Geoffrey M. Curme, CRE
The persnickety checker and double checker. The straightest of straight shooters.
Partner
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“Maximize present value. It’s the elephant in the room.”
Geoffrey Curme has been active in the real estate lending, equity placement, development, and asset management business since 1974. He started his career with The Bank of New York, servicing Manhattan-based Fortune 1,000 companies and nonprofit organizations, including:
- The New York Public Library
- Metropolitan Opera
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Geoffrey moved to Charlotte in 1979 and worked for commercial real estate firms including Lat Purser and Synco. Between 1984 and 1989, he was managing partner on several acquisitions and redevelopments financed with institutional debt and equity.
In 1989, Geoffrey returned to the banking sector, where he worked for the next 16 years at First Union/Wachovia in commercial real estate lending, loan servicing, asset recovery, and asset management.
He began investing in distressed debt for profit in 2005, when he founded Mount Vernon Asset Management, a Charlotte-based real estate investment, asset management, and asset recovery firm, which he still manages.
Geoffrey, father to four children whose ages range from 17 to 33, loves being a dad. (The oldest two children’s mom died from complications from ALS. Geoffrey remarried and had two more children who, “by their very presence, demonstrated that – as my dad used to say – ‘life goes on.’”)
Outside family time, Geoffrey stays active – personally and in the community. He serves on the board of Community Link and is an active member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, which founded the hospital that became Carolinas Medical Center.
He’s a sports fan from way back, with a particular interest in soccer and tennis. Ask him about his varsity soccer-playing days at UVA.
What has Geoffrey done for clients?
- Acquired, repositioned and sold the distressed EpiCentre in uptown Charlotte
- Put in place – overnight – investment programs for three New York nonprofits. Previously, cash in amounts of up to $5 million sat idle in checking accounts.
- Sourced, negotiated, acquired, financed, placed equity, asset managed, and/or investor reported on numerous real estate value-add investments.
- Put together initial land assemblage for what is now 300 South Tryon Street and two-thirds of what is now Romare Bearden Park, both in uptown Charlotte, NC
- Loan recovery of a $750 million commercial real estate bank portfolio in the aftermath of the Savings & Loan crisis of the 1990s. Recovered $200,000 siphoned off by one of the loan guarantors.
- Established the asset recovery team for real estate capital markets (RECM) business unit at First Union/Wachovia. The establishment of this business unit also enabled the bank to sponsor CMBS large loan securitizations which, in turn, broadened the bank’s income-generating capabilities.
- Asset-managed high-yield commercial real estate loans made to well-established regional developers coast-to-coast.
- Simultaneous to RECM asset management, managed the asset recovery of three CMBS loan portfolios which were secured by failing retail stores: Heilig-Myers, Service Merchandise, and K-Mart. The K-Mart recovery led to the formation of Mount Vernon Asset Management, which (with capital provided by institutional equity) acquired distressed commercial real estate assets from 2007 to 2013.
Professional affiliations
- Counselors of Real Estate 2006-present; Carolinas Chapter Board of Directors, 2010-present incoming Chair, 2018
- Urban Land Institute, Associate Member, 2014-present
- First Union Alumni
Community affiliations
- St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1980-present
- Community Link Board of Directors, 2016-present
- Childress Klein School of Real Estate Advisory Board (Belk College of Business at UNC-Charlotte), 2014-present
Instruction and publications
- Mount Vernon University: provided CMBS loan servicing instruction and coaching for Wachovia CMBS loan servicing personnel, 2005–2008.
Honors and awards
- Top Gun for asset recovery work (Northeast Portfolio), 1993
- Counselors of Real Estate Creative Thinkers Award for EpiCentre, 2015
- Counselors of Real Estate, National Chair’s Award, 2012
Education
- University of Virginia, BA, 1973