Above: Olde Oak is an apartment community in Saraland, Ala., brokered by Berkadia. (contributed)

David Wilson – Berkadia

Position: Senior advisorRegion: North Alabama

Education: University of Southern Mississippi, Real Estate & Insurance; Received broker’s license in 2006

Background: Though Wilson grew up on Dallas, many of his relatives on his mother’s side were from Hattiesburg, Miss. The lure of family and being able to hunt and fish on the family’s south Mississippi land while going to school, drew him to Golden Eagle country.

After graduating, Wilson moved back to Dallas where he worked for one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage companies, but a shift to the commercial side led him to Huntsville.

“I got into the commercial appraisal business and moved to Huntsville about five years later in ’94 to start my own company, and I didn’t know a soul,” Wilson said. “I had a connection through a relative of a relative. I did general commercial appraisal work. I developed a niche in the apartment world as I started compiling information and doing a research report for the Huntsville market in ’95 and ’96.”

“For a long time, I wore both hats in maintaining my appraisal business as well as doing these market surveys,” Wilson said.

Wilson had known Berkadia’s Alabama broker for some time, but it was an encounter over a year ago that ignited the partnership they have enjoyed for the past 12 months. Wilson officially started at Berkadia last December and has since shuttered the appraisal business that launched his career in Alabama.

To learn more about ACRE’s upcoming Alabama Commercial Real Estate Conference & Expo in January, click here. 

When we caught up with Wilson, we asked him to talk about changes in the multifamily market over the past two decades, urban development, and what we can expect to see in the near future in Alabama when it comes to apartments.

ACRE: How has the multifamily industry changed since you entered the market 20 years ago?

Wilson:  I think the aggressiveness with the market and the amount of capital out there looking for product seems to be more acute now and more robust. It could be that I’m just more aware of it now than I was, but it’s an extremely aggressive market right now, with buyers clamoring over deals and trying to get money out. It seems like the flow of money has increased, and there’s a lot of investment from outside the United States in the apartment sector, which I suspect has grown significantly over the past 20 years.

ACRE: What can we expect over the next 12 months in Alabama in the multifamily market?

Wilson:  I would say the majority of the Alabama markets are reasonably healthy or healthy now, and there are some significant development pipelines in our markets. There is definitely increased interest in developing urban properties and mid-rise urban elevator product in the core areas of our cities. That’s a definite shift from the traditional suburban garden-style property that dominated development cycles over the last 20 years.

ACRE: Why are developers looking to build in the urban core?

Wilson: There’s definitely demand now for people moving back into the city center. Developers are stepping up to match that with supply. Most of those are being very well received. There’s a shift going on with the renter profile with these urban infill properties and other higher-end Class A luxury properties. There seems to be a larger percent of the renter profile who are empty nesters and older residents, very high-income residents, and in my research, a lot of the resident base is very affluent.

ACRE: Southern Miss football came up a little short recently after a nine-win season, so who are you pulling for now in the college football playoffs?

Wilson:  Roll Tide, baby. I’ve been a Tide fan since we moved here. I’m one of those strange persons who also pulls for Auburn, since I didn’t have an allegiance. I’m definitely a Tide fan. My daughter is a freshman at Alabama now, so I’m even more of a fan now.

This is one feature in a series of profiles on members of the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s Leadership Council. To find out more about ACRE’s Leadership Council, click here.