Smartland, a Cleveland-based private equity firm with $70 million in assets under management, has launched a value-added impact fund, targeting $100 million in equity commitments.
The fund has raised $16 million to date and aims to hold a first close in January with somewhere between $20 million and $25 million, according to Eric Golubitsky, investment relations manager at Smartland.
Smartland’s strategy is to buy distressed and mismanaged class C and class D properties and convert them into class B assets. The firm is trying to fill a gap in the market that has churned out a horde of class A, C and D properties, but very few class B properties, Golubitsky noted. Smartland targets properties in the Midwest — specifically Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh — because of an excess of inventory in those areas.
“We’re creating this B market where the Midwest has this stigma, not like the coast or Chicago or Miami that has the big appreciat