In a neighborhood known more for being the regional epicenter of the opioid crisis in Philly, the Kensington Corridor Trust formed less than five years ago, and is already up and running with multiple properties in its portfolio, commercial tenants in place and thriving, and its first new construction projects in the works. That’s a lot for a real estate entity designed to ultimately give power to the existing residents of the neighborhood over the development of its main commercial corridor. What have been some of the keys to success so far? How has the trust raised capital for acquisition and what is its ultimate vision to become a self-sustaining, community-controlled real estate entity? In this conversation, executive director Adriana Abizadeh will give participants a brief history of the Kensington Corridor Trust, an update on its current status, and talk through both its capital raising strategy so far and the model it has worked out to eventually be a self-sustaining entit
Watch Senior Economic Justice Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello in conversation with Angela Dowell, Chief Financial Officer at Chicago Community Loan Fund — the latest in Next City’s Bottom Line Conversations webinar series. In our last edition of Bottom Line Conversations, we talked about how the landscape for community-controlled real estate has changed (or not changed). One theme that emerged was the tension of perceived versus actual risk. For a project that is community-owned, or perhaps more broadly a project where the developer or sponsor is something or someone who doesn’t have as much experience or a large portfolio, what does it take for a lender to finance a project responsibly under those constraints? What can other institutions, like local government, local private investors or the federal government do to change the way lenders on the ground work with “riskier” projects? We’ll dive further into that conversation with Angela Dowell. As ch
Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello talks with Angela Dowell, chief financial officer at Chicago Community Loan Fund, about what it takes for lenders to get more creative and take on projects by new or emerging developers or community-ownership models that can be perceived as riskier.
Watch Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello in conversation with Devin Culbertson, VP of Innovative Finance at Grounded Solutions — the latest in Next City’s Bottom Line Conversations webinar series. Community land trusts, or other forms of community-owned and controlled real estate, continue to make incremental progress across the country. The model has also moved beyond housing or agriculture in acquiring larger, more complicated commercial and cultural projects. As we discussed back in March with Saki Bailey of the San Francisco Community Land Trust, it’s now possible for a CLT to reach a point where it can compete to acquire a larger building — amid one of the hottest real estate markets in the country — using only private financing. Now, we’ll dive further into that conversation with Devin Culbertson. As vice president of innovative finance at Grounded Solutions, Culbertson works with CLTs and other organizations across the cou
Watch Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello in conversation with Devin Culbertson, VP of Innovative Finance at Grounded Solutions — the latest in Next City’s Bottom Line Conversations webinar series. Community land trusts, or other forms of community-owned and controlled real estate, continue to make incremental progress across the country. The model has also moved beyond housing or agriculture in acquiring larger, more complicated commercial and cultural projects. As we discussed back in March with Saki Bailey of the San Francisco Community Land Trust, it’s now possible for a CLT to reach a point where it can compete to acquire a larger building — amid one of the hottest real estate markets in the country — using only private financing. Now, we’ll dive further into that conversation with Devin Culbertson. As vice president of innovative finance at Grounded Solutions, Culbertson works with CLTs and other organizations across the cou