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Our Impact in an
Unprecedented Era

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ASREF I - Fund Impact Report

Introduction and
Fund Overview

As an impact fund, American South Real Estate Fund I (ASREF I) has financed projects that positively impact low and moderate-income communities in need of economic and community development in 10 states across the Southern U.S. ASREF I is managed by American South Capital Partners, LLC, a real estate impact fund manager owned by Los Angeles-based impact fund manager SDS Capital Group and Vintage Realty Company, a Shreveport, Louisiana-based property developer/manager.

American South Fund Management

American South Fund Management (ASFM) manages real estate impact funds in ten Southern US states, focusing on transformative projects in low and moderate-income communities. ASFM has financed 23 projects across two funds totaling $232M in capitalization. It is a joint venture between Los Angeles-based impact fund manager SDS Capital Group and Vintage Realty Company, a Shreveport, Louisiana-based property developer/manager. This partnership leverages their combined real estate experience to finance impactful projects that benefit distressed communities throughout the South. For more info, visit asref.com

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Founded in 1988 by Alvin Childs, Jr. and David Alexander in Shreveport, Louisiana, Vintage is a full-service commercial real estate firm providing an array of commercial real estate services on behalf of its own portfolio, as well as for third-party clients. The philosophy behind Vintage’s success is operating with integrity and quality, as well as applying a conservative investment approach. As a result of Mr. Alexander’s continued leadership, Vintage maintains an outstanding reputation throughout its Southern footprint. Mr. Alexander has been responsible for directing the growth of Vintage from a 6-person management firm to almost 200 employees today, with property management, brokerage, investment and development divisions. Vintage is active in development, property management and brokerage in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas. www.vintagerealty.com

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The SDS mission is to provide innovative and transformative capital to projects and companies in order to improve the quality of life for low-income people and communities. SDS has been named an ImpactAssets 50 fund manager for five consecutive years. The highly competitive process selects impact managers to demonstrate a wide range of impact investing activities across geographies, sectors and asset classes in the U.S. and overseas. The SDS fund platform comprises more than $1.4 billion in impact funds made up of funds that SDS manages as well as third-party impact funds for which SDS provides extensive asset-management services. The SDS philosophy centers on maintaining the highest performance levels as a fiduciary agent and impact manager for our investors, achieving investment goals and thoroughly documenting project impacts. SDS endeavors to provide project stakeholders with a holistic view of the range of impacts resulting from each investment. www.sds.capital

Pre-Investment · At Time of Intake

During initial underwriting, ASREF collects economic and community impact data from the developer to do an initial assessment of the public welfare and CRA qualification of the investment and determine whether it fits the mission of the Fund. We also research demographic data, census tract income levels, and economic or community development zones to determine alignment with project impacts. This data is synthesized into our CRA and Public Welfare Assessment (CRA/PW Assessment), featured in Appendix E. We share the CRA/PW Assessment with our CRA advisor/consultant, Bonita Jones & Associates (See Appendix D) who assists in determining one of three paths:

  • 1) We determine more information is needed for the assessment;
  • 2) The investment is deemed a fit with public welfare/CRA and we proceed with our underwriting; or,
  • 3) We deem the investment not a fit with public welfare/CRA, communicate this to the developer and end the dialogue.

Pre-Investment · During Investment Committee Consideration

During the underwriting process, our Impact Manager gathers more details on the project and creates an Impact Profile as a companion document to the CRA/PW Assessment (also vetted by our CRA consultant). The Investment Committee reviews these documents alongside the Underwriting Package (which includes all the due diligence and financial assessment of the investment).




If the Investment has strong financial prospects but does not demonstrate strong CRA and public welfare evidence, the Investment Committee will not approve it. There is no guarantee that each investment will qualify as CRA/ public welfare, as that is determined when a bank investor’s portfolio is reviewed. However, our review and documentation ensures the highest probability that ASREF is meeting public welfare and CRA on each investment it makes.

At Closing

During the closing process, ASREF members ensure that the information needed for the impact report is collected. Interviews are conducted with the project sponsor, development team consultants, local govermment officials, community stakeholders and otehrs to collect relevant project data and project impacts.

Post-Close

SDS uses fiscal policy and economic data to run relevant analyses, considering both construction and operatinal phases (see Appendix A for further description of IMPLAN, the input-output economic modeling software used), SDS incorporates the analyses into the impact report to illustrate the short-term and long-term effects of these impacts.

Post-Stabilization

ASREF updates project ipmacts annually. Within six months of a project’s stabilization, ASREF reviews the data projected at closing and makes updates to jobs, wage levels, revenues and other such items based on the actual numbers. Future reports take any major changes that occur during the life of the ASREF investment into account.

ASREF adheres to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), with SDS Capital Group as a signatory to the principles. SDS is also proud to have received the ImpactAssets 50 designation every year since 2018, a prestigious designation awarded to 50 global leading impact fund managers.

Impact Components

This Impact Report presents the impact analysis of investments made by the American South Real Estate Fund (ASREF) in 2018- 2021. Impacts are projected for projects that have been funded and are still under construction.

Employment, Economic & 
Fiscal Impacts

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Economic impact analysis provides a forecast of the project’s employment and output effects (direct, indirect and induced) on the economy of a project’s county. Methodology (IMPLAN) is outlined in Appendix B.

Permanent Jobs
0
20-Year (12 projects)
Fiscal Impact
$ 0 M
Low-Income
Accessible Jobs
0 %

Economic Development Impacts

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State and local economic development plans are analyzed to understand each project’s alignment with the broader community’s strategic goals and objectives.

Projects in
Economic Zones
15/ 15
Alignment with
Economic Dev Plans
0

Community
& Social
Impacts

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ASREF tracks the number of housing units built or preserved by each project (including the percentage of units that qualify as Low-Income Affordable or Workforce Housing) and people served through community service programs.

Housing Units Built
0
Affordable & Low-Income Affordable Units
0 %
Workforce
Housing
0 %

Environment

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ASREF collects data from project sponsors on environmental impacts including energy and water saving features, and adaptive reuse.

Projects that Repurposed Vacant Buildings
1,845,549 SF out of 2,130,421 SF
0

How ASREF
is Making
a Difference

Grounded in Financial Diligence, Driven by Impact.

ASREF invests in low-income, most often - distressed communities of color - that confront severe affordable-housing crises. These investments transform communities and the lives of the tenants while offering financial opportunity to investors aligned with this vision.

72%

NON
WHITE

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47%

AFRICAN
AMERICAN

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33%

POVERTY
RATE

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60%

AREA MEDIAN
INCOME

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african-african-project

AFRICAN AMERICAN
PROJECT SPONSORS

15%

UNEMPLOYMENT
RATE

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Fund Impact Overview: At a Glance

VIEW DETAILS

ASREF Impacts Across the U.S.

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