A new real estate fund in Chicago aims to support underserved communities by developing programs for residents to own a stake in their neighborhood shopping centers.
Chicago TREND, led by CEO Lyneir Richardson, has $50 million in the fund to launch the program in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, the Chicago Business Journal reported.
The organization hopes black entrepreneurs, community members and others will also invest in these properties. The enterprise will offer discounted rent, reduced security deposits and other forms of financial assistance.
The fund’s first $10 million was seeded by high-profile investors, including Penny Pritzker and the MacArthur Foundation. TREND plans to buy additional shopping centers in disinvested areas of Chicago, including the struggling South and West sides.
“We’re buying shopping centers that we believe are ‘non-Amazonable,’ where people go routinely to the drugstore or an ice cream store, places that define a neighborhood,” Richardson told the outlet. “Even if housing is strong, if you drive into a neighborhood and the little strip center is rundown or blighted and unreleased, in some instances it can become a liability for the neighborhood.”
Richardson aims to buy 12 properties over the next three years, with 50 percent of them being in the Chicago area. He expects to finalize the first acquisition by the end of the year.
—Quinn Donoghue
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