Bridge Investment Group and its subsidiaries Bridge Multifamily Fund Manager, Bridge Debt Strategies Fund Manager, and Bridge Development Fund Manager have raised and plan to deploy $4.5 billion of equity over the next three years.
Bridge raised $3.7 billion of new capital in 2019, and deployed over $2 billion of equity during the year across its six specialized investment verticals. This brings Bridge to a total of $20.1 billion of AUM as of December 2019.
With a focus on investing in value-add multifamily housing properties in MSAs with strong macroeconomic prospects, Bridge’s multifamily strategy aims to add value by transforming unit interiors and common areas, increasing tenant satisfaction, and adding profound social and community program amenities, all to achieve strong occupancy and rent growth. Bridge Multifamily Fund Manager is a fully-integrated manager with over 900 professionals focused on multifamily property management. Bridge plans to deploy $1.6 billion of equity to acquire or develop over $4.0 billion of assets in the multifamily space over the next two years.
“Bridge has seen strong demand from the ‘triple play’ of opportunity: millennials, seniors and immigrants,” said Jonathan Slager, Chief Investment Officer for the Bridge Multifamily Strategy and Co-CEO of Bridge Investment Group. “New supply of Class B multifamily is severely constrained, and occupancy is projected to remain high with steady rental rate increases.”
Bridge’s debt strategy is an all-weather, income-focused strategy with a diversified portfolio, focusing on a mix of first mortgage floating-rate loans, and Freddie Mac K-Series subordinated tranches, with the intention to deploy $1.625 billion in these strategies.
“Bridge Debt Strategies Fund Manager is focused on debt investments primarily against recession-resistant multifamily, office and seniors housing assets with attention to liquid, high-growth secondary markets in the US,” said James Chung, Chief Investment Officer for the Bridge Debt Strategy.
“The Firm’s vertically-integrated operating platform complements the lending platform by providing in-depth due diligence and the ability to own and manage assets if necessary.”
Designed to target development and re-development projects in underserved areas, the Opportunity Zone Strategy provides attractive real estate exposure along with the tax benefits associated with opportunity zone investment, for which Bridge raised and deployed $950 million of equity to pursue 20 development projects aggregating $2.2 billion of value in 2019.
“Bridge has targeted development and re-development projects to invest in alongside high-quality development partners in qualified Opportunity Zones throughout the country,” said David Coelho, Chief Investment Officer for the Bridge Opportunity Zone Strategy.
“Our team has deployed capital in 20 assets in 12 markets across the U.S. We are focused on creating transit-oriented work/live/play developments that are positive catalysts for job growth and urbanization in these communities. We anticipate continuing our Opportunity Zone investment activity into 2020 and remain very excited about this program’s impact on these communities.”
