Employees of Maximus Real Estate Partners had missed their second paycheck in five months when company founder and self-styled “lead visionary” Rob Rosania dialed into an emergency staff meeting to tell them the money was coming. 

The audience sat mostly in silence on the 30-minute call as Rosania launched into meandering stories about the real estate bigwigs he was meeting in New York City. 

It was just a matter of weeks before “the deposit” would arrive and payroll would resume, he said, according to a recording of the March 26 meeting obtained by the Standard. All he had to do was close a deal, he said. Two investment groups were interested in partnering with him to redevelop Parkmerced — the sprawling and aging housing complex Maximus had owned for two decades before a $1.5 billion default handed it to a court-appointed receiver last year.

That would mean a bailout for a firm stripped to its bones last year. Maximus handed over operational control of a luxury apartment complex in Tiburon called The Cove after nearly defaulting on its loan obligations last year. Two other East Bay apartment buildings were also sold off. All that remained was a San Leandro parcel entitled for 697 units that never broke ground. 

Without any properties to manage or sell, most employees outside of Rosania’s small circle of confidants have been sitting on their hands with nothing to do, sources say. Some have quit. But more than two dozen accounting, sales, and operations staff have stayed because they believe in their founder.  

“We’re at a moment of conviction,” Rosania said twice on the call. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re making a deal. There’s no doubt in my mind that for certain we are going to build Phase 1.”

The proposed redevelopment of San Francisco’s largest housing complex had long been Maximus’ moon shot. Rosania and his team entitled the construction of more than 5,600 units on the 152-acre site — a multibillion-dollar vision approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2011 that would have tripled the complex’s capacity and added new retail and stops on the Muni M line. 

The potential financial upside is the biggest thing Rosania has left to pitch. Even though Maximus never broke ground on Parkmerced, Rosania was able to refinance debts against the property three times — in 2010, 2014, and 2019 — each time leveraging it deeper and convincing lenders that construction of homes would one day justify every dollar borrowed.

But this time around, the debt has come due, and there appear to be no new lenders–at least not yet. The courts control Parkmerced. Maximus’ website is dark. And research into the claims Rosania made in that March call raises questions about whether the deals he described have any chance of coming to fruition. 

On the call, Rosania chuckled after telling a 10-minute story about how his company found itself with no cash.

“So that doesn’t pay your paycheck tomorrow, unfortunately,” he said. “I’m laughing again. Not at you.” He paused. “But that’s where we are.” 

Near the end of the meeting, YuSun Han, who has been managing director of development at Maximus since 2014, asked, “What do you need from us?” 

Rosania responded: “Prayer.” 

For more than two decades, Rosania built his San Francisco empire the same way he sustained it — finding new investors each time his debts came due and always betting that the promise of what came next was worth more than the weight of everything owed.

Now, with his company no longer controlling any of its revenue-generating properties, his employees unpaid, and the courts in charge of his greatest asset, the question is whether Rosania is finally at the end of his rope.

Rosania cut his teeth in New York real estate before arriving in San Francisco in the mid 2000s. He became a colorful fixture in the city’s real estate scene, going by the nickname “Big Boy,” according to people who have dealt with him over the years.  

A decade ago, he tried to develop the  “Monster in the Mission (opens in new tab),” a market-rate apartment building at 16th and Mission that became a years-long troubled cause: Nearly $42 million spent on land, millions more on consultants, and housing that never got built until Maximus sold the property to developer Crescent Heights in 2021, which donated the land to the city for affordable units. 

Before that sale, Maximus styled itself as “the fastest-growing real estate investment and development company” in the Bay Area. Now it’s struggling to hold onto whatever it has left. 

It’s been more than three months since employees have been paid, and several said Rosania has yet to update the team on the progress of his supposed rescue deals. 

Payroll was previously disrupted for a month in October, just weeks before it was reported that Maximus had restructured its loan at The Cove (opens in new tab) in Tiburon. 

Marin County records show that a Maximus entity still owns the 248-unit community. However, the entity has not updated its filing with the secretary of State in more than three years, which puts it out of compliance with state law and raises questions about who, if anyone, is actively managing the company’s legal obligations. The Cove is being managed and leased by San Diego-based Fairfield Residential, the company confirmed. 

Maximus relinquished its corporate offices at One Maritime Plaza in downtown San Francisco last year, and several key executives have jumped ship. 

Ben Green, who was promoted to chief operating officer two years ago, left last month for a job at Strata Family Office Services, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before him, COO Fred Knapp, and those he hired during his three-year run, left Maximus in 2023 on negative terms with Rosania, sources say, leaving the founder to take more of a hands-on approach. 

Knapp did not respond to requests for comment. 

“Rob said this was all temporary,” said one longtime employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

Until control of Parkmerced and The Cove were seized by other parties, the day-to-day work of operating the portfolio buffered Rosania from tough questions raised by increasingly dire headlines about the company’s standing. But now, it’s been nearly a year, and employees are suffering privately and professionally. 

“I feel stupid for staying,” one said. “But then again, it was a money-making machine back then. We were all getting quarterly bonuses. Our portfolio was growing. I think that’s the reason why some people are still holding on.” 

Most in the San Francisco real estate industry start their anecdotes with a chuckle when asked about Rosania. He is nearly unanimously described as an over-the-top, brash character who enjoys unsubtle luxuries such as haute couture and $500,000 bottles of wine (opens in new tab). He is quick to dominate conversations with references that verge on the biblical. “Why did God make me wait this long?” he repeated twice during the March call in reference to Maximus’ fiscal instability. 

