In 2006, Forsyth Street developed the capital structure and implemented the launch of the New York City Acquisition Fund (NYCAF), which it continues to manage to this day. NYCAF is an industry-leading public-private fund that leverages private debt with public and philanthropic investments to boost the City’s inventory of affordable rental housing. In 2008, the Fund was recognized as an Innovations in American Government Award winner by Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

NYCAF makes up to four-year bridge loans on unusually flexible terms to non-profit and M/WBE developers of affordable and supportive housing. Its loans support acquisitions of i) vacant sites to build new affordable units and ii) occupied buildings to preserve units at risk of losing affordability for existing tenants. NYCAF loans can also be used for predevelopment expenses and moderate building improvements in preservation transactions.  Since its formation, the Fund has originated over $592 million in loans, resulting in the preservation or creation of over 14,900 units of housing in over 90 housing developments.

The Fund’s lending activity is closely aligned with the City of New York’s affordable housing priorities. In recent years, NYCAF’s capital is being further harnessed to support the development of new affordable and supportive apartment units, targeting households and individuals facing increased housing insecurity.

Forsyth Street Asset Management serves as Fund Manager to the  Baltimore Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund (NIIF), a $65 million capital fund launched in 2019 and aimed at revitalizing Baltimore’s historically disinvested neighborhoods. Forsyth Street was engaged to develop the Fund’s capital structure, prepare investment policies, and manage its day-to-day fund operations.  

NIIF is an independent 501(c)(3) organization working in alignment with the City of Baltimore to promote community development and enhance inclusive economic growth in designated neighborhoods. NIIF’s eligible neighborhoods, which comprise approximately 65% of the City, have suffered from decades of population loss and a tragic legacy of segregation. NIIF represents a large scale, intentional effort to support inclusive and equitable development growth in these communities. NIIF seeks to provide patient, flexible capital to these communities in order to catalyze other investment, move transformative projects forward, support small business and build on the successes of core, existing assets.

In just three years, NIIF has originated over two dozen deep-mission loan transactions, covering a broad range of residential, commercial, mixed-use, and community facility projects across many of NIIF’s targeted neighborhoods.  NIIF’s flexible terms and partnerships with other community and institutional lenders enable these projects to move forward. 

Examples of recent projects assisted by NIIF include:

• A $3.3 million bridge loan for the conversion of the former P.S. 103 School building into the Justice Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center, which will provide legal services to the neighboring community.

• A $1.5 million predevelopment loan for the fourth phase of the Perkins Homes redevelopment, part of a multi-phase, mixed-use project that is the recipient of a $30 million Choice Neighborhood grant from the federal government.

• A $1.5 million construction to term loan for a non-profit sponsored food hall in West Baltimore immediately adjacent to Coppin State University, an HBCU.

In 2008, Forsyth Street designed, implemented, and continues to serve as Fund Manager for the New Generation Fund (NGF) in the City of Los Angeles. The fund was established to facilitate the development of affordable and supportive housing, improve community stability, support transit-oriented development, and enable the City of Los Angeles to preserve the affordability of expiring use properties.

Created through a partnership of the City of Los Angeles and a consortium of banks, financial institutions, and foundations and community development financial institutions, the Fund leverages private capital with public and philanthropic investments to bolster the City’s supply of affordable housing. It makes three- to four-year bridge loans on flexible terms for vacant and occupied property acquisition, predevelopment costs, and moderate building improvements.

Since inception, NGF has originated over $194 million in loans, supporting the new production or preservation of over 2,800 affordable and supportive housing units. Increasingly, NGF’s capital has provided pivotal early stage financing for developments of supportive and mixed affordable and supportive housing to house the City’s homeless.

Forsyth Street supports the operations of the RED Housing Fund (RHF), a new independent nonprofit formed by the Renewal Enterprise District (RED), a joint powers authority with the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County as members. With project priorities outlined by the Renewal Enterprise District, RHF is designed to address the region’s critical need for housing across the income spectrum to create a well-balanced housing market in an area where very little dense, infill development has occurred. RHF provides several types of loan products that are designed to both complement existing financial resources, while also activating new sources that have previously been unwilling or unable to support this type of housing development in Sonoma County.

Forsyth Street originally was hired by the RED to design, create, and capitalize the fund. Following its launch the Fund has continued to engage Forsyth Street to support new program development, credit analysis, fundraising, capital management, and loan servicing.

Since 2010, Forsyth Street has served as an investor and managing member of utility scale renewable energy partnerships located throughout the United States. The developments have included both wind farms and solar installations. Forsyth Street, together with our capital partner, created an innovative financing structure to allow municipal and non-profit clients (both utilities and institutions) to utilize federal resources and tax credits available to renewable energy developers. By the end of 2023 we expect to have over 20 independent sites operational throughout the county.