Rose Community Capital is taking steps to expand its geographic footprint, with a focus on the West Coast.
The finance firm, acquired as part of Jonathan Rose Cos.’ purchase of Forest City’s affordable housing business in March, recently hired industry veteran Kelly Boyer to serve as West Coast director in Los Angeles.
Boyer and others at Rose plan to expand on Forest City Capital’s 47-year history of providing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans to affordable and mixed-income residential properties. Forest City’s finance business concentrated primarily on deals in the Midwest.
Opening an L.A. office for the newly named Rose Community Capital is part of an overall strategy to increase the firm’s reach and increase its FHA lending volume. It’s a big step for the Rose Cos., which is best known for developing green affordable and mixed-income housing.
“As an FHA lender, we’re looking to finance new construction, rehab, urban infill, mixed-income, and workforce housing,” says Boyer, who recently worked as the FHA/MAP (Multifamily Accelerated Processing) director and FHA chief underwriter at Citi Community Capital.
Her resume also includes serving as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Los Angeles multifamily hub director from 2009 to 2012.
Rose Community Capital is looking to provide loans on what Boyer calls “good real estate. “At the end of the day, you have to ask is the property that’s being financed good real estate. Is it acceptable risk? And, you need to understand that people everywhere need housing—affordable housing, workforce housing, senior housing, luxury housing. We’re looking for projects that represent good real estate and represent a good acceptable risk.”
The firm also anticipates increasing its acquisition activities to build on its current base of real estate assets on the West Coast, which includes affordable and mixed-income, retail, and office buildings.
The purchase of Forest City Realty Trust’s affordable housing business included 48 properties in seven states, totaling nearly 8,500 units. The acquisition brought Rose’s unit count to over 15,000 and expanded its operations to 15 states and the District of Columbia. The deal valued at more than $500 million also included Forest City Capital and Forest City’s property management group.
