|  |  | Crosland Launches Real Estate FundCharlotte, N.C., Dec. 7, 2007 – Crosland LLC, one of the Southeast’s leading real estate companies, has formed an investment fund with Northwestern Mutual as its partner. The partnership is making an equity commitment that will enable approximately $225 million of land acquisition, and potential land and vertical development totaling about $1.5 billion.
To be deployed in conjunction with Crosland’s corporate capital investments, and focused primarily on land acquisition, the Southeastern Investment Fund is designed to allow Crosland to pursue large-scale, longer-range developments.
“Through the decades, one of Crosland’s competitive advantages has been our private funding,” said Todd Mansfield, chairman and CEO of Crosland. “Historically, this allowed us to invest in communities with an emphasis on long-term value creation over short-term returns. The Southeastern Investment Fund allows us to strengthen this advantage, while also broadening our reach and expanding our development pipeline.”
The fund has the flexibility to be utilized for land acquisition for all types of development, but in particular will seek multi- and mixed-use developments with residential, retail and/or office uses. The fund will also invest with Crosland in vertical development projects that may occur on land purchased by the fund.
Land acquisition will be focused on urban infill redevelopment as well as outlying growth corridors. For example, a project that will benefit from the Southeastern Investment Fund is Crosland's 35-acre, $200+ million South Boulevard transit-oriented development in Charlotte, which will move into construction in 2008. The fund is also looking at land opportunities in Nashville, a market where Crosland has two mixed-use infill projects under development - Terrazzo and Griffin Plaza --in The Gulch, a 55-acre, $400 million urban redevelopment project just inside Nashville's downtown core.
The fund is managed by Jamie Dunn, Crosland’s vice president of investments, and Perry Reader, Florida division president. As the fund’s chief operating officer, Dunn will manage the fund and report to Reader, who has been named the fund’s chief investment officer.
“This fund will facilitate Crosland’s continued growth by allowing earlier-stage land control and capacity for larger-scale projects,” said Dunn. “Our partnership with Northwestern Mutual enables us to get out ahead of the development curve and positions us to more positively impact the communities in which we do business.”
M3 Capital Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Crosland in the formation of the fund. Organizations interested in selling land positions can submit inquiries on the Crosland website at www.crosland.com/investments.
|
| | |