Mark Kunkel joins Northmarq to lead new investment fund

MINNEAPOLIS (May 23, 2022) – Mark Kunkel, a 20-year expert in commercial real estate fund acquisitions and management, has joined Northmarq to raise and manage the company’s first investment fund. He has worked with a broad array of institutional investors in his career, having spent 14 years at CarVal Investors, a $14 billion global fund manager grown out of Cargill, Inc., investing across four different value-add, opportunistic and debt fund vehicles spanning all property types in the top 30 U.S. markets. More recently, Kunkel has advised a variety of operating partners, owners and developers in finding new sources of institutional debt and equity capital to fund their acquisition and development pipelines. During his career, Kunkel has invested and managed funds in excess of $2.5 billion.

Northmarq’s first fund will target preferred equity and mezzanine loan offerings predominantly in the multifamily and industrial asset classes. “We’re entering the fund management space in response to both market and producer demand and see this fund as complementary to the hundreds of other capital sources we can offer borrowers,” said Jeffrey Weidell, chief executive officer.

“We are excited to have someone with Mark’s background and expertise join us to lead this important new business initiative,” said Travis Krueger, chief operating officer. Kunkel will report to Krueger in this new role.

Kunkel is a University of Minnesota graduate with a degree in Finance and Accounting and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves as founder and co-chair of the ULI Capital Markets Council in Minnesota and has been a ULI National Council member since 2014. He previously served as chair of the NAIOP National Investment Management Forum and the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Association in Minnesota. In addition, Kunkel holds CFA Charterholder and CPA designations.