This Real Estate Investment Group Is Developing Commerical Properties People In Underserved Communities Need

Corporations that already embrace the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of their business activity are setting the standards other companies are using to develop societal and sustainability policies and practices. 

But the rise of ESG and eco- and climate-friendly investment, in many cases, is not bringing immediate impact to those who need to see a sustainable future for their communities. However, some commercial real estate (CRE) investors are setting new standards to do just that.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) recently issued a report concluding that all real estate investment and development has the potential to deliver social impact. The report says that with relatively minor adjustments to strategy, real estate can provide market-rate returns while intentionally delivering social benefits that would not have otherwise occurred to underserved people, communities and locations.

Raymond Jacobs, managing director of Franklin Real Estate Advisors, said in the report, “Because while we all want to make the world a better place, our first and foremost priorities are with our constituents and we have that fiduciary share of delivering the target return, the financial returns that we have set.”

Los Angeles-based real estate development group, Primestor put those words into action, setting the pursuit of revitalizing and positively engaging underserved communities as its mission. 

“We found a lot of industrial sites that have been vacated were leaving behind contamination in the heart of Black or Latino communities,” Primestor Co-Founder and CEO Arturo Sneider told Benzinga. “We did a project in an area in L.A. — Plaza Pacoima — in the San Fernando Valley. It was an old Price Pfister plant that was shut down, and the jobs went with it. We cleaned it up not just for construction, but we also started mandating local hiring.”
Primestor focuses on what it refers to as “intense-use urban markets,” such as South Los Angeles, where resources like fresh food and financial institutions are needed. Sneider, who considers himself a social investment activist, views residents in areas the company develops as stakeholders and partners. 

“We have architectural conversations, design discussions and regular community engagement to determine what types of jobs the facilities need to offer,” he said.
The company has also taken several dilapidated industrial sites, demolished them and turned them into mixed-use properties, continuing to develop and invest despite a lack of available bank funding. Primestor also recently closed on its own investment fund. 

“Most of the mainstream financial markets tend to move away from the markets we serve, which are predominantly underserved. But we have always been highly disciplined,” Sneider said.

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Aerial view of Plaza Pacoima provided by Primestor

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