Mitchell Sabshon, CEO of Inland Real Estate Investment Corp., joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview during REITWise 2014: NAREIT’s Law, Accounting and Finance Conference held in Boca Raton, Fla.
Sabshon, who was named CEO in August, described some of the changes he has seen in the public, non-listed REIT (PNLR) sector.
“The industry has changed dramatically over the past four to five years. Today it represents a sector of the capital markets that no one could have imagined,” Sabshon said. He noted that the sector has also become a “true incubator” for listed REITs, as well as a source of acquisitions for listed companies.
Sabshon was asked about his plans to reenergize the company in light of the struggles Inland has faced recently in raising capital.
“The marketplace is far more competitive, the competitors are far more aggressive and Inland has to be capital market focused,” he replied.
Sabshon also outlined a number of changes that the REIT is undergoing to boost its performance.
Traditionally Inland has focused on one PNLR at a time, he explained. Now, however, the company will be shifting to a multiple-property, multiple-strategy format.
“In addition to core competencies such as retail and multifamily, we’ll also be moving into the mortgage REIT area, medical office building, self-storage, and a number of other property types and asset types,” Sabshon said.
In addition to its presence in the PNLR sector, Inland also has more than a 60 percent market share in the 1031 Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) business. “We are bringing a great deal more capital into that business,” Sabshon said. He noted that Inland executed in excess of $500 million in transactions in 2013 and is targeting $1 billion in transactions in 2014. “We are on pace for that, so that is clearly a growth business for Inland,” he added.
Inland is also growing its institutional business. Recently the company was awarded a separate account opportunity for single institutional investors that with leverage will exceed $1 billion in retail assets, Sabshon said.
Sabshon was also asked about his experience in training triathlon athletes, and how that impacts his professional life. He responded that the job of a manager is similar to that of a triathlon coach. In both instances, the goal is to “inspire people to reach further than they can (and) provide them with the resources they need to do that… I’ve been thrilled to see the results in both cases,” he said.