Crowdfunding Boston’s R&D and innovation core

This week we’ve got a wealth of real estate crowdfunding news stories, new deals, platform updates, and RE crowdfunding-related media. We’ll start off with a look at a manufactured housing opportunity in Sin City, Las Vegas, hosted on RealtyMogul, and a look at a Boston flex space on CrowdStreet. After, we’ll examine a Yahoo Finance piece that looks over why so many are turning to alternative investments, like real estate crowdfunding, to diversify their portfolios. 

We’ll then look at a Georgia memory care property acquisition over at 1031 Crowdfunding and finish off with a round table on the 10th anniversary of online real estate syndication, hosted by our very own Dr. Adam Gower. 

New Crowdfunding Platform Deals

The West Valley MHC project on RealtyMogul is a manufactured housing community located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is described by the sponsor as “an exceptional Manufactured Housing Community located in one of Las Vegas’ top resort residential neighborhoods.” According to the listing, it has strong in-place cash flows with realizable returns on equity within its first 12 months. 

A combination of unmet market demand, alongside the potential to create more near-term occupancies at market level rents are set to generate a significant increase in current cash distributable to investors within the first 18 months of the project. The West Valley MHC boasts some impressive projections, with a target IRR of 18.15%, a target cash on cash of 12.5%, and a target equity multiple of 1.51x. Check it out for yourself at RealtyMogul, here.

Let’s head east to Boston, where CrowdStree has 8 Federal Street on offer, a 2 story flex and R&D building that sits in one of the country’s primary innovation clusters in the Greater Boston Market. The area already has a large base of innovation and life science tenants, including ThermoFisher, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, iRobot, and many more. Its attractiveness for such tenants is due to the fact that it has excellent accessibility, it is close to Cambridge, and most of all, its ability to access the region’s world-class talent pool- something of great importance to potential R&D tenants. You can learn more about 8 Federal Street on CrowdStreet, here. 

General Crowdfunding Industry News

It’s no surprise that investors are on the hunt for alternative assets. This is being largely driven by the recent storminess in the markets, with lasting (and perhaps rebounding) effects from the Covid-19 pandemic and now potential oil and food shocks caused by the War in Ukraine. Investors of all stripes- from high-net-worth accredited investors to those just getting started are looking for a safe haven from stormy weather- including alternative assets like crowdfunded real estate. Kevin Vandenboss over at Yahoo Finance examines this trend with a look at JP Morgan’s Alternative Asset Report. To learn more, click here. 

Crowdfunding Platform Updates

Real estate crowdfunding platform 1031 Crowdfunding recently acquired a new memory care and assisted living facility to add to its list of offerings for investors. Currently, the 1031 CF Portfolio 2 DST includes a 154 unit portfolio in Columbus Ohio, and Leesburg Georgia, under the name 1031 CF Properties LLC. The fund, which currently offers a cash flow return of 5.75%, launched on April 1 of this year and gives investors the ability to invest in productive real estate in the burgeoning Southeast market. Read more at WV News, here.

Multimedia Links (Videos, Podcasts, etc.)

It’s been 10 years since the birth of online real estate syndication- aka crowdfunding. In that short time, investors and sponsors have benefited from billions upon billions of dollars invested in the space. Our very own Dr. Adam Gower spoke with a group of real estate crowdfunding, including CrowdStreet’s Tore Steen, RealtyMogul’s Jilliene Helman, RealCrowd’s Adam Hooper, and EquityMultiple’s Charles Clinton. In their conversation, they spoke about the past, present, and future of the space. This is a must-watch (or listen!) for anyone interested in crowdfunded real estate.

Check out the video on Youtube, here.

That’s it for this month- but don’t worry- we’ll be back next month with plenty more deals, news stories, multimedia options, and more. See you then!