| Green makes green these days, and Jonathan Rose Cos. is capitalizing on it with its Rose Smart Growth Investment Fund I, the first fund to focus on the acquisition and greening of existing assets. We dropped in at JRCo’s Fifth Ave. office to meet Wendy Rowden and Nathan Taft, who told us that green makes for an astute investment strategy: tenants like better access to daylight and fresh air, while landlords and tenants love reduced operating costs. |
| They couldn’t divulge the Fund’s worth, but tell us they’re still raising money. So far, the Fund has invested in six U.S. properties, including 198 units of affordable housing with 4.5k-SF of retail at 107-145 W. 135th in Harlem (pictured), which it purchased for $26.5M in December (it’s also developing Tapestry, a 185-unit mixed-income LEED Silver project near the RFK Bridge). The Fund is looking for transit-oriented investments, but mostly Class B office or mixed-use product with historical charm, as well as affordable housing—a stimulus bill focus—in gateway markets. |
| The sustainable techniques that JRCo employs have proven economic paybacks, Wendy says, noting that they’ll renovate properties to meet LEED, Energy Star or Enterprise’s Green Communities Criteria. In redeveloping Seattle’s Vance Building(pictured) which is pending LEED EB Gold, the Fund increased occupancy from 68% to 96% and has attracted green businesses and organizations as tenants. Other Fund assets include the Clipper Mill mixed-use project in Baltimore; an office building near Yale University; and a historic retail building off the main square in Santa Fe. |
| Talk about busy bees: JRCo is also completing a new LEED Platinum academic building for The Cooper Union; cultivating a pipeline of signature, green, affordable and mixed-income units; and working with cities in large-scale planning. Nathan, who is father to a 15-month-old daughter, has a second child due in May, while Wendy, in between serving on Maimonides Medical Center’s and Safe Space’s boards and being a member of ULI, PREA, and WX, is preparing her youngest for college applications. |
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