Jerome L. "Jerry" Rappaport Jr., a longtime prominent player on the Boston real estate investment stage, has joined with Chestnut Hill Realty CEO Ed Zuker and his son, Robert Zuker, to found CHR Investors, an affiliate of Chestnut Hill Realty that will focus on real estate investment primarily in New England’s multifamily housing sector.
Rappaport will serve as managing director of CHR Investors. Chestnut Hill Realty develops, owns and operates apartment communities.
For the past two years, Rappaport has been consulting with Chestnut Hill Realty to help develop a strategic plan and research various capitalization options to continue sustainable growth, the principals said. He also has assisted the development group at Chestnut Hill Realty, which has completed more than $40 million in development and redevelopment projects, with another $100 million planned.
As managing director of CHR Investors, Rappaport will work with the Chestnut Hill Realty acquisitions team to identify strategic growth opportunities and pursue off-market investment targets.
"What a coup for Chestnut Hill Realty to get Jerry," David Begelfer, CEO of the Massachusetts chapter of NAIOP, said in a statement. "He has a proven investment acumen and one of the widest networks of real estate and financial professionals in the business."
Rappaport co-founded New Boston Fund in 1992and created eight real estate equity funds that raised more than $1 billion in discretionary equity. New Boston used this equity to build and acquire $4 billion worth of assets comprising 20 million square feet of commercial property and more than 7,000 housing units.
"I have been an owner, investor, developer and keen observer of the multifamily real estate market for over 30 years, and believe this is one of the best times to invest in the apartment sector," Rappaport said in a statement. "I’m thrilled to be pursuing opportunities in the New England multifamily market with a quality company like Chestnut Hill Realty, which not only has the experience, infrastructure and clout to make things happen, but also the family values and community orientation that imbue the culture and set the company apart from its competitors."
Rappaport began his real estate career in the early 1980s as director of development at Halcyon Ltd. in Hartford, Conn. He managed a number of economic development projects, including the redevelopment of Hartford’s Union Station. During this time, he also served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Urban Development Action Grant program. In 1989, he joined Charles River Properties in Boston as senior vice president for acquisitions and finance, where he oversaw the purchase of more than 500 apartment units in Texas.
Rappaport, who has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Harvard University, is a long-term visiting lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government and a founding member of the International Advisory Board of the Harvard Real Estate Academic Initiative. He is also a founding co-chairman of the Commonwealth Housing Taskforce and past president of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.
"The Zuker and Rappaport families have been working together for more than four decades," Ed Zuker said in a statement. "I look forward to collaborating with Jerry and know that Chestnut Hill Realty will benefit greatly from his expertise in the multifamily real estate arena and his passion for community investment."
