What We Do

Through supporting over 100 transactions and three customized lending products, Urban Advisors has facilitated creation of 9,500 jobs, rehabilitation of 500 mixed-income housing units and blighted commercial real estate, and deployment of $650 million to underserved entrepreneurs. We focus on tackling and reversing quality of life disparities in markets that experience lack of upward mobility.

Client Engagements

 
 
 
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Disaster Recovery

Urban Advisors designed and developed a program related investment (PRI) strategy on behalf of Foundation for Louisiana (FFL) to combat homelessness, blight and challenges to capital access.  One of the notable projects under this strategy includes the O.C. Haley corridor in New Orleans.  Working directly with FFL, hundreds of working poor families and entrepreneurs now have ongoing access to sustainable housing and working capital in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.  FFL is now positioned to become the anchor organization for mission investment in the southern Louisiana corridor.

 

Detroit Development of Color

In an effort to leverage existing capital resources in the City of Detroit, Urban Advisors structured a $7 million impact investment loan fund designed to support entrepreneurs of color and women-owned businesses.  Detroit Development Fund, a local CDFI, provided the lending platform while JPMorgan Chase and W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided the investment capital for this innovative partnership.  As of December 2016, 45% of the loans supported minority women-owned businesses.  The Detroit Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, structured by Urban Advisors, continues to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to share their business growth with the community through job creation, blight removal and neighborhood revitalization.

 

Refresh Project

Urban Advisors helped to develop the Refresh Project with Broad Refresh, an innovative collaboration to negotiate and structure a $20 million land acquisition transaction.  What was once a vacant building has been transformed into The Refresh Project - a 60,000 square foot “fresh food hub” that has revitalized an area that was previously known as a “food desert.”  Located at the intersection of several historic neighborhoods, including Treme, Faubourg St. John and Mid-City, this traditionally underserved area with high poverty and unemployment rates has become a model for urban growth and evolution.  

 

EasyPay Merchant Cash Advance

In collaboration with Opportunity Fund, Urban Advisors structured a funding strategy to capitalize on an innovative program for community borrowers. Opportunity Fund, a micro lender and technical assistance provider, primarily serves the Hispanic community in the State of California. The funding strategy helped to capitalize the organization’s EasyPay alternative loan product and enabled borrowers to access its cost-effective Merchant Cash Advance product. Borrowers who benefited from this unique fund are primarily retailers and restaurant owners with high small dollar volume.

 

Other Client Engagements

  • School Food Financing Program

    • Urban Advisors was engaged to help design and structure the financing and social benefits associated with the renovation and equipment acquisition of the Revolution Foods Louisiana food processing facility. 

  • Renewable Energy Facility

    •  Urban Advisors was engaged to structure and design and creative ownership financing model for a newly constructed renewable energy facility. 

  • Immigration Finance Program

    • Urban Advisors was engaged by a socially- oriented funder to evaluate the overall landscape for immigration finance providers within the United States. 

  • Community Development Financial Institutions

    • Urban Advisors was engaged to structure a Program Related Investment (PRI) to Northern Economic Initiatives (NI), a Northern Michigan- based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). 

  • Business Incubator & Workforce Development Program

    • Urban Advisors was engaged to structure and underwrite a Program Related Investment (PRI) for a business incubator facility. The deal structure included Historic Tax Credits, PRIs and Grant Proceeds.