Walton GlobalHoldings has launched its first homebuilding fund, theBuilder Option Land Development or BOLD fund. The new fund willacquire land pre-identified by homebuilders for single-family homedevelopment. Walton will partner with its existing network oflarge-volume homebuilders focusing on resident land projects. Theland sites will be sold to these builders in phases through apre-determined exit strategy.

"We have $3.8 billion in assets under management and 106,000acres in North America," Kate Kaminiski, COO atWalton Global Holdings, tells GlobeSt.com. "That is all existingpredevelopment land assets, and a lot of it was acquired before thegreat recession. Prior to that time, we were seeing a significantamount of large land transactions occurring and builders securinglong-term land positions. 2008 changed all of that. We not only sawa substantial amount of finished lot inventory in the marketplace,but also builders and developers were really punished by WallStreet for having that land inventory when the markets crashed, andthere were pretty strict restrictions on what they could hold ontheir balance sheets. As a result, we are seeing a lot ofdevelopers uninterested in land that isn't ready to turn within 24months."

While the 2008 financial crisis certainly provided demand forthis fund structure, Walton's search to capitalize on its existingacreage portfolio served as the impetus for the fund. "Two or threeyears ago, we set out to meet with our end users to discuss how wecould move the 106,000 acres that we have under management and findexit opportunities that worked for the builders and our investors,"says Kaminiski. "We were pushing bulk sales, but didn't receivethat reception because most were looking for just-in-time inventoryand taking down what they can build on. That request from thebuilders evolved into this fund, which will take on the landbanking and land loan risk. These are pre-identified assets by thebuilders that they can take down in more of that just-in-timeinventory strategy."