Dean Varner is the Founder and President of Primus Multifamily, bringing more than three decades of experience creating value across multiple asset types and market cycles. A disciplined investor and strategic operator, he has consistently delivered above-market returns for clients and partners through focused acquisition strategies and hands-on asset oversight.

Dean leads the firm’s operations and investment activities across Southeastern markets. His approach combines rigorous investment analysis, valuation discipline, and structured execution of value-add business plans designed to increase cash flow and maximize long-term returns.
Investments he has led or co-led have generated market leading returns through 30 years of economic cycles.

Dean founded Primus Multifamily in 2025 to provide institutional-quality management services to other owners and to continue to lead equity investments in multifamily assets. He previously co-founded Varner Wakefield Equity Partners in 2014 to formalize and scale the management platform he originally formed in 2003.

Dean also founded Varner Commercial Property Consultants in 1996, pioneering cell tower site acquisition, development, and management for national wireless providers and laying the groundwork for future vertically integrated management platforms. Early in his career, at Colliers International, he led turnaround efforts for a 600,000 sf distressed retail and office portfolio, dramatically increasing occupancies and values.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in 1989.