Private real estate investment
Calia Capital buys mid-sized apartment communities, 30 to 150 units, that have been under-managed or under-invested, runs them with an ownership-level presence, and holds them for the long term. Since 2022 we have raised more than $11 million of investor equity across nine acquisitions in the Des Moines metro.
The firm
We are a private equity real estate firm with one product: apartment buildings we own, manage, and report on ourselves. We focus on the mid-sized buildings that are too small for institutional buyers and too much work for most private ones, in a market where we have a physical presence and a repeat-buyer reputation.
The plan for each building is specific to that building. The way we run them is the same everywhere.
Seven of our nine acquisitions came through long-standing broker and ownership relationships before they reached the broader market. Repeat transactions in the Des Moines metro have made us a preferred buyer, which is where basis is won and diligence friction is lost.
Targeted unit renovations, exterior work, and expense control, each scoped against what the submarket will pay for. We renovate to the rent the neighborhood supports, not past it, and we fund capital work from reserves and cash flow wherever the numbers allow.
Property managers and contractors work to defined performance metrics and are audited regularly. We hold weekly operating calls, review every invoice, track capital projects to budget, and report to investors quarterly with the same numbers we manage by.
Every investment is underwritten with a projected hold so investors can see the return scenarios, but those timelines are analytical tools, not commitments to sell. Our preference is to hold well-located, durable real estate, refinance to return capital once an asset has earned it, and sell only when market conditions or our investors' interests justify it.
Where we can, we favor assets with more than one way to win: a refinance, a sale, or continued cash flow, so the exit is a choice rather than a deadline.
Portfolio
Calia Capital is the majority general partner and asset manager of each property below. Seven are in the Des Moines metro. One is a legacy Southern California holding from the years before we concentrated in Iowa.
Former hotel redeveloped into 62 apartments in partnership with the City of Urbandale. Named 2026 Multifamily Development of the Year by the Iowa Finance Authority.
Acquired May 2023. Stabilized and still owned, with renovated units throughout.
Former hotel redeveloped into 50 apartments on Douglas Avenue, opened 2025. Every utility included for residents.
Three-story building on 57th Street, walking distance to Merle Hay Mall and on a city bus line. Renovated units throughout.
Acquired 2026 alongside East Park as a two-property portfolio. The largest asset we own.
Acquired 2026 with Trailside. Garden-style apartments in Indianola, south of the metro.
Two three-story brick buildings on SE Belmont Drive in Ankeny, one of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa.
Townhome community in the High Desert. Our remaining Southern California holding, with fixed-rate financing through 2032.
Track record
We measure every asset against its own underwriting. Three examples: a redevelopment done with a city as a partner, a building we still own after returning most of the equity through a refinance, and an investment taken through a full cycle from purchase to sale.
The View on Hickman, Urbandale, Iowa. 62 apartments.
Acquired December 2023 · Opened 2025 · Stabilized 2026
We bought a shuttered hotel that was among the most distressed properties in Urbandale, with a nightclub attached. The City of Urbandale wanted it gone as much as we did, and contributed $1.72 million in forgivable loan and demolition grant funding toward the plan. We demolished the nightclub and took the hotel down to the studs, rebuilding it as 62 apartments, 18 of them reserved at 60% of area median income through 2035.
The building opened in 2025 and is fully stabilized. Against a net basis of $3.5 million, the property is valued at about $5 million and has paid a cash-on-cash return above 9% in recent quarters. The Iowa Finance Authority named it 2026 Multifamily Development of the Year.
| Metric | At acquisition | Current | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartments | 0 (vacant hotel) | 62 | Stabilized |
| Net project basis / value | $3,500,000 | $5,000,000 | +43% |
| City of Urbandale contribution | $1,724,305 forgivable loan and demolition grant | ||
| Cash-on-cash, recent quarters | n/a | 9%+ | |
Urban Heights, Urbandale, Iowa. 36 units.
Acquired May 2023 · Refinanced December 2024 · Still owned
Urban Heights came to us with below-market rents and expenses that reflected years of thin management. We renovated fourteen units, completed exterior upgrades, and tightened the operating budget. Average rent has risen 51% since acquisition and trailing twelve-month net operating income 81%.