But even those turned off by his personality admire Rosania’s ability to constantly outmaneuver periods of surefire financial ruin. Rosania’s relationships in the industry run deep, from his time in New York real estate in the 1990s and 2000s. Maximus was founded in 2012 as a spinoff from Stellar Management. Rosania said in court (opens in new tab) that he was ousted from Stellar by longtime mentor and partner Laurence Gluck. 

• This group just built affordable housing in SF for half the price and twice as fast 

Gluck, who died in 2024, claimed in court documents (opens in new tab) that Rosania made a deal to refinance Parkmerced without his knowledge. 

That 2010 deal involved selling a majority stake in the property to Fortress Investment Group, which evolved from a private equity startup in 1998 into a $55 billion institutional investor now owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund (opens in new tab). The head of real estate for Fortress at the time was Tony Tufariello. 

When Rosania refinanced Parkmerced a second time, he brought in BlueMountain Capital Management’s Joe McDonnell, among other investors, to replace Fortress, which walked away with $200 million in profit on the appreciated property.

Tufariello and McDonnell now run their own firm, Cirrus Workforce Housing. 

Rosania told employees both men were interested in working with him on Parkmerced again. 

“It’s safe to say they’re both not only incredibly familiar with Parkmerced, but they’ve invested their money before in Parkmerced, long before where we are today,” Rosania said on the conference call.

According to Rosania, Cirrus recently gained control of an equity fund made up of three investors — national trade union the AFL-CIO; the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS); and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) — and was ready to invest hundreds of millions into housing development. 

“As [my lawyer] said, that’s the Holy Trinity,” Rosania said. “If Warren Buffett called tomorrow, you may not be able to do better.” 

Rosania told his employees that McDonnell at Cirrus was pushing him for weeks earlier in the year for a meeting about Parkmerced, but he strategically played hard to get. 

“I gave them the Heisman (opens in new tab),” Rosania said. “On purpose.” 

Eventually, Rosania said, he discussed a deal with McDonnell that would pay off Maximus’ lenders, end the receivership of Parkmerced, and finance the construction of the stalled housing developments.

There was another suitor in addition to Cirrus, Rosania claimed. A Southern California investment firm called Praxis Capital, which repositions distressed apartment properties, wanted to advance a similar deal. 

“We have an opportunity to enter the greatest partnership we could ever hope for,” Rosania told his employees. He added: “I left that meeting [with Cirrus], and I thought to myself, wow, two dates for Saturday night, maybe.” 

A spokesperson for Cirrus said that while the firm manages assets on behalf of pension funds, endowments, and many other institutional investors, it does not manage funds on behalf of the entities referenced by Rosania. 

Bob Dreher, senior vice president of investor relations at Praxis Capital, said the firm is “not pursuing anything” in San Francisco and does not know who Rosania is. 

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A CalSTRS spokesperson said the fund has not made any investment commitment to Cirrus Real Estate Partners. A CalPERS spokesperson said there is no record of an investment with Cirrus in the fund’s latest annual report (opens in new tab)or quarterly update (opens in new tab). The AFL-CIO did not respond to a request for comment. 

Rosania did not respond to requests for comment. 

Many developers holding loans from the late 2010s, like Rosania, were crushed by the pandemic’s impact on real estate values. Some, seeing the writing on the wall, forwent their salaries or laid off staff in anticipation of lean years ahead. Rosania never did. 

Payroll and real estate aren’t his only problems. Rosania and Maximus are also accused in court filings of missing payment deadlines on a January sexual harassment settlement with his former personal assistant, who is asking a court to revive the case for trial. 

Despite everything working against Rosania — barring personal bankruptcy or other legal problems — no one ever really dies in the real estate industry because of a deal gone wrong.

Real estate is heavy with figures that have come back with a second or third act. All it takes is one investor or a crafty clause in a contract to keep the money flowing. 

Donald Trump famously bankrupted his Atlantic City casinos but still earned millions (opens in new tab) by negotiating partial ownership stakes in exchange for cooperation with his lenders. Ousted WeWork founder Adam Neumann just bought an apartment building in San Jose (opens in new tab) even though he defaulted on an office building (opens in new tab) down the street three years ago.  

But real estate finance experts say any next deal at Parkmerced will likely be Rosania’s last shot. There is only so much equity to sell until one is squeezed entirely out of the property.

In fact, according to records at the secretary of State, the ownership entity for Parkmerced is no longer signed by Rosania at all. The two most recent filings show that Mark Karasick, managing director of New York-based 601W Companies, has replaced Rosania as the person signing. 

601W had been an investor in Parkmerced since 2014 (opens in new tab), when it helped bail Rosania out of his first default. In the industry, such a takeover is regarded as a “loan-to-own” — when a lender extends credit to a borrower with the ability to seize the asset for itself. It is not clear if that is what 601W is pursuing at Parkmerced. Karasick did not respond to requests for comment. 

You wouldn’t know it listening to Rosania. On the March call to his employees, he outlined a different vision of the future:

“The day we take over Parkmerced, there will be no leasing. We’re not going to lease a fucking apartment for 90 days, OK? You know why? We’ve got to restore trust with the residents and with the broader community. And that’s going to require a lot of hard work … and that’s going to be different for all of us, because most of us have never done that. … And, you know, candidly, it’s going to involve reestablishing trust, which has clearly been broken with the community at large. Obviously, we have to take responsibility for that.” 

Rosania and everyone on the call sat in silence after he delivered this. 

“Cool. Let’s make it happen,” responded a quiet voice on the line.