Executive Voice: Marcel Arsenault plans to invest $1 billion in
distressed office buildings this year
Denver Business Journal
March 31, 2025
By Justnya Tomtas
Incessantly curious, determined, stubborn, a perpetual student and a bit of a visionary.
Those are a few phrases Marcel Arsenault — the chairman, CEO and founder of Real Capital
Solutions — uses to describe himself.
Arsenault said he came from humble beginnings. He grew up in a lower-middle class family on a
farm in northern Canada. His father managed a catering company, and his mother took care of
foster children while running a small hotel and a restaurant.
His parents’ hard work instilled values in Arsenault that set the stage for his success in the real
estate world, he said.
Across 40 years, he has purchased and managed more than 395 real estate investments totaling
approximately $5.12 billion. And that work is far from over, as Arsenault plans to invest around
$1 billion into distressed office buildings this year.
“I think it basically told me, subtly, that’s how the world works,” Arsenault, 77, said of his
parents’ drive. “I remember my father going to work when he wasn’t feeling well because he
felt he had to go in and take care of things, and the doctor told him to get back in bed [and]
wouldn’t let him go to work.”
To put himself through school at McGill University in Montreal, Arsenault worked in
construction, taking on work weeks 70 hours long or more during the summer.
Around 50 years ago, he moved to Colorado to get his doctorate degree in molecular biology at
the University of Colorado Boulder. While he was a student, he started Mountain High Yoghurt
and Ice Cream, which Arsenault said was one of the original natural food businesses.
The company went public and was later sold to Beatrice Foods Co. It’s still around today and is
owned by General Mills.
Arsenault, then in his 30s, took his newfound wealth and tried his hand at early retirement. He
set off to Europe, but realized it was too early to call it quits on his career. So he decided to
move back to Colorado and started to invest in real estate.
As a self-proclaimed “real estate theorist who lives in the real world,” Arsenault, who weaves in
quotes from Mark Twain and Thomas Edison when he speaks, said he hit the pavement,
working seven days a week to kick-start his new career.
“It was a big downturn in real estate, and we learned not only how to survive, but how to
thrive,” Arsenault said.
Arsenault accurately predicted the housing market-led recession in 2007-08. He sold 80% of his
portfolio at the market’s peak, similar to the plot of the movie The Big Short. While not
mentioned in the film, Arsenault said he was one of the people who was able to take advantage
of the 2007-08 financial crisis.
“If you want to be successful, you got to know what’s going on, number one, and spend a huge
amount of time reading and writing and thinking about what’s happening and why it’s
happening,” Arsenault said. “And as it turns out, if you study something enough, you become
an expert at it.”
He compares the rough times in real estate to a rodeo. His first ride was getting through the
savings and loans crisis, which was later followed by the housing market crash. He is now
entering his “third rodeo” in the realm of distressed office space.
Real Capital Solutions acquired multiple properties last year. The company purchased two
Denver Tech Center office buildings for $22 million through a joint venture with Koelbel & Co.
and also purchased the 12-story Belleview Towerfor $20 million.
Outside of Colorado, RCS bought a shopping center in North Carolina and an 11-story office
building in Washington, D.C.
The plan for the distressed properties is to provide good management and “a rebooting,”
Arsenault said, by investing money into the buildings so companies are proud to bring their
employees there. It’s a step toward winning what Arsenault called “the leasing wars,” where
landlords work to attract and secure tenants in a “dislocated market.”
“We’ve been prepared for the downturn that’s happening now in office, and we think that will
spread to other real estate categories,” Arsenault said.
Arsenault predicts the industrial and apartment sectors will be hit next.
His analytical approach drives Arsenault to find the reasoning behind why things work, and
more importantly, to determine why things don’t work.
“Most of success is, as a lot of entrepreneurs will tell you, it’s perspiration, not inspiration,”
Arsenault said. “And I think that’s true at my level now. I’m able to apply my theories at a pretty
high level. It turns out that understanding how things work, especially in real estate, which is a
cyclical business, it becomes incredibly important.”
Outside of real estate, Arsenault is the founder and chairman of One Earth Future Foundation, a
nonprofit organization that aims to create an ecosystem enabling small- and medium-sized
enterprises to prosper in conflict-affected settings.
The foundation is focused on enhancing maritime cooperation and bringing attention to global
trends like illegal, underreported and unregulated fishing, which leads to conflict and generates
Somali piracy.
He and his wife, Cynda, also founded the Arsenault Family Foundation and the Secure World
Foundation.
Arsenault’s foundations now have more employees than his real estate business. He and Cynda
both signed The Giving Pledge, dedicating around 99% of their wealth to charitable causes.
As part of his philanthropic work, Arsenault has been working with the American and Chinese
governments to restrict the flow of fentanyl and save lives, he said.
“It’s a way of demonstrating that two countries can take a common problem and work on it
together and help solve it,” Arsenault said.
Pledging money to charity is something Arsenault said is not only an obligation, but also an
honor.
“The world has been very good to us, and we think it’s important to give back,” he said.
While the Arsenaults have a nice home in Boulder and a sailboat, they both drive Priuses.
“My wife and I have always lived frugally,” he said. “One of my policies was to never draw a
salary bigger than my employees.”
Those employees are highly credited with the success Arsenault has been able to amass in the
real estate world. RCS employs around 55 people.
“If you were looking for the single ingredient that has made this company work well, Arsenault
said, “it’s our people.”
About Marcel Arsenault
Title: Chairman, CEO and founder
Company: Real Capital Solutions
Favorite music genre: Arsenault enjoys listening to Judy Collins, Tony Mitchell and Bob Dylan.
He is also a fan of classical music
Hobbies: In his free time, Arsenault enjoys sailing, bicycling and being with friends.
Favorite food: Describing himself as a “a bit of a foodie,” Arsenault enjoys Mexican, French and
German foods, but notes, “If it’s food, I’m afraid I’m very attracted to it.”
Currently reading: Paul Collier’s “Left Behind,” and William Ury’s “Getting to Yes: Negotiating
Agreement Without Giving In.” Arsenault said he enjoys reading books that have been written
by people he knows. Both Collier and Ury are on boards Arsenault oversees.
