7-13-18

Real Estate Journal — Financial Digest — July 13 - 26, 2018 — 11A

www.marejournal.com

M id A tlantic

F inancial D igest

ith a median house- hold income of about $115,000 and a pov- By Todd Hitt, Kiddar Capital Community Alignment Opens Door to Big Development in Falls Church, Virginia W a small-town feel compared to the high-rise urban pockets around the Rosslyn, Claren- don, and Ballston metros. positive impact on the local economy.

& Washington will be heavily community-oriented, including local concept restaurants, a community engagement plaza, a rooftop terrace for commu- nity events, and a theater for local performing arts group Creative Cauldron. We re- ceived approval for the project on April 9 of this year. I have no doubt that working closely with the local govern- ment to align ourselves with the community’s needs is what has allowed us to be so suc- cessful in Falls Church. But conscious capitalism isn’t only for this one locality, and it’s not just for real estate. Community alignment is what has allowed Kiddar Capital to be successful BETHESDA, MD — Walk- er & Dunlop, Inc. announced that it has hired Mark Be- sharaty as senior vice presi- dent and chief production of- ficer to lead a new initiative focused on multifamily small loans. Besharaty has origi-

investing across private eq- uity, infrastructure, venture, credit, energy, and hospitality, as well as real estate. I encourage every investor to do business in a way that benefits their communities, and watch what it does to your profits. Todd Hitt is an American businessman, social impact investor, thought leader, and Washington, DC area native whose assets span real estate, privately held growth companies, intel- lectual property, opportu- nistic debt, venture capital, and hospitality. He is the founder and CEO of Kiddar Capital.  nated over $2 billion in overall commercial real estate volume over the course of his career, including $1 billion of multi- family loans. Besharaty will be based out of the company’s Irvine, CA office. 

And it has: not only did the project bring the first ma- jor grocer to downtown Falls Church, it created around a hundred local jobs and added an estimated 3 percent to the city’s tax base. In a Bisnow article last fall, Rappaport Executive Direc- tor of Leasing and Brokerage Jim Farrell called the award- winning project “a catalyst for future development in Falls Church.” We’re now lining up for a successor mixed-use project at 100 North Broad St., known as Broad & Washington and located at the intersection of the two biggest roads run- ning through the city. Broad & Washington will include a class A office building and an apartment building, both above retail, and will also house Kiddar’s headquarters. We currently work out of the office building on the site, and will move back in once con- struction is complete. Like 301 West Broad, Broad

erty level of 3.6 percent (according to the US Cen- sus Bureau), Falls Church h a s b e e n ranked mul- t ipl e t imes as one of the

Falls Church has recently become more open to develop- ment, in part to broaden their tax base, but developing there requires projects to solidly align with community needs. That’s why my firm, Kiddar Capital, invests there. I’m a big believer in conscious capital- ism, and have argued many times that investing in your community is not only good for the community, it’s good for your bottom line. That’s certainly true in Falls Church, and it’s what has allowed us to be so successful there. Our first project in the area was 301 West Broad St., a mixed-use project with 286 luxury apartments above a flagship Harris Teeter grocery. Other developers had looked at the site, but discarded it due to local zoning laws. Research by my team at Kiddar uncovered that the city council could grant a special exception if the proj- ect would make a significant

Todd Hitt

best places to live in the United States. USA Today named it the best place to live in Ameri- ca based on education, poverty, and life expectancy. US News & World Report identified it as the country’s healthiest community. It’s home to great public schools, and 98 percent of residents hold high school diplomas. Eighty percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. But Falls Church isn’t a county. It’s an independent city, with a strong identity and resistance to urbanization that doesn’t have clear long-term benefits for its community. That’s part of the reason “The Little City” has much more of

Walker & Dunlop hires Besharaty to lead amultifamily small loans initiative

Your 1031 Exchange Resource We work with you to construct a customized replacement portfolio through the use of Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs) and/or actively managed properties.

Edward Kasperavich, CFA, Deborah Stackpole, and Matthew Nielsen 45 N. Broad Street, Suite 401 Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-258-4762 1031@stonecrestpartners.com www.stonecrestpartners.com Securities offered through Stonecrest Capital Markets, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs