California + Bay Area + Apartments | April 23, 2022

Essex Property Trust and UDR led the closing of a fund focuised on ESG in multifamily

Essex Property Trust, UDR Lead ESG Investment Fund

Multifamily REITs Essex Property Trust and UDR, Inc. completed the first closing of a new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) focused investment fund, RET Ventures ESG Fund, L.P. It will be managed by RET Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on technologies for the multifamily, single-family and broader real estate asset classes.

The investment vehicle will target $80 million of investor capital commitments. It seeks to support the growth and successful implementation of ESG solutions for the housing industry.

“As a prominent provider of housing on the West Coast, Essex acknowledges its responsibility not only to shareholders, but to its associates, residents, and communities to address the impacts of climate change, and we are eager to be a part of this joint approach to identify environmental and social technology solutions available to the multifamily industry,” said Mike Schall, CEO at San Mateo-based Essex.

Connect

Inside The Story

Essex Property Trust's Schall

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).