CrowdStreet is excited to announce the largest and fastest crowdfunding event in our history–$25 million in three hours. The new record-breaking capital raise is for an Opportunity Zone redevelopment project in Atlanta led by Parkway Property Investments, LLC (“Parkway”).
Parkway will use the proceeds of the crowdfunding to acquire and redevelop the property. Combined with other equity and anticipated debt, the total investment in the property is projected to be approximately $80 million.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity to try online syndication, so we decided to work with CrowdStreet,” said James R. Heistand, Chief Executive Officer of Parkway. “The speed in which CrowdStreet’s investors committed to the funding target was pretty amazing, as we hit the goal of over $25 million in offers in just a few hours. It certainly feels like crowdfunding has matured to the point where it needs to be treated as a serious channel of investment.”
“This project received offers in record time at the pace of $1 million every seven minutes. We believe the success of the raise is due in large part to Parkway’s reputation as an experienced, high-performing owner and operator of office buildings in the southeast. Additionally, the raise happened the same week that the Dow dropped 800 points – its worst percentage drop of the year and fourth-largest point drop of all time,” said Ian Formigle, Vice President of Investments for CrowdStreet. “Despite market volatility, investors are seeing how a looming recession doesn’t mean they have to withhold or remove their investments. We’ve learned from historical trends that the NCREIF and NAREIT, the two major CRE indexes, have low historical correlations to the S&P 500. This means that when you add CRE to a diversified portfolio you can increase its Sharpe Ratio, which means targeted higher returns with less assumed risk.”
“In order for an opportunity zone investment to get my attention, it must stand on its own merits, regardless of any tax advantages it may present. The 100 Edgewood project as presented strikes me as an investment that truly is in the spirit of the opportunity fund program: an exciting business opportunity that is part of the revitalization of a great city,” said Tim Ports, one of the investors who participated in the funding through CrowdStreet. “The fact that I would have found the investment compelling even if it was not in an Opportunity Zone is just the icing on the cake. I look forward to seeing more deals of this quality and need to tip my hat to CrowdStreet for their vetting efforts and for the democratization of the process of investing in commercial real estate.”
Opportunity Zones are defined by economically-distressed communities where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Investors who participate in Qualified Opportunity Funds may be able to defer capital gains through 2026 and receive up to a 15 percent tax reduction on current gains, while simultaneously eliminating capital gains taxes on any returns generated by the Opportunity Zone investment, provided it is held for at least 10 years.
100 Edgewood is a 17-story, 306,000 square foot Class B office building, adjacent to Hurt Park and Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, was originally designed by internationally renowned architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and constructed in 1965 as the Atlanta regional headquarters of Hartford Insurance Company. Parkway will be redeveloping the building as a modern Class A office building with amenities to attract high-quality tenants desiring creative and modern style offices.
