing and built operational expertise

19:12 - Entering the 1031 exchange and DST market

21:26 - Where Fortress sees multifamily opportunity and why it is avoiding the Sunbelt for DSTs

23:26 - How Eli is thinking about interest rates over the next 6 to 12 months

25:14 - Staying clear-headed through the stress of real estate investing

27:30 - Balancing interest rates and growth when choosing the next investment theme

MENTIONED IN DISTRESSED ASSETS, REAL RETURNS: EXPLORING REAL ESTATE RISKS & OPPORTUNITIES WITH ELI EDWARDS OF FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP

Fortress Investment Group | LinkedIn

Eli Edwards on LinkedIn

Enjoy the show? Have a guest in mind? Email us at podcast@aystrauss.com to let us know your feedback and who you want to hear on the next episode.

Connect with Aaron and the A.Y. Strauss team:

• Our website (www.AYStrauss.com)
• Aaron's website bio page (Aaron's bio page)
• Aaron's LinkedIn account (LinkedIn)
• Our Twitter account (@AYStrauss)