Salt Lake City, UT — September 18, 2024 — Catalyst Opportunity Funds (Catalyst), a private equity firm focused on affordable and workforce housing, announced today the groundbreaking ceremony for Silos Park Apartments, a 65-unit multifamily development designed to increase affordable housing options in the urban core of Salt Lake City.

Silos Park Apartments is part of a mixed-use, mixed income block and $270m masterplan, “The Silos”, which aims to revitalize Salt Lake’s historic Granary District, a historically overlooked industrial and railroad corridor on the periphery of downtown. While smaller than many adjacent buildings on the block, Silos Park Apartments plays an important role in the broader Silos ecosystem, which aims to create a vibrant, mixed-income neighborhood. Silos Park Apartments focuses on providing housing to Salt Lake’s “missing middle” demographic, pricing the majority of units affordably to households making <80% AMI.

“We believe in mixed-income neighborhoods. It isn’t healthy to concentrate wealth in one area and poverty in another,” said Kristian Peterson, Managing Partner at Catalyst. “The Silos block serves as a model for intentionally designed, modern-day, mixed-income neighborhoods and the affordable units in Silos Park Apartments are an important part of that ecosystem. As a result of our masterplan, we have an income spectrum of 0-120% AMI all on the same block.”

Silos Park Apartments will be steps away from the soon-to-be-created Silos Park, a privately managed park with public access. The park will create a democratized convening space for diverse members of the Silos community, as well as much-needed green space. Due to a lack of tree canopy, the Granary District is 6.3 degrees hotter than the average block in Salt Lake City. In addition to playing an important role in placemaking, Silos Park will help to build climate resilience and reverse the urban heat island effect.

Silos Park Apartments marks the latest in a series of development partnerships between Catalyst, Blaser Ventures (BV) and Lowe Property Group (LPG). Since 2019, Catalyst, BV and LPG have become the largest landowners and investors in the Granary District. Catalyst’s first investment in the neighborhood –in 2019– has since attracted other developers and investors to the area, showcasing the neighborhood’s potential as a desirably-located, dynamic, mixed-use neighborhood. Once complete, Catalyst’s Granary portfolio will have contributed to the development of close to 1,000 housing units and 900,000 square feet of commercial space available to local, small and medium-sized businesses.

About Catalyst:

Catalyst is a double bottom-line private equity firm focused on transformative real estate investments in high potential, but historically underserved U.S. markets. With over $1b worth of total real estate across the US, Catalyst invests in impactful, market-rate return oriented development projects led by community-driven, diverse developers, with a primary focus on workforce affordable housing. In addition to providing new, affordable housing units, Catalyst works to facilitate an influx of community services tailored to the needs of each investment community, including preventative healthcare, workforce training and healthy, nutritious food. Institutional investment expertise, relationships with qualified sponsors in high-growth secondary markets, as well as significant experience in the structuring of creative capital stacks give Catalyst a competitive advantage in delivering long-term value creation to investors, as well as positive outcomes within communities.

Media Contact: Julianna Scionti / +385.317.7255 / julianna@catalystimpact.com