Real estate investors, take note: is bullish, and he’s buying. Developing, too.
Lots of investors are buying and developing in this surging market, but few have Arsenault’s renown for anticipating sector swings and capitalizing on them.
The colorful CEO of is projecting a few more good years for real estate, and is responding by growing and broadening his $1.6 billion portfolio.
Arsenault raised thousands of eyebrows in 2006 when, in the midst of a booming real estate market, he sold off more than 80 percent of his firm’s properties.
Sure enough, by late 2007, the recession hit and values plummeted. In 2009, when most investors were still shell-shocked, he resumed buying with his traditional focus on distressed properties.
“I’m a pretty good macro guy,” Arsenault said. “I’ve gotten it right a couple of times.”
His new ventures include apartment development in metro Denver and other U.S. markets; a major initiative to partner with homebuilding companies in Colorado, California and Florida; townhome development in mountain resorts; and a
Arsenault, 67, grew up in Quebec and moved to Boulder in his 20s to study graduate-level molecular biology at the University of Colorado. He found that his aptitude in academics transferred well to real estate investing. In 1984, he created Colorado & Santa Fe Land Co., the predecessor to Real Capital Solutions.
Arsenault still has the trademark ponytail and beard that he’s sported for decades. The hair has whitened over the course of a few real estate cycles.
“His history is legendary,” said Mark Kalkus, CEO of Lamar Companies, a retail real estate investment firm that has partnered with Arsenault on several shopping center acquisitions. “For him to have foreseen the (recession) and be prepared like he was is phenomenal.”
While timing is all-important in Arsenault’s strategy, he acknowledges that luck can play a role as well.
His firm had purchased the land for 280 apartment units in Thornton because it was a good value. Only later did the running adjacent to the property, turning an already attractive investment into a potentially lucrative transit-oriented development.
“Real estate makes geniuses out of idiots and idiots out of geniuses,” Arsenault said. “But if you study the patterns enough, you can see them coming.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
