AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Invests $70 Million to Help Build 333 Harrison Apartments Project in San Francisco

New Residential Development to Generate Over 600 Union Construction Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) today announced a commitment of $70 million of union pension capital to help finance construction of the $105 million 333 Harrison Apartments in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood. The seven-story residential structure will produce 326 rental units and create approximately 600 jobs for members of San Francisco's building and construction trades unions.

"As an investor of union and public employee pension capital, the HIT seeks to be an active partner in San Francisco's redevelopment efforts," said HIT's Western Regional Director Liz Diamond, noting that 333 Harrison is the third new residential development that the HIT has helped finance in San Francisco in the last 18 months.  "These projects are creating much-needed in-town housing, community development and union jobs."  

The project's developer is Emerald Fund, Inc., one of San Francisco's premier real estate development companies with expertise in bringing housing to neighborhoods with access to public transit.  The project is well-situated near one of the city's major ongoing redevelopment projects, the Transbay Transit Center, which will be a mass-transit hub for the region's public bus and rail systems.

"Thanks to the HIT's investment and our long partnership with Emerald Fund, the work on this major new development will be 100% union workers," said Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council.  "This means hundreds of our members are going to be back on the job practicing their craft and earning a family-supporting wage."

Alastair Mactaggart, president of Emerald Fund, noted, "333 Harrison is the poster child for how intergovernmental agencies and union labor can work together successfully to create a major urban housing project.  We are exceedingly grateful to HUD and the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust for working so well with us."

Anthony D. Cinquini, Senior Managing Director and lead banker for Red Mortgage Capital, LLC, the mortgage banker, said, "We've been working closely with Alastair Mactaggart and Oz Erickson of the Emerald Fund as well as HUD and the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust for the past several months to get this important financing completed.  We are very proud to have worked together as a team to accomplish the goal of creating housing and jobs in the City of San Francisco."  The financing is expected to close by mid-August.

Webcor Construction is the construction manager for the project.  The architect is Christiani-Johnson Architects.

With the hundreds of union workers to be employed on this project, the investment in 333 Harrison helped the HIT surpass its goal of creating 10,000 union construction jobs around the country through its Construction Jobs Initiative.  The HIT launched the jobs initiative in mid-2009 in response to the AFL-CIO's call to action on high unemployment, especially in the building trades.  Since then, the HIT has provided financing for more than 30 projects representing more than 10,000 jobs for union workers and more than 9,000 housing units in 18 cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, St. Louis and the Twin Cities. Projects financed through the initiative represent nearly $1.8 billion of development activity and over $800 million in HIT financing.

In addition to its investment in 333 Harrison Apartments , the HIT is currently providing $35 million in financing to build two other San Francisco residential projects – the $80.4 million Potrero Launch development in the Central Waterfront area and the $48 million Arc Light Co. residences in the city's South Beach neighborhood.  Together, these three projects represent a total of 616 housing units, approximately 1,340 union construction jobs and $105 million in HIT financing.

About the HIT

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust is a fixed-income investment company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It manages nearly $4 billion in assets for approximately 350 investors, which include union and public employee pension plans. The HIT invests primarily in government and agency insured and guaranteed multifamily and single family mortgage-backed securities.  The HIT is one of the earliest and most successful practitioners of socially responsible, economically targeted investing, with a track record that demonstrates the added value derived from union-friendly investments.  The investment objective of the HIT is to provide competitive returns for its investors and to promote the collateral objectives of constructing affordable housing and generating employment for union members in the construction trades and related industries.  Since its inception, the HIT has invested $6 billion to finance over 98,000 units of housing nationwide, generating more than 68,000 union jobs.

Contact:  

Michael K. Frisby

(202) 625-4328

SOURCE AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust