Basis Investment Group has put $30 million into the Santa Monica Collection, a 617-unit mixed-use project in Santa Monica led by Tishman Speyer Properties. Both companies are based in New York.
The investment is 11% of the project’s total equity. The property will have eight buildings once completed, all within 15 blocks of the beach. Each building is expected to take two years to build.
The project, which is spread across 3.1 acres, will be completed in two phases. The first four buildings will enter construction this year; the other four buildings will get underway next year.
The project will have 116 affordable units. It will also feature 31,000 square feet of retail.
“We are pleased to be partnering with Basis Investment Group to cultivate a thriving mixed-use community in the heart of Downtown Santa Monica,” Tishman Speyer Chief Executive Rob Speyer said in a statement. “This partnership illustrates our commitment to embedding diversity into all aspects of our business. By making a conscious effort to remove structural and institutional impediments to equitable representation, we strengthen our firm and the communities served by our investments.”
BIG is a certified minority- and woman-owned commercial real estate investment manager.
“Inclusive capital matters and we are excited to partner with Tishman Speyer in their commitment to providing investment opportunities in large-scale development projects for MWBE capital providers like Basis,” Tammy K. Jones, chief executive and founder of Basis Investment Group, said in a statement. “We applaud Tishman Speyer for being a leader in breaking down barriers and creating access to wealth-creating joint-venture opportunities that diverse firms have largely been excluded from.”
In 2021, Tishman Speyer raised $30 million from 161 individual Black and Latinx investors for the Enterprise Research Campus. Tishman Speyer is developing the 14-acre mixed-use campus with Harvard University. The project will have 900,000 square feet of labs, offices, apartments and a hotel.
“The ability for a diverse firm to write middle market-sized checks while investing in large-scale development projects is a niche opportunity and a game changer for our investors,” Dale Burnett, partner and managing director of BIG Equity, said in a statement. “We look forward to growing the partnership with Tishman Speyer and other large-scale developers looking to be more inclusive in their investment and lending partnerships.”
Joe Ritchie, managing director of business development and head of diversity equity and inclusion at Tishman Speyer, called working with BIG “another example of Tishman Speyer’s efforts to center and prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in the execution of our core businesses.”
“Business-first collaborations such as these are key to creating lasting and meaningful change within the industry,” he added in a statement.
