Dear Partners, Investors, and Family-
We at HLC Equity are excited to announce the launch of HLC Direct, and here is why.
Once upon a time quality real estate transactions were reserved for the lucky few individuals and families who were fortunate enough, and had the means, to acquire property at the right place and time. Witnessing the wealth and relative low risk investment that real estate offers, large institutionalized groups, from pension funds to private equity, began purchasing real estate. This was a transition that transformed quality real estate investments into a standard asset class.
And yet, up until a few years ago, the masses of everyday investors were blocked from taking part in high quality private real estate transactions. Unless a high net worth individual knew the right real estate sponsor, they were generally left out of the most attractive investments. A mixture of government regulation, and lack of access created this barrier.
This is where HLC Direct steps in. With HLC Equity’s multi-generational investment track record, we are excited to now expand our investor relationships by being one of the first family owned businesses with decades of real estate investment experience to offer our institutional level transactions to investors over a Direct to Consumer (differentiated from crowdfunding) technology platform. A mixture of new government regulations and technology allows us to do this. To begin with, we will be offering our investments to accredited investors. As the platform grows and the government continues to adjust regulation, the investor pool should expand as well.
In launching HLC Direct, we are aiming to offer investors direct access to our deals, transparency, and a values-based investment thesis that our investors can relate to while building wealth passively.
The roots of HLC Equity’s family of companies is extensive and spans over a century.
Dating back to the early 1900’s in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA. when a horse named Charlie used to lug wholesale consumer goods up a hill in order to be organized and sold on the free market.
Skipping forward several decades into the 1960’s, our group of companies, spearheaded by Herman Lipsitz, had been acquiring real estate on the side as a “Mom and Pop” operation. Eventually, the real estate investing and development became a significant investment portfolio, and the main source of financial success that allowed our family of companies to thrive throughout several economic cycles.
Jumping ahead to 2014, as the portfolio and company grew, as well as our understanding of the market shifts, it became clear that the role of institutionalized infrastructure with top quality investors would be crucial. While leveraging our track record, infrastructure, long standing team members, and financial capabilities to purchase quality real estate with attractive risk adjusted returns, we began tapping into the typical “friends and family” that entrusted us with their capital.
Under our sponsorship platform, we were able to deliver impressive returns to our investors. From a 1.3- year 70% IRR in Brooklyn NY, to a 26% IRR for a 2.5-year hold that we realized in Denver CO, the HLC team has a strong track record of sourcing, funding, and executing deals*. All the while, as a principal investment group the HLC Equity’s team was well aligned with investors, holding a significant stake in each transaction.
And so, as the HLC Equity’s team performance began attracting new investors by word of mouth, our strategy was similar to many real estate investment sponsorships. However, the main difference being that we would frequently acquire a property outright and only bring investors into the deal after we closed. In addition, we have also held a significant interest in all of our deals.
As our portfolio grew, the need for institutional partnerships also became apparent, and so our expanding team continues to work on fostering those valuable relationships.
As all of this developed, it became clear that one major component was missing. What about the millions of individual investors around the globe who do not have access to a multi-generational platform like HLC Equity? With government regulation and technology on our side, we decided to launch HLC Direct, and to offer our platform to a larger pool of investors.
Additionally, over the last several years, the team at HLC Equity has been busy innovating within the real estate investment space. In 2018 HLC Equity stepped up as the Founding Sponsor of PropTech360, a global real estate and technology platform. Beyond the live event, PropTech360 has allowed HLC Equity to partner with leading technology companies, while also opening up new investment opportunities.
The HLC Equity team also launched the Layers brand. Leveraging HLC Equity’s decades of owning and operating assets, the Layers brand is an innovative and customer centric operating model that offers a hybrid of traditional and serviced apartments, services and enhanced community activities for the Layers members. From the consumer standpoint, our team members are razor focused on creating an unmatched customer experience for our residents. From an investment standpoint, the Layers brand aims to utilize its innovative operating model and technology stack to deliver outsized risk adjusted returns to investors.
The HLC Equity team is made up of individuals with complimenting skill sets. Many have been with the company for decades, and some more recent team members joined us from some of the most reputable names in business. The HLC Equity team members are much more than a bunch of talented individuals. Our people are values driven, living by HLC Equity’s core values of Integrity, “Own It”, Caring, and Ingenuity. These are not words that we have posted in our office, rather these are words that were handpicked by our own staff, which they believe best encapsulates the values that we have been carrying in our organization for over a century.
When investing with HLC Equity, we do not only view this as a major step towards having direct access to a real estate owner and operator in order to build your wealth passively through our platform. We also view this as an opportunity for investors to ensure that their own values are aligned with the values of their investment managers. Do these values resonate with you, and are you ready to begin your journey with HLC Direct?
*Past performance does not guarantee future results. Past performance indicators mentioned in this article may be unaudited. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment made reference on this website, will have the same results as referenced in this article. Nothing in this article or website shall be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to make an investment herein. No such offer or solicitation will be made prior to the delivery of Offering Documents. The information in this article and on this website does not constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, any securities to any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.
