Ex-CBRE GI duo's start-up snags first capital partner in Belay
By Peter Benson
Real estate private equity start-up Standard Real Estate Investments has formed a strategic investment program with Belay Investment Group, snagging its first external capital relationship.
Robert Jue and Jerome Nichols, who started the minority-owned firm last year after stints at CBRE Global Investors, are looking to bring their institutional real estate management experience to the new partnership’s joint venture equity strategy. The firm is looking for more of these programmatic partnerships moving forward.
“This is our first partnership,” Jue told REFI. “We are considering this the formal launch of our business.”
In terms of sourcing new capital partners, Standard is looking for both LPs and GPs in the institutional and family office spaces to align in similar partnerships.
The firm has completed one transaction already, a $42m multifamily development project in Indianapolis. The plan is to execute on around $200m in total asset value in the next 12 months, Jue said.
The overall strategy for the firm is predicated on providing capital to minority operators in markets across the US. The idea was borne out of the increased focus on racial and cultural equity last year, with Jue and Nichols wanting to use their skills to make a difference.
The partnership with Belay was a natural one, Jue said. Belay is majority women-owned and their interests align with what Standard set out to achieve.
“The underlying purpose is the same as what we have,” Jue said. “We want to make a dent here in terms of inclusion.”
The new partnership is open-ended and has no target size or end date. Standard can provide equity to development partners in any property sector, but sees more opportunity in multifamily and industrial immediately, with the latter having even less diverse operators than other property types, Jue noted.
The firm may also look at office, life sciences and medical office properties but later in the partnership’s life cycle. Jue and Nichols have prior experience in those fields from the work at CBRE GI.
Geographically, Indianapolis is a market Jue sees as under the institutional radar and one the firm will consider other investments in. Other target markets include gateways like New York and Los Angeles as well as hot Sunbelt markets like Atlanta, Charlotte, Texas and Florida.
“There’s an opportunity for development generally [in these markets],” Jue said. “We provide a different access point.”
Standard sources deals from its network of minority operators it has built through industry groups, looking to invest in projects between $40m and $100m and commit somewhere in the region of $15m-$50m.
“We’ve had these relationships naturally as minorities ourselves,” Jue said. “There aren’t that many in the industry so naturally we are one to two phone calls away.”
The firm is not eyeing any new strategies or product offerings at this time.