Real Estate Veterans Merge Companies to Form Centre Urban Real Estate Partners

LOS ANGELES, CA — FEBRUARY 5, 2019 — Real estate veterans Eugene Page and Geoffrey Payne have merged their respective companies, Optimal Real Estate, Inc. and Tahiti Partners Properties Corporation, to establish Centre Urban Real Estate Partners, a full-service commercial real estate investment and development group, focusing on innovative place-making in the residential, multifamily, and commercial mixed-use asset classes, with a secondary focus on select hospitality investments. Newcomer Martin Nguyen, a graduate of the Dollinger Master of Real Estate Development program at the University of Southern California and RealtyMogul.com alum, has also joined the firm as a principal.

Page has over 35 years of real estate experience and holds broad expertise in strategy consulting, marketing, workouts, re-positioning, and brokerage. Prior to founding Optimal Real Estate, Page was previously a senior managing director at the Charles Dunn Company, opening the Company’s North Orange County office. Prior, he co-led the worldwide Organizational Strategy practice for Jones Lang LaSalle and directed Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC)’ Corporate Real Estate Consulting Service where, most notably, he was a member of the team that represented the creditor during the Rockefeller Center bankruptcy ​in the 1990s. Earlier in his career, he was a principal at Knight Frank Faulkner and was with Cushman & Wakefield. Page received his MBA from the University of Southern California. 

As a lawyer, contractor, accountant, and developer, Payne has been acquiring, developing and managing projects for over 40 years. He founded Tahiti Partners Properties Corporation in 1999 and oversaw the development of over 100 high-end homes in addition to commercial, multifamily, and residential projects throughout the western United States. Prior, Payne practiced law at several firms including Century City-based Cox, Castle & Nicholson, where he focused on land-use and entitlement while representing a number of high-profile real estate clients. He received his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School. Prior to practicing law, Payne worked at Hughes Aircraft as a controller for US government defense programs. 

Nguyen has accumulated over $2.5 billion worth of finance and underwriting experience through his professional career. He was previously at RealtyMogul.com, in their Los Angeles and New York City offices, where he underwrote national assets ranging from traditional multifamily and commercial properties to specialized asset classes such as hospitality, student housing, and self-storage. Nguyen has covered a number of structured finance products, including joint venture equity, preferred equity, mezzanine debt, and variations of senior debt. While at USC, he was recognized with Honors for Outstanding Performance in both Finance and Design for his Comprehensive Exam and is one of the youngest-ever graduates of the distinguished MRED program. 

The merger combines a successful investing track record with established service experience to form a true full-service real estate investment platform. Focusing on innovative investment and development strategies, Centre Urban’s principals take decades of institutional experience and pairs it with an entrepreneurial mindset to further the on-going evolution of Los Angeles’s urban fabric. “By emphasizing placemaking, architectural sophistication, and functionality Centre Urban will maximize enjoyment, use, and livability at all of our projects” Page said. Centre Urban and its legacy companies completed over $500 million in full-cycle transaction value and its principals have over 80 years of combined real estate experience.

Centre Urban primarily takes an opportunistic investment approach, concentrating on non-traditional and unorthodox properties where value can be maximized through innovative thinking. Investment strategies include entitlement joint-ventures with existing landowners, development of micro-units, co-living, or co-working space, value-add/adaptive reuse of existing structures, and general transit-oriented development. In addition to investment and development, Centre Urban will continue to offer ancillary real estate brokerage and advisory services.

Centre Urban is targeting new investment and client opportunities valued upwards of $5 million located in urban Southern California. Centre Urban continues to raise capital from high-net worth individuals, family offices, and various institutional partners.

For more information:

Centre Urban Marketing
(213) 265-7505
info@centre-urban.com