Chris Loeffler is the CEO and co-founder of Caliber, a wealth development company headquartered in Arizona with funds in the Opportunity Zone space. Over the last decade, Caliber has grown to more than $450 million in assets under management and $550 million in assets under development.

Why did Caliber get involved in the OZ industry? 

Caliber saw an opportunity to leverage our successful track record investing in and building complex projects in census tracts which had been approved as opportunity zones. At the time the law was passed, our tax counsel, who was involved in the bill prior to passage, made us aware of the fact that Caliber was a perfect fit for this style of investing. We looked at the new zones, our past history of projects, and the requirements to be compliant and found we had a match.

What is Caliber as a company all about?

Caliber is based in Phoenix, Arizona and our business is designed to build wealth for investors through private real estate funds and strategies. We offer investors turn-key options to place their capital with Caliber and future for Caliber to execute on strategies to find, transform, and eventually sell real estate assets. We do this focused on middle-market assets in the Southwest and Mountain-west regions.

Tell us about your OZ funds and what you select to invest in and why? 

We offer a single, diversified opportunity zone fund for investors to select as well as asset-specific co-investment opportunities for those investors who already created their own opportunity zone fund. We invest in projects that we believe we can acquire at a below-market price, transform via renovation or new construction adding value at each stage, and hold for an attractive cash-flow prior to sale.

How much have you raised to date in your OZ fund? How is deal flow looking so far this year?

We are approaching $100m raised in our fund and our sidecar opportunities and we have seen a 5x+ increase in deal-flow since year-over-year, comparing Q1 2021 and Q1 2020.

How did the pandemic impact Caliber’s business strategy? 

The pandemic slowed capital formation in 2020 as investors sought to gain their footing and determine if a long-term fund, such as our opportunity zone fund, was the right strategy. Entering 2021, we have seen capital formation rebound and the company expects to exceed our 2019 results. On the investment side, Caliber has seen significant disruption in the capital markets for developers and, therefore, buying opportunities either as rescue capital or as capital facing significantly less competition.

What are some current trends you are seeing in the OZ market? 

Broader acceptance of the strategy by financial services professionals, such as RIAs, CPAs, and attorneys and a more creative approach toward economic development from the real estate participants and government participants.

What are your top business goals this year? 

Raise significant capital in 2021 to capture short term disruption in the real estate markets and complete existing developments to capture current low interest rates.

What achievement in this market has been most rewarding for you? Why? 

So far, the creation of a 96-bed acute care behavioral health hospital because we were able to meet a significant community driven need while meeting our investment goals.

What do you think we can expect from the new Biden administration when it comes to OZs? 

Reform for reporting and overall support for the program, hopefully an extension of the investment window.

What do you think Opportunity Zones can accomplish for distressed areas? 

Jobs, economic opportunity, increase in services, and a better tax base to support community driven initiatives.


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