In December 2024, nineteen months after closing, we refinanced and returned 55% of investor equity. Investors kept their full ownership and quarterly distributions continued through the refinance.
| Metric | At acquisition | Current | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average rent per unit | $465 | $704 | +51% |
| Net operating income | $80,847 | $146,579 | +81% |
| Purchase price / valuation | $1,370,000 | $2,820,000 | +106% |
The Carlisle Condos, Apple Valley, California. Eight units.
Acquired May 2022 · Sold December 2025 · 3.6-year hold
The business plan called for stabilization within twelve months of acquisition. The property stabilized and began paying investor distributions in month nine. Unit renovations and leasing demand carried rents 47% above the acquisition rent roll and doubled net operating income.
We sold in December 2025, 3.6 years into a seven-year underwritten hold, returning 2.2x invested equity. The investor IRR came in at 26.8% against a pro forma of 16.4%.
| Metric | At acquisition | At sale | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average rent per unit | $991 | $1,460 | +47% |
| Net operating income | $48,239 | $98,800 | +104% |
| Purchase price / sale price | $742,175 | $1,425,000 | +92% |
Principals
Calia is California and Iowa. Garrett runs acquisitions and asset management from Southern California. Louie runs capital markets and financing from Des Moines, where the buildings are. Both of us work directly with investors; there is no layer between the people who own the buildings and the people who fund them.
Managing Partner · Acquisitions, asset management, investor relations
Garrett leads underwriting, deal execution, and the operating oversight of every property in the portfolio. Before moving full-time into multifamily in 2024, he spent ten years in management consulting, where he ran one of his firm's largest and fastest-growing departments and grew its revenue more than 300%.
That background shows up in how Calia runs: written operating cadences with the property managers, audited invoices, and reporting built from the same numbers we manage by.
Lives in Costa Mesa, California, with his wife Sara and their three children.
Managing Partner · Capital markets, financing, investor relations
Louie structures the debt on every Calia acquisition and refinance. He brings more than twelve years in lending, ranked in the top 1% of lenders nationally, and has invested in real estate since 2016 before concentrating on multifamily.
His lender relationships and rate strategy are a large part of why Calia can close relationship-sourced deals quickly and refinance on schedule.
Lives in Iowa with his wife Breanna and their children.
Garrett and Louie met as freshmen at Grand View University in Des Moines in 2010, earned business administration degrees together, and were teammates on the university's national championship football team. They began investing in real estate together in 2018 and formed Calia Capital to concentrate on apartments in the Des Moines metro.
Tax treatment
Apartment ownership is taxed differently from most passive income, and the difference shows up on the K-1 every investor receives each year. Three features matter most. This is a description of how the structure works, not tax advice; your CPA knows your situation.
Each building is depreciated against its own income. On most acquisitions we commission a cost segregation study, which moves part of the purchase price into five, seven, and fifteen-year property. Under the 2025 tax law, 100% bonus depreciation applies to property acquired after January 19, 2025, so much of that reclassified basis is deducted in the first year. The result is a first-year paper loss that typically exceeds the cash distributed.
Quarterly distributions in the early years are typically covered by depreciation, so the cash arrives with little or no current tax. Losses beyond that are passive losses: they carry forward, offset passive income from this or other investments, and are released in full when the property is sold.
Refinance proceeds are borrowed money, not income. Returning equity through a refinance, as Urban Heights did in December 2024, is not a taxable event. At sale, gain is taxed as long-term capital gain and prior depreciation is recaptured at a capped rate, both below ordinary income rates for most investors.
Investors
We put our own capital into every property we sponsor. Our investors are limited partners alongside us in individual property companies, and they receive quarterly distributions as cash flow allows, a written quarterly update on each property, and a K-1 each year. Current investors track everything through the portal.
Our offerings are open to accredited investors only, and each investor's status is verified before funding. New investors request access through the portal, where deal materials are posted as offerings open; one of us follows up directly on every request.
Offerings are made only through the offering documents for a specific property and only to verified accredited investors.
Questions
The questions we are asked most, grouped by who is asking. If yours is not here, email either of us; the addresses are at the bottom of the page.
For prospective and current limited partners.
Each Calia offering is a limited liability company that owns one property, or in some cases two purchased together. You buy membership interests in that company and become a limited partner. Calia Capital is the manager and general partner: we find the deal, arrange the debt, oversee the property manager, report to you, and decide when to refinance or sell within the terms of the operating agreement.
Your ownership is passive and your liability is limited to your investment. You are not on the loan and you are not responsible for the property's obligations.
