Patrick Cantlay Takes a Swing at Multifamily Real Estate

Patrick Cantlay is one of the best in his field — professional golf — but he’s decided to take a swing at commercial real estate, too.

The PGA Tour star is teaming with LRE Management as a general partner on its first opportunity fund, The Real Deal exclusively reports. Cantlay will also be part of the real estate investment manager’s first advisory board, which will see some of the company’s top investors meet with the executive team and give their two cents on the business.

The fund’s first investments were a trio of multifamily buildings in Atlanta. LRE spent $102 million on the three properties, which comprise 778 units. Many of the firm’s investments are in the Sun Belt region, though LRE’s Eric Londa describes the firm as “geographically agnostic.”

Londa declined to disclose capital targets for the fund. In its 12 years since inception, LRE has done over $1 billion in transactions and boasts a portfolio of 15 properties across seven states.

Cantlay and Londa first hit it off after meeting through mutual friends and bonding over their shared passion for real estate, particularly their interest in the multifamily sector.

Cantlay’s interest in real estate is rooted in family, he told TRD. When his grandfather moved from Iowa to California, he started stringing together a portfolio of small properties, such as duplexes. Cantlay remembers times he and his grandfather would drive through neighborhoods on scouting trips after a long day at the golf course.

“I can remember being little, and we’d go to the golf course. But then we had to stop off on a particular street 20 minutes away to go fix up a property,” Cantlay said.

“One time we were at a tournament and he just wanted to drive through the neighborhood, see what the neighborhood was about,” Cantlay remembered. “I was ready to go back to the hotel room and get some dinner, [not] go on a scouting trip for 90 minutes.”

His grandfather was a mentor to him, Cantlay said, giving him his first taste of the industry. While he acknowledges that he’s still green in terms of this next venture, he has some experience dabbling in multifamily and student housing investments.

“I want to walk before I start running,” Cantlay said. “ I feel like this partnership gives me the opportunity to develop some experience.”

While LRE has strictly stuck with the multifamily sector since its launch in 2012, Londa said that was more opportunistic than anything. He sees potential expansion into student housing, senior housing, retail and logistics down the line. Londa doesn’t think the firm will ever pivot away from multifamily, however, despite the challenges facing the sector.

“It’s in our DNA. It’s in my background,” Londa said. “And right now, it’s where a lot of capital investment is going.”

Cantlay isn’t abandoning his day job anytime soon. He’s preparing for the Presidents Cup, an international competition where he’ll represent the United States in Montreal at the end of the month.

But he’s spending his free time getting his feet wet at LRE,learning about property assessments and all the factors that go into evaluating potential acquisitions. Londa also plans to deploy Cantlay to help raise capital and meet with investors.

Cantlay, who’s earned tens of millions on the PGA Tour, said LRE will be a “substantial focus” of his, while acknowledging that golf will remain his top priority. When he walks away from the game full-time, however, he sees real estate as a potential second career. Just not yet.

“Hopefully that’s a number of years away,” Cantlay exclaimed.