The Community Preservation Corporation Invests Over $1 Billion in Housing and Community Development Nationwide
NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) announced that it had deployed over $1 billion in capital to support affordable and workforce housing and community development projects during a record-breaking 2022 fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022. CPC’s work across its construction and permanent lending, mortgage lending, and equity investing platforms and through its initiatives and programs financed 144 transactions totaling 9,638 units across 18 states, to further its mission of expanding the affordable housing stock, investing in the green economy, and reducing the racial wealth gap. More than 95% of the total units financed were affordable to households earning at or below 120% area median income (AMI), with more than 80% of the units being affordable at or below 80% AMI. FY22 also saw CPC expand its impact through its knowledge sharing, educational initiatives, and a new philanthropy program.
“This fiscal year was a tremendous success in which CPC continued to grow its impact, deliver volume, and expand important partnerships despite challenges that lingered from the pandemic,” said Rafael E. Cestero, CEO of The Community Preservation Corporation. “We’re excited about the $1 billion milestone because it represents an expansion of our mission and our ability to invest, share our knowledge and resources, and create an impact in communities where it is needed most.”
CPC’s $1 billion lending and investing represented an increase in revenue and growth across CPC’s business lines, which included $412 million in construction lending originations, $560 million in Agency mortgage originations, $33 million in permanent lending originations, $25 million in real estate equity investments, and $3.5 million in investments through the company’s mission-focused Impact Investing platform.
“Every dollar of that $1 billion represents a commitment to getting out into communities, making new partnerships, and finding new ways that CPC can make a difference,” said Sadie McKeown, President of The Community Preservation Corporation. “We’ve grown and diversified the company through our traditional lending and investing, as well as through initiatives like ACCESS, Sustainability, and Connections that focus on equity, knowledge sharing, and philanthropy. My thanks to our team at CPC, to our investors, government partners, and industry peers who are all a part of our success.”
“I’m proud of the CPC Mortgage Company team and what we’ve been able to accomplish. Our growth and geographic expansion allows us to move the mortgage industry towards a place where we can ask the question, where do we need to be to make the biggest impact,” said John Cannon, President of CPC Mortgage Company. “Whether it’s affordable, conventional, or small we look at every deal through a lens of impact and potential, and every borrower and every transaction has the ability to help us continue our work of investing in communities.”
“I am extremely pleased to see CPC reach the level of success that it has achieved. For a CDFI to transact at this scale with the diversification of business platforms and products is a testament to the leadership of the CPC team, and their ability to execute on their long-term vision for the company,” said Alan Wiener, CPC Board Chair, and Managing Director of Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital. “I look forward to seeing CPC continue its expand their impact to new cities and communities, and with new partners across the country where their capital and expertise is most in need.”
CPC’s construction lending business originated $412 million in 48 separate affordable and workforce housing projects spanning the state of New York, from Buffalo to New York City. Highlights include a project in the Bronx to renovate three buildings that will create supportive housing for LGBTQI young adults, the revitalization of the Endicott-Johnson Victory Factory that will bring 156 units of market-rate housing to Johnson City; and the $50 million, 264-unit Edgewater Place project, the largest residential rental project to break ground in Beacon in decades.
CPC Mortgage Company, the company’s agency mortgage lending subsidiary originated $561 million in Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and FHA/HUD mortgages across 11 states, with 80% of its volume coming from outside of New York State. This included deals with new borrowers in new locations that share its mission and values; like BRIDGE Housing a leading nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing in California, and Ginosko Development Company, a BIPOC-owned company in Michigan specializing in affordable housing development and preservation.
CPC’s $25 million invested through its Equity Investing business included its partnership with a team of preservation-minded real estate investors and owners in the acquisition of a 13-building affordable housing portfolio totaling 1,036 units that were originally developed by the Dunn Development Corp., and are located in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. All of the apartments will remain affordable to low-income tenants.
CPC continued to focus on expanding its investment in the green economy, financing more than 1,540 sustainable, high-performance units. This included partnering with nonprofit DePaul Properties to finance the construction of a new sustainable, 65-unit supportive housing development in Port Byron, NY. The property will achieve LEED for Homes and NYSERDA New Construction Tier II designations, and feature all-electric heating and cooling systems that eliminate fossil fuels, providing a healthier indoor environment for tenants.
ACCESS, the company’s initiative which offers funding, technical, and educational support to black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC) developers and real estate entrepreneur, invested $6.7 million in 11 projects across New York. Due to the demand, CPC funded ACCESS with an additional $20 million. However, it may be the ACCESS Incubator, a real estate development training program which just graduated its first class of BIPOC entrepreneurs, that makes the biggest impact.
In FY22 the company expanded the ways in which it assists its nonprofit partners. Through the launch of the new CPC Connections grant program, the company provided $500,000 in grant funding to 10 New York State-based nonprofit organizations to aid in their work related to closing the racial wealth gap, promoting and advancing environmental justice, and providing COVID-19 relief services.