Accredited investors only, as the SEC defines the term. Our offerings are made under Rule 506(c), which means we verify accreditation through documentation or a third-party letter before you fund. Individuals, trusts, family entities, and self-directed retirement accounts can all invest.
Typically $50,000 per offering. Each offering's documents state its own minimum.
Yes. Garrett and Louie invest personally in every property Calia sponsors. Our capital is at risk alongside yours in each deal.
Quarterly distributions from operating cash flow, as available. In the early months of a renovation or lease-up, distributions may be reduced or paused while the plan is executed; the quarterly update says so plainly when that happens.
On a refinance or sale, proceeds are distributed per the operating agreement: invested capital is returned first, then remaining proceeds are split between investors and the sponsor at the ratio stated in that deal's documents.
Every fee is stated in the offering documents, and there are no others. Our template structure is an acquisition fee paid at closing and a flat annual asset management fee for ongoing oversight. The sponsor's share of cash flow and capital-event proceeds is set out in the operating agreement for each deal.
Each deal is underwritten with a projected hold, usually three to seven years, so investors can see the return scenarios. Our preference is to hold well-run buildings, refinance to return capital when a property has earned it, and sell when the market or our investors' interests justify it. Membership interests are not liquid; plan on the full hold.
Every offering carries its own projections in its offering documents, and we do not publish targets on this site. What we can show is what has happened: the Track record section reports actual results against underwriting. Past performance does not predict future results, and projections are not guaranteed.
A written quarterly update for each property covering financial performance against underwriting, leasing, capital projects, and a dedicated distribution section. An annual K-1 for your tax return. Distribution notices as they are paid. All of it lives in the investor portal alongside the original offering documents.
Yes. Many of our investors use a self-directed IRA or solo 401(k). We work with your custodian on the subscription paperwork. Talk with your tax advisor about unrelated business taxable income, which can apply when a retirement account invests in leveraged real estate.
Request access through the investor portal. Once your account is set up, you can review current and past offering materials, and one of us will follow up directly. When an offering is open: review the offering memorandum, reserve your investment in the portal, sign the subscription documents electronically, and wire funds.
For banks, credit unions, and capital partners reviewing the firm.
A single-purpose limited liability company that owns only that property. Calia Capital, LLC, or a deal-specific manager entity, is the managing member. Garrett Fulbright and Louie Wickett are the principals of the manager and provide personal guaranties where the loan requires them.
Primarily fixed-rate term loans from regional and community banks and credit unions in Iowa and California, with amortization and maturities matched to each property's plan. We refinance when a stabilized property supports it, as at Urban Heights in December 2024, and we choose the structure deal by deal rather than by rule.
Third-party management with ownership-level oversight. Stanbrough Realty manages the Iowa properties; Provest Realty manages Apple Valley Townhomes in California. We hold a weekly operating call with the Iowa manager and a monthly call in California, review every invoice in the monthly owner packet, track capital projects to budget, and close the books on each property monthly against underwriting.
Monthly property financials from the manager's accounting system, annual entity tax returns, current rent rolls and occupancy on request, and the same quarterly investor update our limited partners receive. Covenant reporting follows the loan documents.
Yes. The View on Hickman was redeveloped from a former hotel in partnership with the City of Urbandale, which contributed a forgivable loan and a demolition grant. Eighteen of its 62 apartments are deed-restricted at 60% of area median income through 2035. The Iowa Finance Authority named it 2026 Multifamily Development of the Year.
For owners and brokers with a property to place.
Apartment communities of roughly 30 to 150 units in the Des Moines metro: Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny, Indianola, and the surrounding suburbs. We look for buildings with sound structure that have been under-managed or under-invested, and we take on hotel-to-apartment conversions where a city is a willing partner. Seven of our nine acquisitions came through direct relationships before the property was marketed.
With lender relationships already in place, proof of funds on request, and a short diligence list we have run nine times. We are a repeat buyer in the metro and we would rather be the buyer you call first than the highest bidder in a process.
Garrett Fulbright, Garrett@CaliaCapital.com or 562-972-1680. He underwrites every deal we look at and will give you a straight answer on fit within a few days.
If you live at one of our properties.
Your property management office, not this site. Each property has its own leasing website and resident portal for rent, maintenance requests, and lease questions. In Iowa, Stanbrough Realty is the manager, (515) 334-3345. In Apple Valley, California, Provest Realty manages the community.
Availability changes weekly. Each property's own website lists current openings and links to the online application.