Real Estate Firm Focuses on Distressed Property

MULTIFAMILY: Vintage Prefers Small Apartment Buildings in Good Neighborhoods

By Ray Huard

October 9, 2025

ENCINITAS – Two friends with backgrounds in commercial real estate have given up careers as executives in a large investment firm to form their own boutique property company – Vintage Real Estate Partners.

Coleman Cox and Alex Pascale met while they worked for RedHill Realty Investors in San Diego.

Cox was CFO and executive managing director for portfolio management at RedHill and Pascale was managing director of RedHill’s Investment Group.

At RedHill, the duo work on apartment building acquisitions and sales throughout the West totaling about $1 billion and oversaw a portfolio of about 4,000 units, according to Cox.
“We were investing in $50-million-plus apartment buildings across the U.S.” Cox said.
In their new role, Cox and Pascale focus on acquiring small apartment buildings and renovating them.

The Plan: Renovate and Hold for the Long-Term

“Our background was very different from what we’re doing now,” Cox said. “These are generally heavy value-add apartment projects where we are taking some of the most dilapidated buildings in great areas of San Diego and renovating the properties down to the studs.”

As Vintage Real Estate Partners, “We plan to own and hold these properties for long periods of time, so we don’t cut corners,” Cox said, adding new plumbing lines, sewer lines, electrical wiring, roof, windows, flooring, cabinets, countertops and appliances.

“We’re trying to buy from mom-and-pop owners with mom-and-pop brokers,” Cox said.
The name of the firm, Vintage Real Estate Partners, reflects the company’s investments in older buildings, Pascale said.

“We have this really tacky tagline, Like a Fine Vintage Wine, Our Investments Get Better in Time,” Pascale said. “We are long-term investors. That’s kind of what we’re pointing to in the tagline.”

Focusing on Two Sun Belt Regions

Unlike their previous employer, Cox said that he and Pascale will confine their company’s work to San Diego County and Phoenix – San Diego because it’s a market they know and the city where they grew up and Phoenix because they have relatives there.

Pascale is a Cathedral Catholic High School graduate and Cox is a graduate of Point Loma High School.

“San Diego has a pretty good track record in rent growth and value appreciation,” Cox said. “That’s a dynamic of San Diego we really like and want to continue to invest in.”

Their first project was a North Park building at 3104 Meade Ave.

“North Park attracts a certain kind of person who wants to be in a walkable neighborhood, maybe a little bit of a hipster,” Cox said. “North Park very much has that trendy, hipster kind of vibe.”

The company is also working on an apartment project in Vista.

“The condition of both these properties was kind of like the old adage, ‘the worst property on a good street,’” Pascale said. “The buildings themselves were in tough condition. There was a lot of deferred maintenance that needed to be done.”

Starting out, Pascale said that they hope to close three to five deals a year.

“We’re in the first inning of starting this business,” Pascale said. “We need to grow it over the next 10 years.”

Vintage Real Estate Partners
FOUNDED: 2023
Co-founders: Coleman Cox and Alex Pascale
Headquarters: Encinitas
Business: Real estate investment
Employees: 2
Contact: 619-886-3225
Website: vintagerep.com
Notable: Vintage Real Estate Partners was founded by two friends with a background in commercial real estate

Ray Huard

https://www.sdbj.com/real-estate/real-estate-firm-focuses-on-distressed-property/