San Antonio Business Journal – by Tricia Lynn Silva
Brothers Rami and Jeff Kotel are out to spread the good news about San Antonio. And to infuse some more capital into the city’s real estate market. Jeff and Rami are the founders of Kotel Investments Inc. – an investment firm that is dually headquartered in San Antonio and Woodland Hills, Calif. To date, the brothers own about 300,000 square feet of industrial space, both here and in the city of Austin, says Rami Kotel. And they are looking for more. It is the role of Kotel Investments to bring investors – primarily California-based entities – to the deal-making table. Each property in the Kotel portfolio is owned via a joint venture that includes the Kotel brothers.
The challenge right now is finding investment-grade properties in the Alamo and Capital cities, because current owners of those properties don’t want to let go of them absent a premium price. “It’s slim pickings,” says Rami Kotel. Owners are holding fast to their asking prices, which has resulted in a standstill between potential buyers and sellers. “We are searching for investments,” adds Jeff Kotel. “we have to really, really search hard.”
But the work, the brothers say, is worth it – to have a stake in well-performing cities like San Antonio. “Everywhere else, the market is going against (rela estate investors), Rami Kotel says. “People are moving to Texas, and San Antonio especially, from every other state.”
Destination: S.A.
The bullish outlook that the Kotels have for San Antonio is a trait that runs in their family – including in their uncle, local developer Efraim Abramoff. It is Abramoff who convinced Jeff and Rami that San Antonio is a good market in which to invest. Abramoff is the president of development/investment firm Ariel Texas Star Inc. Adds Rami Kotel: “We took his advice, and we have been focusing on San Antonio ever since.”
In fact the brothers continue to work with their uncle on some local projects – including retail center the Shops at Churchill Estates. The owner of the retail center is EA Partners, an entity that includes Jeff and Rami Kotel and Abramoff. To date, teh Shops at Churchill is 80 percent leased. That figure includes a trio of new leases that were recently signed for tenants Lizzy’s Gift & Bridal, home-decor buisness Gracious Living; and Blend, a new arrian in San Antonio that specializes in smoothies and nutritional supplements. Rami Kotel expects that the Shops will be 100-percent leased by this summer.
The challenge is creating the right tenant mix.
Adds Rami: “We’re not looking at the next 12 months, we’re looking three to five years into the future.”
In the meantime, the brothers will continue to spread the word about two of the strongest cities on the real estate landscape today.
Says Rami Kotel: “Our job is to bring investors (from California) to San Antonio and Austin.”