A very interesting organization called CoolTown Studios is offering access to $40 million for CoolTown real estate development projects - seems some projects in Cleveland and environs would fit their criteria - and their concept may be a good model for the Community Development Venture Capital Fund we are developing for NEO. See the criteria at the CoolTown website and posted below... 

$40 million equity fund for CoolTowns

Got a cool project? CoolTown Studios is helping $40 million in real estate funds invest in model urban infill developments, $2-$7 million each. This typically translates to $10-$20 million developments. The underlying philosophy of the fund sources? They want to set a new standard for quality and innovation in real estate development. The fund is ideal for developing a model example for the surrounding neighborhood.

Here is the basic CoolTown project criteria

• Urban/small city infill/rehab (as in the image), not suburban or greenfield.
• Target market consisting of, but not limited to the creative class, gen xers/yers, urban boomers, entrepreneurs, women, urbanists, early adopters
• No 'luxury' adjectives - as this essentially rules out the target market
• Urban new urbanist/smart growth design principles

Here are the basics of the financial criteria:

• The fund will invest in a local developer who will maintain primary control.
• The target cities must be east of Denver.
• 2nd and 3rd-tier cities preferred. 1st-tier cities already suffer from inflated land prices.
• An area with strong population growth
• The investment can be short-term or up to 8-10 years.

In addition, invested projects will have an advanced technology infrastructure, an added expertise of the fund's management team. It will also have the potential of tapping into a 'beta community' of qualified residential and business tenants well before construction.