Hudson Pacific, CBRE eye West Coast hubs with impact fund for women, ethnic minorities

Hudson Pacific Properties has launched an investment fund to redevelop office properties along the West Coast — with 25 percent of its profits to go to institutions supporting businesses owned by women and people of color.

The Los Angeles-based real estate investor is planning to raise at least $300 million through the fund, dubbed EquiBlue, according to an announcement last week.

The fund will focus on buying older, “obsolete” properties in “under-resourced markets proximate to Hudson Pacific’s core markets,” which includes Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, the firm said.

To start, Hudson Pacific and CBRE will commit at least $60 million to the fund. Accredited investors and qualified purchasers — a person or family investor that has an investment portfolio of more than $5 million — can participate in the fund.

CBRE will lease and manage the properties bought through the fund, among other services.
Once the real estate is redeveloped, the firms will aim to lease the properties to tech and media anchor tenants and then aim to draw local businesses owned by women and people of color.

Of all carried interest profits — a share of profits paid by a fund to its general partner — 25 percent will be given to community development financial institutions. There are four types of CDFIs — community development banks, credit unions, loan funds and venture capital funds, according to the U.S. Treasury. All of them lend to low- to moderate-income individuals, businesses or communities.

With EquiBlue’s profits, these CDFIs will grant small business loans and other financial programs for local businesses owned by women and people of color, according to the release.

Hudson Pacific’s head of development and planning, Chris Pearson, and the firm’s senior director of leasing, Chris Lewis, will oversee the fund.