Veris Residential CEO Sees Jersey City Demand Driven by Manhattan Spillover
Mahbod Nia, CEO of Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), sat down for a video interview during Nareit's REITweek: 2025 Investor ...
Chief Executive Officer & Director, Veris Residential
Search every verified Mahbod A.c.a. interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Mahbod Nia, CEO of Veris Residential, has described the company’s transformation from a two-thirds office firm to a pure-play multifamily REIT, a process he said involved selling over $2.5 billion of office assets and growing its multifamily portfolio to over 7,000 units. In interviews, Nia stated that the company’s strategy is supported by strong market fundamentals, including job and wage growth, limited new supply in its core Jersey City waterfront market, and a long-term housing shortfall. He noted that Veris Residential has raised guidance, reinstated its dividend, and announced a plan to sell $300–500 million of less strategic assets to further deleverage its balance sheet and fund up to $100 million in share repurchases. Nia has also emphasized the company’s focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, describing them as a lens for decision-making that aligns with shareholder value. He cited examples such as installing smart thermostats with a payback period of under a year, achieving a 50% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions over three years, and partnering with MIT’s Center for Real Estate on decarbonization research. Nia characterized the company’s approach as one that seeks to address climate risks while reducing operating expenses and improving returns.
“This is the 30th anniversary of the company's public IPO which happened in 1994 and I think you know we're really here to celebrate 30 years of the company's existence which is really an accomplishment for any company if you think about all the external shocks and challenges that one faces and evolving trends that one...”
“We are in a fortunate position as a relatively new multifamily company; we have the highest quality properties in the market, we've developed most of them, the best amenitized in growth markets, and there seems to be a lot of demand for them particularly in a post-COVID world where people are still spending one or two...”
“When I joined, we were really an office company; two-thirds of the business was suburban office and there was a reconstitution of the board and then management team and we really shifted the strategy and it turned out to be the right call away from office where we saw negative headwinds to multifamily where we believe...”
“We've gone from really two-thirds office to no office in our multifamily and then as you said, it's really high performing overlaid a best-in-class operating platform using the latest technology including a number of AI solutions we have, the best personnel and they're really extracting a lot of value from those assets...”
Mahbod Nia, CEO of Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), sat down for a video interview during Nareit's REITweek: 2025 Investor ...
Mahbod Nia, CEO of Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), sat down for a video interview at Nareit's REITweek: 2024 Investor ...
EP. 7 | Leadership for Sustainable Real Estate On this episode of Meet the Visionaries, we have the pleasure of interviewing ...
Mahbod Nia, CEO of Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit's REITweek: ...
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