Value-added service makes finance wizard stand out; David Eyzenberg, founder & president, Prodigious Capital Group.

David Eyzenberg, founder and president of Prodigious Capital Group, a New York-based real estate investment banking firm, knew at the early age of nine that he wanted to control his own destiny. Working at his parents' store in Brooklyn, Eyzenberg aspired to forge his own path but he never realized there would be so many pit stops along the way.

Despite his experience working at blue-chip finance firms, Eyzenberg was always an entrepreneur at heart. He believes that entrepreneurial spirit runs in his family. "My family came to the United States 26 years ago with a will to succeed and little else," Eyzenberg said. His parents eventually bought a butcher shop in Brooklyn where Eyzenberg worked for ten years. "I learned early on that running your own business may be more difficult, but is infinitely more rewarding than working for someone else," explains Eyzenberg.

At the age of 19, Eyzenberg began his real estate career at Sopher Realty. Two years later, while earning his bachelor's degree and later his master's degree in real estate finance at NYU, he leveraged that experience to start a successful boutique residential brokerage firm specializing in off-campus housing for the school's students. Following his graduation, Eyzenberg went to work at Merrill Lynch where he became the youngest ever senior financial analyst in the real estate planning and transactions group.

Eyzenberg then gained valuable buy-side experience at Ramius Capital Group, an investment management firm specializing in hedge funds and real estate, where he sourced, evaluated and structured more than $1.8 billion of debt/equity transactions.

After Ramius, he spent the next three years working at several boutique investment banking firms focused on raising institutional equity and structured debt for large scale projects nationwide, with a focus on condominium development.

In late summer of 2005, Eyzenberg made his dream of starting his own firm a reality. He immediately set out to distinguish Prodigious Capital. "We are the only company exclusively focused on accessing institutional and private development capital for multifamily projects in the New York tri-state area," explained Eyzenberg.

"Having a very select focus allows us to engineer an optimal capital structure, expeditiously access and engage the appropriate capital providers, and enhance the value of complex transactions. We are extremely efficient because we are constantly replicating the same process." Since its formation, the firm has already been exclusively engaged to raise capital in excess of $300 million for multifamily development projects in and around New York City.

Understanding the importance of a multi-disciplinary team, Eyzenberg assembled an accomplished group of individuals that add value to a transaction beyond just the financial aspects.

Eyzenberg has a unique operating philosophy that he believes differentiates the firm. "Prodigious Capital moves beyond the deal-by-deal mentality of a traditional brokerage firm. I would rather work on a few deals and close each one rather than act as a listing service on a lot of deals and only close a few," Eyzenberg said. "We are not adding much value if all we do is put our logo on a developer's package."

Eyzenberg dismisses the perception that development capital is drying up. "While some capital providers are more skittish about investing money into the multifamily development market, there are still plenty of players seeking to place funds into the sector," said Eyzenberg. "The money is still there but the providers are more selective so broadly shopped or poorly presented deals get less priority or don't get financed at all."

One of Prodigious Capital's primary points of differentiation is their willingness to co-invest capital into every project they take on. "This reinforces our mission to ensure that the interests of our investors and clients are completely aligned with our own," said Eyzenberg. "This practice guarantees that the firm will seek the best deal, not just any deal."

Eyzenberg is an adjunct professor at NYU's Real Estate Institute and belongs to several real estate organizations. He is also a board member of several nonprofit civic organizations including the Shorefront-Y and the UJA-Federation Russian leadership division.