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READS promotes regional equity and builds sustainable communities and socially progressive organizations through innovative real estate development.
Founded in 2003, Real Estate Advisory and Development Services (READS) is a non-profit real estate development and consulting firm with a focus on community and economic development. READS was created to meet the specific and unique real estate needs of the non-profit sector and is committed to helping other non-profits build strong organizations and communities through innovative real estate development. READS has worked extensively on the development of charter school facilities, supportive and special needs housing and most recently converting manufactured housing communities to resident owned communities. Helping organizations and individuals to build equity and ensure long-term financial stability is fundamental to our work.
Like many non-profits, the initial idea for READS came from a small group of committed people who saw a significant need for a nonprofit real estate development company focused on community facilities and commercial real estate. Originally sponsored by New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC), an industry leader in the provision of financing and technical assistance for community development projects throughout New Jersey, the initial intent for READS was modest: to help high quality social service providers seeking funding from NJCC to better plan and implement their real estate projects. At that time, NJCC saw a consistent need emerging from its borrowers. While these organizations were skilled at providing services to their communities, the development of real estate was found to be cumbersome for them, both strategically and financially. READS was born from the desire to transfer NJCC understanding of real estate development and finance into a business that could benefit its clients and facilitate quality projects that would have a lasting impact on New Jersey’s underserved communities.
READS’ first client was the Greater Brunswick Charter School (GBCS) in New Brunswick, NJ. When READS first began to work with GBCS in April 2003 they had moved three times in five years residing in 4 different facilities. They faced the possibility of closure because of their inability to secure a permanent facility. READS assisted the organization in securing over $3 million in funding to purchase and renovate a building and in August 2004, GBCS moved into their new permanent school facility. Since that time, GBCS has grown from 130 students to nearly 300 and is now expanding to accommodate its growing enrollment.
In 2007, READS expanded its work into the mobile home park sector spearheading an initiative in the state of NJ to provide technical assistance to residents of manufactured housing communities to purchase their parks and convert them to resident owned communities. As part of that initiative, READS was approved as a Certified Technical Assistance Provider (CTAP) for both New Jersey and Delaware from New Hampshire based Resident Owned Communities-USA (ROC-USA). ROC – USA is a social enterprise dedicated to making resident ownership of mobile home parks viable nationwide.
In just five years READS has assisted more than two dozen organizations to plan for and implement their real estate strategies. Projects have ranged from the development of multi-million dollar charter school facilities, to providing business development and management guidance for startup special needs housing developers to working with residents of manufactured housing parks to preserve their communities. Our Gaining Ground initiative alone has spurred the development of nearly 20 charter school facilities statewide totaling more than $110,000,000 in development costs and educating more than 6,000 students. READS’ has directly managed the development or acquisition of 9 charter school facilities totally nearly $70,000,000 in development/acquisition costs, comprising about 300,000 square feet of school facility space, and educating nearly 3,000 students many from low-income communities
READS’ work has led to state and national recognition. In 2007, READS was awarded the New Jersey Department of Education Corporate Partnership Award recognizing READS’ leadership, creativity and commitment to equality and excellence in public education and its efforts to support quality public school choice in the state. In 2008, READS’ received national recognition from the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance for its Gaining Ground program which is profiled as one of ten promising practices for charter school finance on the National Resource Center’s website. |
