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SAO PAULO, BRAZIL-GoldenTree InSite Partners of New York Cityhas teamed with a fast-growing real estate developer based in thisSouth American metropolis to invest $100 million of equity inprojects throughout the country. Office and residential propertieswill be the focus of the strategic alliance between GoldenTree andQuality Desenvolvimento Imobiliario, a venture that has alreadysecured its initial two investments.

“We are very excited to partner with a developer of Quality'scaliber,” GoldenTree InSite president Tom Shapiro says in unveilingthe initiative. As it is, Shapiro's firm is already building threeresidential projects and one office complex on its own in Brazil, acommitment that Shapiro says underscores his firm's belief in theunderlying fundamentals of the country. “Strong GDP growth, fallinginterest rates and an increasingly liquid mortgage market all pointto continued strength in Brazilian real estate,” he says. Among theprojects GoldenTree InSite is already developing is a1.07-million-sf office complex in Rio de Janeiro, while the threeresidential projects are all in Sao Paulo. They include a pair of29-story buildings with 112 residences; two 34-story towersyielding 62 units; and Campo Belo, also a 220-unit complex thatwill also feature two towers.