About Us
Bringing a unique perspective and decades of expertise to Real Estate Investing.
Informed by extensive experience, preparation, research, and the ability to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, Prospect Ridge is committed to fulfilling our fiduciary duty to make every investment decision with our clients’ best interests in mind. Our highly experienced team of investment professionals is led by Brahm Cramer and Jay Nydick. We are constantly evolving in an effort to remain well positioned to provide institutional solutions and strong performance to our investors and partners.
Our Name
Prospect Ridge is a remote hiking trail in Colorado that is located at a lofty starting elevation of 13,000 feet above sea level. While the path is notoriously difficult to traverse, an astute climber will know how to navigate its terrain, accounting for factors including weather, wind and temperature, among others. Each trip is different, but successfully scaling the mountain is always worthwhile and satisfying, and it’s achievable with planning, focus and nimbleness.
We named our firm after this hiking trail because we see so many interesting parallels between hiking Prospect Ridge and successful real estate investing. Much like the requirements for a successful summit of Prospect Ridge, our investment decisions are made by leveraging our deep experiences to plan, cradle-to-grave asset management structure to ensure focus, and opportunistic mindset to remain nimble through changing market conditions.
Our Name Embodies Our Approach to Investing
ESG
Prospect Ridge is committed to the consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in connection with our business operations and investment activities. We believe consideration of ESG issues is an important component of identifying investment risks and opportunities.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Prospect Ridge is committed to the consideration of certain ESG factors in our investment decisions and ownership. The firm considers the ESG risks and opportunities of a potential investment during the initial underwriting and through active monitoring of the asset post-acquisition, which includes tracking of utility data and ESG assessments and projects conducted at assets where feasible.
SOCIAL
Our social policies are aimed at creating a fair and safe work environment for our employees and helping improve our communities and the communities in which we invest.
Prospect Ridge offers a matching gifts program and hosts an annual volunteer day for the firm to give back to the community.
Prospect Ridge also has Diversity and Inclusion Policies and Tenant/Resident Wellbeing and Engagement Policies.
GOVERNANCE
Prospect Ridge operates with discipline and integrity. We expect our employees and our partners to share our standards. Through our governance policies, we seek to ensure that our leadership and business model reflect our commitment to ethical governance.
Prospect Ridge’s ESG Committee oversees the firm’s ESG program, including establishing the firm’s ESG strategy. The Committee is made up of senior members of the firm including one of the firm’s Co-CIOs, the President, the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer and senior members of the investment and asset management teams.
Recent ESG Actions / Accomplishments – December 2022
Strategy
- Engaged an external ESG strategy consultant to review in-place ESG policies and process, perform a gap analysis and provide a roadmap for enhancement and improvement
Oversight
- Formed an internal committee and sub-committee to strengthen our internal governance and provide more structure around the firm’s commitment to ESG
Policies & Process
- Updated ESG policy which now addresses additional ESG topics including a responsible contractor policy and investment prohibitions (pending review/approval)
- Formalizing general ESG process/procedures and in the process of developing an Environmental Management System framework that will guide our approach, process and overall program for environmental issues.
- Enhanced ESG due diligence checklists; bifurcated internal and external responsibilities and created an additional checklist to review environmental and social commitments and priorities of the partners and/or sponsors
- Incorporate ESG due diligence key findings/observations into future IC Memos
- Identified third-party ESG environmental consultants/engineers that can recommend specific energy and water conservation measures at the onset as part of our due diligence, as well as perform an environmental data review/assessment for the existing portfolio
Data Collection & Stakeholder Engagement
- Capturing real-time environmental and social initiative data for multifamily properties through implementation of ESG questionnaires as part of our standard monthly reporting
- Rolled-out an annual ESG survey to our partners aimed at capturing ESG initiatives being carried out at the property, new initiatives our partners are considering and raising any potential risks associated with building systems in need of repair or nearing end of life
- Partnered with the ESG software company Measurabl to gather, analyze, and track our environmental key performance indicators like utility consumption and emissions across our portfolio. Will better position the firm to commit and report to various ESG frameworks in the future, if we desire to do so
Corporate Initiatives
- Completed community day events for the New York and San Francisco offices; Volunteered time, effort and funds to support a local community garden and to help prepare meals and groceries for the needy
- Formalized Prospect Ridge’s Quarterly Women’s Lunch and Mentorship program to support internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and human capital improvement initiatives
Near Term Areas of Focus – Early 2023
Data Collection
- Fully onboard Measurable and improve data collection efforts
- Closely monitor developing local energy benchmarking/reporting requirements across our portfolio through Measurabl and other external sources
- Track affordability / income metrics for our multifamily properties on a quarterly basis
Expectations and Requirements
- Monitor, assess and plan for any developments on applicable regulatory ESG disclosure both domestically and internationally ahead of fundraising initiatives, including SEC requirements and SFDR (Europe)
- Consider providing a completed ESG DDQ to AXA and set-up discussion to discuss our in-place program and plans for improvement
- Keep close watch on anti-ESG sentiment and potential impact to both investors and other investment managers (e.g. Blackrock loss of $2B mandate from Florida / Vanguard decision to withdraw from previous net zero commitments)
- Monitor political developments and how this could impact ESG policy
Process
- Improve procedure to identify, assess and mitigate climate-related risks (physical and transition) across the business, guided by the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations
Property/Partner Level Initiatives
- Green Leasing– Explore feasibility of certain green leasing initiatives and certifications through additional lease clauses or guidelines
- Social/Community Impact– As identified through the annual survey process, explore community impact initiatives and feasibility across the portfolio
- Partner/Property manager ESG focus– Continue to stay close, learn from and engage with partners that have demonstrated their own commitment to ESG at their firm and other properties they manage
Corporate Initiatives
- ESG Reporting – Consider annual reporting and/or website messaging to communicate Prospect Ridge’s initiatives with employees, investors and other stakeholders
- Diversity – Consider expanding responsible contractor policy, beyond the incorporation of labor rights standards, to include implementation of supplier diversity initiatives
- Future volunteer projects – Add structure to project selection. Identify what is most meaningful to the firm; consider specific projects to help offset any negative impacts associated with commercial real estate investing