CHICAGO, IL – Waterton, a national real estate investor and operator, announced the final close of its Waterton Residential Property Venture XIV, L.P. (“Venture XIV”) fund with $1.5 billion of equity commitments from a diverse group of global institutional investors. The fund is one of the largest dedicated multifamily value-add funds in the United States and the firm is poised to invest Venture XIV capital through a period of historic disruption.
“We expect to see significant opportunities in the multifamily sector across the country due to the disruptive nature of the COVID recession,” said David Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Waterton. “This fund represents a unique opportunity to invest in a strategy we’ve been executing for 25 years that evolves to capitalize on cycle-specific opportunities, which should be plentiful in the current market environment.”
“The Venture XIV fundraising process speaks to our long-term performance and the strong investor relationships we’ve built over the years,” said Michelle Wells, head of investor relations at Waterton. “We have a fantastic group of global institutional investors in the fund – both long term and new partners – and especially appreciate the trust they placed in us during such an unusual time.”
Waterton held the first close for Venture XIV in May 2020 and the final close in February 2021, which was completed virtually amidst restrictions on travel and in person meetings resulting from the global pandemic. The capital raise was led by Waterton’s in-house investor relations team without the use of a placement agent. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel.
The first deployment from Venture XIV was a four-property, 1,824-unit portfolio acquisition in the Atlanta metro area that closed on November 5, 2020. Subsequent acquisitions include a two-property portfolio in Hawaii and three assets in California. Similar to the firm’s $920 million predecessor fund formed in 2018, Venture XIV will pursue urban and suburban opportunities in major U.S. markets, with an emphasis on well-located, well-maintained workforce housing in markets with favorable job growth, employment metrics and transportation logistics.
Venture XIV will target cycle-specific distressed opportunities as well as traditional assets that would benefit from Waterton’s vertically integrated design, construction and operations strategy, and plans to invest more than $4 billion, including debt, in 50+ multifamily assets.

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SAN JOSE, CA – Urban Catalyst, Silicon Valley’s leading Opportunity Zone Fund, announced it has launched its second real estate Fund. This Fund will feature the Icon/Echo project, which will provide downtown San Jose with more than 300 multifamily rental units and 420,000 sq. ft of office space upon completion.
Through the formation of Fund II, Urban Catalyst will continue to help play a vital role in helping alleviate Silicon Valley’s housing crisis while spurring economic development. Icon/Echo will be located in the heart of downtown San Jose at Fourth and Santa Clara Streets, just yards away from the future Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station. It’s also only yards away, in close proximity to City Hall and San Jose State University.
“This project has an ideal location in downtown San Jose on the main drag next to a mass transit station,” said Erik Hayden, Founder of Urban Catalyst. “We are utilizing some of the best architects in the country to design a gorgeous building that has fantastic functionality for our future tenants.”
The launch of Fund II comes on the heels of Urban Catalyst closing its successful Fund I in 2020, which raised $131 million. Fund II aims to raise $200 million and will remain open to investors until Dec. 24, 2024.

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HAMILTON, NJ – Total construction starts dropped 4% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $794.3 billion. Nonresidential building starts were flat in January, while nonbuilding starts dropped 10% and residential starts were 4% lower. From a regional perspective, starts were lower in three of the five regions – the Midwest, South Atlantic, and South Central. Starts rose, but, in the Northeast and West.
With only one month of 2021 completed, a year-to-date analysis will provide small useful information. Additionally, January 2020 (i.e. pre-pandemic) was the culmination of a strong cyclical upswing in construction starts that started in 2010 and thus provides a poor point of comparison. An alternative viewpoint for analysis is comparing 12-month totals. For the 12 months ending January 2021 total construction starts were 11% below the 12 months ending January 2020. Nonresidential starts were down 25%, while nonbuilding starts dropped 15%. Residential starts, but, were 5% higher for the 12 months ending January 2021. In January, the Dodge Index lost 4% to 168 (2000=100) from the 175 reading in December.
The tenuous beginning to construction starts in 2021 highlights the long and rocky road ahead for the sector this year , stated Richard Branch, Chief Economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. Over the course of the year the economy will recover as more Americans receive their vaccinations. But, the construction sector s recovery will take time to materialize due to the deep scars caused to the industry by the pandemic. Patience will be key in the months to come.
Nonbuilding construction started 2021 with a resounding 10% decline in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $168.4 billion. Every nonbuilding sector posted a decline during the month — environmental public works fell 6%, highways and bridges dropped 7%, while starts in the utility/gas plant category lost 13%, and miscellaneous nonbuilding starts plunged 17%.
The largest nonbuilding projects to break ground in January were the $825 million (450 MW) Desert Quartzite Solar Facility in Blythe CA, the $427 million (345 MW) Mesquite Sky Wind Farm in Putnam TX, and the $375 million (300 MW) RE Slate Solar Farm in Stratford CA.
For the 12 months ending January 2021, total nonbuilding starts were 15% lower than the 12 months ending January 2020. On a 12-month sum basis, street and bridge starts were 5% higher, but environmental public works starts were 3% lower, miscellaneous nonbuilding starts dropped 28%, and utility/gas plant starts lost 40%.
Nonresidential building starts were unchanged in January at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $224.5 billion. Commercial starts were 1% higher during the month as a sizeable gain in warehouse construction offset declines elsewhere. Institutional building starts fell 9% in January, with education and healthcare construction down sharply. Manufacturing starts, meanwhile, rose 81% due to the start of two large projects.
The largest nonresidential building project to break ground in January was Nucor s $850 million steel mill in Brandenburg KY. Also starting during the month were Nikola Motor s $470 million hydrogen-electric truck plant in Eloy AZ, and the $327 million Riddle Hospital campus modernization in Media PA.
For the 12 months ending January 2021, nonresidential building starts tumbled 25% relative to the 12 months ending January 2020. Commercial starts dropped 27%, institutional starts were 15% lower, while manufacturing starts collapsed 59%
Residential building starts fell 4% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $401.4 billion. Multifamily housing starts were 7% lower, while single family dropped 3%.
The largest multifamily structure to break ground in January was the $200 million DOT Block Residences in Dorchester MA. Also getting underway during the month were the $153 million Halley Rise Block D-1 mixed-use building in Reston VA and the $112 million 1400 W Randolph St apartments in Chicago IL.
For the 12 months ending January 2021, total residential starts were 5% higher than the 12 months ending January 2020. Single family starts gained 12%, while multifamily starts slid 12% on a 12-month sum basis.

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