Fairstead, a national real estate developer focused on the creation and preservation of affordable housing, announced a new equity commitment of $500 million to strategically grow the company’s operations.
The new capital from the firm’s key investors will be used to expand Fairstead’s multifamily housing portfolio and enhance its proptech, sustainability, and community impact programming for its affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing residents across the country, said the firm.
Since 2014, Fairstead has acquired or developed more than $4 billion of multifamilyproperties and is working on an identified pipeline of an additional $2.3 billion in new acquisitions across the country including: Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.
The new equity is expected to help expand Fairstead’s operations and portfolio in those states through both preservation deals and ground-up construction.
“The lack of quality housing is one of the most important issues facing our nation today,” said Fairstead CEO Jeff Goldberg in a statement. “Those of us at the forefront of this crisis recognize that expanding capacity is only part of the solution. We must commit the financial resources to create sustainable housing, invest in proptech solutions to future-proof our industry, and collaborate with our community and government leaders to develop impactful programming that will strengthen our neighborhoods and revitalize our cities.”
Yarger to Head Capital Markets Group
The firm also announced that it has hired Tricia Yarger to head up its capital markets team. She will join Fairstead in November after more than a decade as a director at Citi.
Yarger will manage the firm’s debt and equity relationships while helping outside capital partners direct their investments into Fairstead properties.
In another move, the company announced that it has made an investment in Enviro Power, an energy technology company focused on transforming existing heating infrastructure into an energy platform with its SmartWatt Boiler technology, a boiler that generates on-site electricity at nearly zero cost and provides backup power. In addition to funding this technology and sitting on Enviro Power's board of directors, Fairstead is evaluating the deployment of the systems at select properties throughout its portfolio.
Fairstead has strategic partnerships in proptech, and its portfolio often serves as an incubator for innovative technology that will set a new standard for the affordable housing industry, according to the company.