Turner Impact Capital: Investment Fund with Philanthropic Edge
Solving a social issue may come with the incentive of profit, former partner at Canyon Partners Bobby Turner says. This mantra is also the basis on Turner's company, Turner Impact Capital, which seeks investors to fund blue-collar housing.
Launched back in June, the Turner Multifamily Impact Fund has received investments from Bill Ackman, Citi Community Capital and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The first two acquired properties are a 599-unit apartment complex near Washington, DC, for $58.5M and a 405-unit complex in Florida for $45.7M. Turner's next stop is the sunny Southern California, but his ultimate goal is to manage $1B worth of apartment properties with a total of 10,000 units.
This is not Turner's first philanthropic move, and the idea is hardly groundbreaking. But instead of building new housing, like Related California, Turner's method can be more profitable by focusing on gentrifying neighborhoods and turning them into secure homes, where residents make no more than 80% of the neighborhoods annual income. "You need to harass market forces to create sustainable solutions—and that means making money," he says. [LAT]