The $65 million Bay Area Smart Growth Fund, one of the funds in the Bay Area Family of Funds, and Pacific Coast Capital Partners, Investment Manager for the Bay Area Smart Growth Fund, have indicated that they are excited to work with the Richmond Joint Venture and provide financing for the projects developed by it.

The Richmond Joint Venture has agreed to partner with Ascend Residential for the scattered site single-family homes that will be built.

The Richmond Joint Venture is one aspect of the RIA Equitable Development Zone initiative to benefit low income/low-wealth residents and create a vibrant mixed-income community with a high quality of life for residents of Richmond. The RIA Equitable Development Zone initiative is also supported by the Ford Foundation.

The Richmond Joint Venture has already begun to assess a variety of development opportunities throughout Richmond and North Richmond, including scattered-site individual housing, multi-unit housing, and mixed-use projects.

Richmond Improvement Association

This Richmond Joint Venture is an expression of the RIA Guiding Principle: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. It's time to do something different."

Established in 1999, the Richmond Improvement Association is a faith-based coalition of 80 congregations across denominational lines that are addressing improvement of economically disadvantaged communities and quality of life issues in Richmond. RIA was founded in the spirit of the Montgomery Improvement Association in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Led by its President, Rev. Andre Shumake, the RIA mission is to be a positive catalyst for the development of areas that are disadvantaged and underprivileged. To accomplish this, RIA has launched the Equitable Development Zone initiative and a set of Performance Partnerships to address the needs of individuals and the community.

The vision for the Equitable Development Zone includes a range of housing types for various income levels – single-family homes, multi-unit dwellings, senior housing, and rental housing – with for-profit and not-for-profit developers, city agencies, and community groups working together in the context of land-use, tax, and zoning policies that ensure equity in the development process.

This vision for Richmond requires leadership, and RIA is collaborating with clergy members, churches, and community allies to generate the power required to move the agenda forward.

Walter L. Ross & Associates

Walter L. Ross utilizes over 25 years of corporate finance, investment banking, acquisitions, and deal structuring experience in guiding Walter L. Ross & Associates.

Walter L. Ross & Associates seeks to:

Realize the full valuation of real estate assets for its clients.

Structure transactions that optimize outcomes for all stakeholders.

Maintain rigorous economic discipline that will ensure the sustainability of ventures.

Develop projects whose success inures to the benefit of the community.

Walter L. Ross & Associates employs capital-driven – not subsidy-driven – feasibility analysis and value creation strategies grounded in standard real estate underwriting criteria. The business model emphasizes the long-term sustainability of the real estate assets, while supporting economic development opportunities, job creation, and social services for community residents.

The firm structured the $25 million purchase of the Marin City Gateway Shopping Center by a joint venture of the Marin City Community Land Corporation and the Bay Area Smart Growth Fund. The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund invested $7.1 million in the deal. In 2008 the community will receive a multi-million payment and become majority owner of the Gateway Shopping Center, while the Bay Area Smart Growth Fund will receive a market rate of return. This deal received the 2003 San Francisco Business Times Best Real Estate Deals of the Year – Best Real Estate Sale or Lease award.

Bay Area Council Joint Venture Project

The Richmond Joint Venture is sponsored by the Bay Area Council Joint Venture Project. The Bay Area Council www.bayareacouncil.org is the regional, business-sponsored, CEO-led public policy organization representing 275 major employers in the Bay Area.

The Bay Area Council is the Co-Founder of the Community Capital Investment Initiative (CCII) and the Bay Area Family of Funds. CCII engages business, community, environmental, and government leaders to collaborate in encouraging private and public financial and non-financial investments in and near priority neighborhoods with high levels of poverty in the Bay Area. The priority neighborhoods are census tracts with income levels that are 80% of the county median, including residential, retail, commercial, and industrial areas.

The Bay Area Council is the Convener of the CCII Business Council, Managing Director of the Bay Area Family of Funds, and Sponsor and Special Limited Member of the Bay Area Smart Growth Fund. The Bay Area Family of Funds has generated $175 million in capital to invest in and near neighborhoods in the Bay Area with high levels of poverty. The Bay Area Family of Funds includes a real estate fund, a community venture fund, and an environmental clean-up fund.

The Bay Area Council has received funding from the Ford Foundation for the Joint Venture Project to encourage joint ventures between for-profit and not-for-profit developers to accomplish double bottom line developments in the CCII priority areas. Sustainable Systems www.ctcluster.com is the Initiative Building Consultant to the Bay Area Council for CCII and the Bay Area Family of Funds and lead consultant for the Joint Venture Project.

Bay Area Smart Growth Fund

The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund is excited to work with the Richmond Joint Venture and provide financing for the projects developed by it. The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund, with $65 million in assets, is one of the three funds in the Bay Area Family of Funds, It was formed to invest in real estate developments including retail, office, commercial, and industrial projects, as well as multi-family and select single-family housing opportunities. Bay Area Smart Growth Fund projects are typically mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented projects in and near priority neighborhoods.

The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund includes explicit social equity criteria to address poverty reduction and smart growth without displacement. Pacific Coast Capital Partners www.pccpllc.com is the Managing Member of the Smart Growth Fund Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). The Bay Area Council serves as a Special Member of the LLC.

Ascend Residential

Ascend Residential Housing, Inc. builds and rehabilitates quality affordable for sate residential housing on scattered sites in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Ascend has developed a solid reputation in the East Bay housing market for affordable single-family homes, and is also known as a quality provider of remodeled housing.