Daryl Carter is the founder of Avanath Capital Management, a real estate investment firm that is into acquiring multi-family apartment communities across the United States.
As of 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that Carter’s firm owns nearly 9,000 apartments nationwide — both market-rate and affordable. The company’s mission is to acquire old properties and make them nicer and more affordable at the same time.
Since launching Avanath Capital Management, Carter has acquired almost $4 billion worth of properties in 15 states since its establishment in 2008, according to Shoppe Black. He has grown the company to become one of the largest real estate companies owned by a black person, as well as the largest black-owned affordable housing investment firm.
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According to Shoppe Black, “Some of the firm’s acquisitions include a high-rise in New York for $101 million, two properties in California for $132 million, and a recent acquisition in Chicago for $119 million, which is one of the largest deals in the city’s history.”
The Los Angeles Times adds that Avanath’s other Chicago holdings include the 156-unit Scotland Yard in Uptown and the 582-unit Acclaim at Hinsdale Lake in Willowbrook. The firm also owns the 180-unit Country Wood complex in Naperville, and the 59-unit Affinity on North in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, with its holdings totaling more than 1,300 apartments in Illinois.
Carter grew up in Detroit, where his father worked in an auto factory and his mother, a nanny. He grew up loving construction and visited several construction sites to watch their work activities for hours. His parents encouraged him to strive for excellence and pointed to the doctors, business owners, and other wealthier individuals who live in African American communities.
He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied architecture, and continued to MIT, where he obtained a master’s degree in architecture and an MBA. His first job after graduation was at the Continental Bank in Chicago, where he was dispatched to South Florida to do workouts on unsold condominiums, according to the Los Angeles Times.
By 1995, Carter decided to start his own business. He collaborated with a high school friend, Quintin E. Primo III, to start Carter Primo Chesterton, a real estate investment firm which was later renamed as Capri Capital and handles billions of dollars worth of real estate.
In 2007, he launched Avanath, which he named after his daughter, Ava, and son, Nathan. “They are only 17 months apart, so there is this great sibling rivalry,” he said. “She likes to say, ‘My whole name is in the company.’ And he says, ‘Well, I have more letters.’ ”
Today, Avanath has acquired $4 billion worth of properties across the US.
