The RMR Group Appoints Summit Walia as Vice President, Head of Residential Acquisitions

The RMR Group has announced the appointment of Summit Walia as Vice President and head of Residential Acquisitions. In this new role, Mr. Walia will lead the execution of RMR Residential’s investment strategy nationwide and will report to Rob Lester, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer, Residential.

Mr. Walia joins RMR with more than 20 years of real estate investment and leadership experience at large institutional asset managers where he has closed more than $5.2 billion in acquisitions, including more than $4.1 billion in acquisitions in the residential sector. Most recently, Mr. Walia was Managing Director, Real Estate Acquisitions for LaSalle Investment Management where he led a team that executed transactions across all asset classes and sourced investments across the risk spectrum in the western United States. Previously, he was Executive Director, Real Estate Acquisitions for JP Morgan Asset Management.

Adam Portnoy, President & Chief Executive Officer, made the following statement:

“We welcome Summit to RMR’s leadership team and look forward to leveraging his experience as we focus on deploying equity capital. We believe his market knowledge and multifamily investment expertise will enhance our ability to successfully execute on residential acquisition opportunities.”

The appointment of Mr. Walia underscores RMR's commitment to residential real estate and its focus on growth through private capital. This strategic hire follows RMR’s 2023 acquisition of a vertically integrated multifamily platform, now known as RMR Residential, which has approximately $5.5 billion of assets under management. RMR Residential is actively seeking opportunities to broaden its investor base, strengthen its competitive position and expand its product and service offerings. In his new role, Mr. Walia will lead RMR Residential’s team of residential investment professionals responsible for sourcing and closing residential acquisitions across the U.S.

Mr. Lester made the following statement:

“As a highly experienced real estate professional with a strong investment acumen, Summit is the ideal person to lead our acquisitions team. He is well known and well respected within the multifamily sector and we are excited to have him join our team and further drive our acquisition efforts as we continue to grow our platform.”

Mr. Walia earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Business and Finance from The University of Texas at Austin. He serves as an Advisory Council Member of The University of Texas Real Estate and Finance Investment Center, as a Gold Member of the Urban Land Institute Multifamily Council and as a Member of the National Multifamily Housing Council.

The RMR Residential acquisitions team includes Michael Palmer, Senior Director, Acquisitions; Brent Josephson, Senior Director, Acquisitions; and Thomas Evans, Director, Acquisitions. Mr. Palmer has more than 10 years of commercial real estate investment and capital markets experience. Most recently, Mr. Palmer has held senior investment roles with RMR Residential. Previously, he also held roles at JLL and Raymond James. Mr. Josephson also has more than 10 years of real estate private equity, debt investment and investment banking experience. Previously, Mr. Josephson held roles at Cottonwood Group, Credit Suisse and ICG Advisors. Mr. Evans has seven years of commercial real estate investment experience. Previously, Mr. Evans was Senior Investment Associate for Hawthorne Residential Partners and Senior Associate for Duff & Phelps.

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