NEW YORK CITY-Wharton Equity Partners, an alternative asset management firm based on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, is taking its New York vision to secondary and tertiary markets, citing less competition for deals and compelling demographic trends. In launching its new multifamily strategy, the company has acquired more than $100 million worth of properties in the Midwest and Southeast, totaling 1,500 units in the northern suburbs of Chicago and in central Florida, GlobeSt.com has learned.

Peter C. Lewis, president of Wharton Equity Partners, tells GlobeSt.com that the company is "extremely bullish" on multifamily housing due to a confluence of factors including pent up demand, lack of new supply and a shift away from home ownership. “Another factor we study is where money is flowing, and we try to be contrarian in a lot of ways,” he says. “Somewhere after the crash in 2009 and having seen cycles, it’s almost predictable to see how capital reacts,” he says. “After a shock like we went through in 2008, it [capital] moves to safety, and in the environment we are in right now with low rates, it moves to current income.”

And as capital continues to chase trophy assets in gateway markets, Wharton, on the other hand, has gone away from the pack, seeking out rental assets in well-situated locations in secondary cities, like Nashville, Minneapolis and Tampa – places with stable population and job growth. “What we have decided to do is focus on these secondary markets, trying to be ahead of the curve, which is really how we’ve run our business over the years," he says. "We strive to be one step ahead from where the herd moves.”