Newark Investment Firm Scales Up Real Estate Loan Pipeline: Report

NEWARK, NJ — A Black-owned investment firm based in Newark recently struck a deal with T30 Capital to scale up their commercial real estate lending platform as the national housing shortage continues, a report says.

Blueprint Capital Advisors and T30 plan to grow their loan pipeline from $750 million to $2.5 billion over the next five years, by providing $5-50 million senior bridge and construction loans for commercial real estate properties along the Northeast corridor of the United States. The companies plan to focus on borrowers who have traditionally been “underbanked,” namely minority- and women-owned enterprises, Bloomberg.com reported.

The CRE loans will go toward properties that include multi-family, mixed-use, hotel and industrial, Bloomberg.com reported.

Blueprint Capital is among just a few Black-owned firms doing business nationally in the multitrillion-dollar asset management industry, Black Enterprise recently reported.

CEO Jacob Walthour Jr. said there are a growing number of firms in the high-profile private equity industry, where firms buy companies with leverage. Yet, he estimated there are perhaps under 10 Black-owned firms in private credit, Black Enterprise reported.

In June 2020, Blueprint Capital claimed racial bias in a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey, alleging that officials said the state's pension was averse to hiring money-management firms owned by minorities.

"Systemic discrimination and racism continue to permeate America's financial services industry," Blueprint Capital Advisors stated in the civil complaint. "Although such racial resentment, suspicion, and destruction are most horribly illustrated by the burning of 'Black Wall Street' almost 100 years ago, many of the white Americans who dominate the worlds of banking and investment today still, consciously and unconsciously, act to prevent Black Americans from achieving success on the same basis, terms, and level as their white colleagues."

The company is still waiting on a court ruling for that suit, Black Enterprise reported.

• See related article: Black-Owned Newark Investment Firm Sues NJ, Alleges Racial Bias

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