MacFarlane Partners Adds SVP of Asset Management

SAN FRANCISCO-Thomas Hwang has joined locally based real estate investment manager MacFarlane Partners as senior vice president of asset management. Most recently a vice president in the asset management group of Prudential Real Estate Investors, Hwang is now directing MacFarlane’s asset management activities.MacFarlane has growth over the past year, adding several principals and senior managers, opening a Southern California office, and investing in a number of high-profile urban properties in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. Hwang’s duties will include preparing strategic asset plans, developing property operating budgets, negotiating tenant leases, and reviewing quarterly property valuations. Hwang also will help maintain the firm’s relationships with its joint-venture partners and will oversee the activities of third-party property managers and leasing agents.”Thomas’s background is an ideal fit for MacFarlane Partners, particularly his experience with a wide range of property types and his work with joint-venture partners,” says MacFarlane principal Sylvia Melikian. “In addition to overseeing the asset management of completed properties, Thomas will also evaluate prospective urban investments and track the progress of properties under construction.”At Prudential, Hwang managed $700 million in multifamily, retail, office and industrial assets in the western United States that were part of PRISA, the firm’s $4 billion commingled real estate fund. As part of his duties, he oversaw the financial and strategic performance of both wholly owned assets and joint-venture investments with institutional Japanese partners and regional US developers.MacFarlane Partners invests in two types of high-yielding real estate assets: commercial and residential development/redevelopment projects in underserved urban areas and along transit corridors; and, through a joint venture with Weyerhaeuser Realty Investors, single-family residential development projects in major metropolitan areas. Properties in its urban portfolio include Ladera Center in Los Angeles; Bay Street Emeryville in Emeryville, CA; and The Shops at Columbus Circle, the retail component of the newly developed Time Warner Center in New York City. The firm’s venture with Weyerhaeuser Realty Investors has helped fund the development of some 12,000 single-family homes with an aggregate sales volume of over $3 billion.