CRG launches $1b residential development strategy

CRG, the real estate development and investment arm of Chicago-based Clayco, has launched a new national residential development strategy that includes $1 billion in multifamily developments during the next two to three years in response to COVID-19.

The strategy will initially target a dozen U.S. markets, particularly in the Sun Belt, with stable rent growth and underserved middle-income multifamily demand. Due in part to COVID-19, CRG’s strategy will prioritize class B, workforce housing aimed at people earning between 80 percent and 120 percent of area median income (AMI). For this middle bracket seeking more housing options outside of the city, the firm will pursue development sites located in the first- and second-ring suburbs of urban centers.

Dubbed “essential” housing communities by CRG, these developments will be specifically designed for the work-from-home resident, with pocket offices and what J.J. Smith, CRG managing partner, calls “zoom-worthy c