Erik Hayden, President of Urban Catalyst, participated in the San Jose Opportunity Zone Symposium today, hosted by the City of San Jose. He was joined on the Real Estate Development in Opportunity Zones panel by Jan M. Lindenthal of MidPen Housing, Kelsey Lemaster of Goodwin Proctor LLP, and Moderator Craig Mizushima of Housing Trust. Discussion topics varied and ranged from the advantages of California’s opportunity zones, to a city’s role in mandating developers provide benefits to the community, asset classes, redeploying funds, getting out of a fund, and looking at projects not under entitlement.
One topic that was given much discussion was, “Why the Bay Area?” Erik’s response says a lot about Urban Catalyst. He spoke about his passion for San Jose and the fact he has always been a champion of the city. He loves it. Not only that, with Palo Alto a city center that is rapidly expanding and building out, he sees downtown San Jose as the next big hub—with Google moving in and major real estate investors already making big purchases locally. Erik also mentioned that Oakland has recently undergone a renaissance of sorts. With more affordable housing attracting workers across the bridge in San Francisco, residents and developers are already creating a cool place to live.
Asked whether that makes Urban Catalyst opportunistic or strategic, Erik answered both. He’s willing to look at places near and far that could provide the highest returns for investors and the community, while strategically staying focused on the Bay Area, where he has lived his whole life and where a strong job engine creates a safer investment.
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