The Promote Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode: "From BSDs to DSTs & a Lakewood Lad's SNF Summit"

Date: April 1, 2026
Host: Hiten Samtani (“Bard of CRE”), Will Krasny (institutional insider)
Show Theme: Deep dives into CRE (Commercial Real Estate) deals, key players, and trends, with a mix of insider knowledge, market gossip, and irreverent banter.

Episode Overview

This week, The Promote Podcast delivers an "insider's guide" to three of the CRE world's hottest stories:

• Takeaways from March's PREA institutional real estate conference in Nashville ("March Madness")
• A megadeal in nursing homes: Khuni Herzka’s $1.7B acquisition of the Centers Healthcare portfolio
• The changing of the guard at Camden Property Trust and the broader trend of REITs/private capital shakeups

Along the way, Hiten and Will detail the Darwinian consolidation sweeping CRE, the rise of niche plays and private capital vehicles, and what these shifts mean for both real players and aspiring upstarts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Punch List – CRE News Run-Down ([01:24]-[09:50])

Dubai Distress & GCC Allocators

• Gulf money is everywhere in U.S. CRE, but back home, Dubai's financial engineering is creating shakiness: developer bonds have become distressed, with yields over 1000bps.
  • “The fact that these guys, their bonds are in distress is going to be quite a bit of pressure on that market and obviously we'll see how this plays out…” (Hiten, [03:10])
  • “No one's immune from war... the uncertainty we are sending out from our shores is having ripple effects… globally.” (Will, [03:25])

Apollo's HQ2 Move

• Apollo, the AUM behemoth, is establishing a second HQ in Texas or S. Florida. Most future growth will be there, challenging New York’s primacy.

  • “Maybe it's because they've got all these distressed multi bridge loans and so they just want to be closer to the action in Texas.” (Will, [04:11])
  • “New York does not have a monopoly on talent and we expect most of our future growth will take place in our second hq. Yeah, it's a very deliberate statement…” (Hiten, [03:48])

• Discussion on why these moves are often tax-driven for senior execs (“a little kismet with the IRS”) and the symbolic power play with New York’s policymakers.

Capital Group's Office Buy in LA

• Capital Group, with $3T+ AUM, became its own landlord, buying 333 S. Hope St. (former Brookfield asset).
  • “We knew the best landlord we could possibly have would be ourselves. …this building was so cheaply priced because of the distress, that it just was a no brainer…” (CEO quote via Hiten, [08:11])
  • Shift: Tenant-owners are now stepping in where value is compelling, not just opportunistic investors.

2. Institutional Real Estate’s ‘PREA’ Conference Debrief ([11:30]-[17:36])

Main Takeaways:

• Consolidation Everywhere: Especially tough for ‘vanilla’ multifamily operators; only giants or the hyper-specialized will survive.

  • “You either have to be so vertically integrated ... and then convey that to people… or get bought up.” (Will, [12:51])
  • “You're either getting gobbled up, which is a good scenario, or you're kind of withering away…” (Hiten, [14:03])

• AI Again… But When?: Everyone’s talking about AI, but no one knows when it’ll disrupt white collar jobs or how it fits institutional CRE.

  • “No one knew what they were talking about. No one had done the practice.” (Hiten, [14:43])
  • “At some point people are paying for investment acumen ... AI’s not there yet.” (Will, [15:13])

• Specialization Is Key: The middle is disappearing – you’re either a massive platform or a ‘sharpshooter’ with a defensible niche.

  • “If you're just like vanilla multi manager, it's hard. That's why Bridge got acquired by Apollo.” (Will, [16:19])
  • “You’ve got to be something very specific.” (Will, [16:31])

Global Perspective

• U.S. innovations are watched and copied by global players: “...I come here because I'm based in Europe and I get to see what Europe’s going to be doing in five years.” (Legendary investor, cited by Hiten, [17:46])

3. Big Deal Deep Dive: Khuni Herzka’s $1.7B SNF Portfolio Buy ([19:31]-[29:00])

Deal Overview

• 35-building, $1.7B nursing home (“SNF” - skilled nursing facility) portfolio, NY-based.
• Seller: Daryl Hagler and Kenny Rosenberg (orthodox dealmakers, historic Brooklyn/NYC moguls)
• Buyer: Khuni Herzka, nephew of Meridian’s Ralph Herzka, using deep family/community networks

Why SNFs?

• “Sniffs are money printing machines. ...mostly Medicare and Medicaid funded. ...You're borrowing money from the government against old people, which generally works out just fine.” (Hiten, [20:00])
• Massive leverage via HUD, highly fragmented, under-covered in the press, and tightly held within insular Orthodox networks

The Dark Side

• Litigation is common: wrongful death suits, alleged Medicaid fraud, headline/reputational risk are high

  • “If you own nursing homes, there isn’t a player that’s been spared the political heat…” (Hiten, [24:12])

• OPCO/PROPCO Play: Financial engineering by separating building (“Propco”) from operations (“Opco”), maximizing leverage and minimizing liability if things go south. (Will, [23:52])

Sociology Insight

• “...being part of an insular community in which you mostly care about how that small group thinks about you is ideal for a space like this. ...it allows you to have these blinders on.” (Hiten, [22:48])

Broker Drama

• Top SNF deal brokers (Ari Adlerstein, Josh Simpson) were fired just as their bonuses were due, leading to arbitration over the deal’s huge commission pot. (Hiten, [26:09])
• “That’s the kind of chatter: who gets paid – Uncle Ralph or the lieutenants?” (Hiten, [26:09])

Why Institutions Opt Out

• Political and reputational risk keep Blackstones and Brookfields on the sidelines (Hiten, [27:54])
• “This is one of the few areas where a single guy or family can put together an empire that's institutional in scale...” (Will, [28:19])

4. REITs and the Rise of Private Capital Juggernauts ([29:30]-[36:44])

Live News: BGO Buys Bell Partners (Multifamily)

• Symbolizes endgame for mid-size multifamily REITs: “...big, but maybe not big enough to compete in this new reality.” (Hiten, [30:19])

Camden Property Trust CEO Transition

• Rick Campo steps down; end of an era for founder-CEOs who built public REITs from scratch.
  • “Rick Campo was the last, I think, of the founder CEOs in the public REITs space.” (Will, [31:00])
  • “The big swinging dicks in real estate used to be these local guys who could gobble up assets in their local markets.” (Will, [31:09])
• Now, control is with private equity – debt cost of capital dominates, legacy operators can’t keep up.
  • “Owning these assets on your balance sheet is really tricky. Having a fee stream from other people's capital is a much... better business.” (Will, [33:07])

5. DSTs, 1031s, and the Spread of Retail Investor Vehicles ([34:28]-[36:44])

• Blackstone, Nuveen, Fortress all roll out DST (Delaware Statutory Trust) vehicles to “AUM gobble” dentist/doctor/retail dollars after a property sale.
  • “Their money's locked up for two years. At the end of that period, Birit has the right, but not the obligation, to uproot these properties into the fund in exchange for op units. The perfect AUM gubbling vehicle for our age.” (Hiten, [34:43])
  • “They're taking the random millionaire dollars into their hedge fund and they're going to take the random dentist dollars in their DST.” (Will, [35:00])
  • Distribution channels evolving—targeting investment sales brokers and transitioning NY multifamily owners into DSTs out of frustration/need for simplicity.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Part of all of this is that people move to Miami... really for the senior guys to have a little kismet with the IRS...” (Will, [05:08])
• “Modeling out the debt tab was really, really annoying. ...My spreadsheets were beautiful. But at what cost?” (Will, [10:11])
• “No one knew what they were talking about. No one had done the [AI] practice.” (Hiten, [14:43])
• “You're either getting gobbled up, which is a good scenario, or you're kind of withering away, which is the more scary scenario...” (Hiten, [14:03])
• “If you own nursing homes, there isn’t a player that’s been spared the political heat.” (Hiten, [24:12])
• “If you're Blackstone ...and you're taking retiree money and then you're going to be in these headlines for Tish James is right over you kind of crusading. It's not easy.” (Hiten, [27:54])
• “...a single guy or a family can put together an empire that’s institutional in scale and size... which you used to be able to do ...in multi or office or industrial and you really can't anymore.” (Will, [28:19])
• “The job now is don't do anything that stupid—and eventually get bought.” (Will, [33:40])
• “...1031, at 10:31am they announced DST, a Delaware statutory trust. Get some help.” (Hiten, [34:43])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Hot News/Punch List: [01:24]-[09:50]
• PREA Conference Recap: [11:30]-[17:36]
• SNF Megadeal Deep Dive: [19:31]-[29:00]
• Live: BGO Buys Bell Partners/REIT shakeup: [29:30]-[33:29]
• DSTs, 1031s, retail capital moves: [34:28]-[36:44]

Tone & Style

• Witty, sharp, irreverent—full of inside jokes (“BDs,” “ass in the sand”)
• No-BS, smart, slightly gossipy—balancing hard CRE intelligence with banter and war stories
• Institutional expertise with an underground flavor—shining light on shadow deals, niche tactics, and personalities seldom highlighted in the mainstream press

Takeaway

If you missed this episode, you're missing the pulse of CRE’s evolution: adaptation, “AUM gobbling,” and the moves that separate the survivors from the also-rans. The Promote Podcast continues to be THE pod that tells you not just what happened, but how and why it matters, straight from the belly of the beast.