The vehicle was in the works for a while, says Peterson, whoexplains that he and the SCP chairman Gene Zink--a former topexecutive at Duke Realty--had known each other for several years,back when Peterson was mayor. "We began talking about a real estatefund that would be different from what SCP had been doing since itsfounding three years ago," relates Peterson. "This fund would focuson underserved and disinvested urban communities. Historically,many urban neighborhoods have not seen the level of investment inreal estate development that suburban areas have seen.

"We felt it was important to try to bring real estate investmentcapital to these areas that often are neglected by the traditionalreal estate industry," he continues. "Some have just never receivedmuch investment and some were once-thriving areas that saw a lot ofcapital flight--store closures, the deterioration of housing stockand the loss of other commercial enterprises. We felt like this wasan important thing to do. It's something you have to have a strongdesire to do."

The firm has a strategy of "triple-bottom line investing". Thismeans it invests not only for monetary returns, but also to bringabout positive community benefit and promote green development."Funds like this have a slightly different mission than traditionalreal estate funds," says Peterson. As for environmentally consciousinvestment specifically, he adds, "SCP is a strong believer andsupporter of green development and best practices for existingbuildings. It has a strong policy on green development. This fundpromotes green buildings, LEED-certified buildings and bestpractices up to and including certification for existing buildings.The overall approach is two-pronged--both from a technicalstandpoint in terms of certification and best practices, but alsofrom an ethical standpoint."