Spotlight: Passco Companies, a Multifamily Delaware Statutory Trust Sponsor

The Irvine sponsor has gone from Central California strip retail to a 15,715-unit apartment portfolio, under a founder who took the tenant-in-common structure to the IRS before a DST market existed.

September 4, 2026

Passco Companies sponsors Delaware statutory trust offerings built on Class A apartment communities and manages the properties behind them. According to the firm, Passco has completed $9.0 billion in acquisitions since 1998 and held $4.6 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, across 15,715 units in 16 states, on behalf of more than 9,662 investors.

Founder William O. Passo was the first to present the tenant-in-common concept to the IRS, according to Passco — the structure that let an investor complete a 1031 exchange by buying an undivided interest in a property, and the direct precursor to the DST. Over his career he directed the formation of more than 200 limited liability companies and limited partnerships. Passo died on June 15, 2026, at 84. President Larry Sullivan continues to lead the firm.

From Central California retail to Sunbelt apartments

Passco began in 1998 placing securitized 1031 investments in Central California retail. In 2003 it funded what the firm describes as the largest securitized loan in the industry, on the Puente Hills Mall in Southern California, and sold that asset in 2005 at a return Passco puts at 21% annually. Between 2005 and 2007 it redirected the strategy to multifamily, projecting stronger performance there, and grew past 13,000 units. In 2009 it was awarded the takeover and asset management of 19 multifamily properties worth close to $1 billion. Sullivan, who built the multifamily strategy, has taken Passco from roughly $750 million in assets under management to nearly $4 billion during his tenure, the firm says.

What Passco buys

Passco publishes its acquisition criteria. For multifamily: market-rate and luxury communities with a 200-unit minimum, core, core-plus and near-stabilized profiles, primary, secondary and tertiary markets nationally, plus active seniors housing. Outside apartments it will consider value-add retail up to $10 million in the Western U.S., self-storage and industrial up to $100 million across the contiguous states, and entitlement and development land of 5 to 100 acres in Southern and Central California. Chief Investment Officer Colin Gillis, who directs acquisitions and has bought nearly 17,000 units across 55 transactions in his decade at Passco, describes the current approach as pairing major metros with emerging secondary markets showing population and employment growth.

Distribution and industry roles

Passco offerings reach investors only through broker-dealers and registered investment advisors authorized to sell them. The capital-raising arm is Passco Capital, Inc., a FINRA member since 1998 led by Thomas Jahncke, which the firm says has raised more than $1.8 billion in equity to date. Two senior figures also hold posts at ADISA, the trade association that works on exchange rules: Sullivan was its 2020 president and chairs its Legislative Executive and Regulatory committees, and Chief Legal Officer Thomas Voekler is a past ADISA president and its current general counsel. For the advisor channel Passco publishes a 1031 and DST primer along with a video library of executive interviews and deal breakdowns under the name Passco Exchange.

Acquisitions carried through the first half of 2026. Passco reported more than $300 million in transaction volume in the first quarter, including Preston Ridge, a 340-unit community in Hickory, North Carolina, bought in January for $71.3 million, and a 230-unit building at Tuscan Village in Salem, New Hampshire, rebranded Novella at Tuscan Village and described by the firm as its largest investment to date in the Boston market. A third deal, the 280-unit Allure at Edinburgh in Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded in the first quarter and closed in April.