Stamolis: Catalyst is designed to identify high-quality emerging managers and support them in the context of a “mentoring” investment manager model. The combination of an established investment manager like Canyon and the differentiated return profile from a collection of emerging managers creates a compelling, diversified strategy for value-add investors. Canyon sources, selects, underwrites and manages talent, while also maintaining oversight of all platform investments.

We define “emerging manager” as a manager that has less than $1 billion of assets under management and no more than three institutional comingled funds or separate accounts at the start of the relationship. Our emerging-manager candidates have a demonstrated track record and operate within a specific sector, often having the advantage in their micro-markets that larger, more established investors may not as easily access.

GlobeSt.com: How did the program play into the Vio Tustin Apartments transaction?

Stamolis: Sack Properties, our multifamily emerging manager, invested in the San Francisco Bay Area, exclusively prior to partnering with the Catalyst Fund. CCF supported Sack Properties' expansion into acquiring properties in Southern California and building the necessary local acquisition and property-management infrastructure. Estrella, a.k.a. Vio Tustin, was Sack Properties' third Southern California investment with CCF and its first in Orange County, demonstrating Sack Properties' expanded multifamily reach. The Catalyst-Sack partnership has invested in a total of seven transactions, of which five have been realized to date.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this transaction?

Stamolis: Although Estrella was Sack's first Orange County investment, Ian Couwenberg, VP of acquisitions for Sack Properties, is based in Orange County and possesses significant insight of the Tustin submarket. CCF and Sack Properties found Estrella's location to be very compelling; it is located less than ten minutes away from Tustin's major regional retail centers: the District and Tustin Marketplace. In addition, Estrella provides an excellent rental value to residents since the property features rents that are more than 20% less than the new-construction product in Tustin.

TUSTIN, CA—The Canyon Catalyst Fund is designed to identify high-quality emerging managers and support them in the context of a “mentoring” investment-manager model, Canyon Partners Real Estate LLC's co-head of real estate investments and director of asset management Maria Stamolis tells GlobeSt.com. Sack Properties, a San Francisco-based real estate investment company, in its programmatic joint venture with Canyon Partners, recently announced the disposition of Vio Tustin, a 165-unit garden-style apartment community here. The sale is the partnership's fifth disposition through the Canyon Catalyst Fund, the California Public Employee's Retirement System real estate emerging manager program, which is managed by Canyon Partners. We spoke with Stamolis about the program, how it works and how it played into the Vio Tustin transaction.

GlobeSt.com: Please explain what the CalPERS real estate manager program is.

Stamolis: The Canyon Catalyst Fund is a joint venture between CalPERS and Canyon Partners, focused on developing the next generation of institutional real estate managers headquartered in California while deploying $450 million of equity into urban markets across the state. The Canyon Catalyst Fund invests in office, retail, industrial, multifamily and mixed-use projects.

GlobeSt.com: How does this program work?

Stamolis: Catalyst is designed to identify high-quality emerging managers and support them in the context of a “mentoring” investment manager model. The combination of an established investment manager like Canyon and the differentiated return profile from a collection of emerging managers creates a compelling, diversified strategy for value-add investors. Canyon sources, selects, underwrites and manages talent, while also maintaining oversight of all platform investments.

We define “emerging manager” as a manager that has less than $1 billion of assets under management and no more than three institutional comingled funds or separate accounts at the start of the relationship. Our emerging-manager candidates have a demonstrated track record and operate within a specific sector, often having the advantage in their micro-markets that larger, more established investors may not as easily access.

GlobeSt.com: How did the program play into the Vio Tustin Apartments transaction?

Stamolis: Sack Properties, our multifamily emerging manager, invested in the San Francisco Bay Area, exclusively prior to partnering with the Catalyst Fund. CCF supported Sack Properties' expansion into acquiring properties in Southern California and building the necessary local acquisition and property-management infrastructure. Estrella, a.k.a. Vio Tustin, was Sack Properties' third Southern California investment with CCF and its first in Orange County, demonstrating Sack Properties' expanded multifamily reach. The Catalyst-Sack partnership has invested in a total of seven transactions, of which five have been realized to date.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this transaction?

Stamolis: Although Estrella was Sack's first Orange County investment, Ian Couwenberg, VP of acquisitions for Sack Properties, is based in Orange County and possesses significant insight of the Tustin submarket. CCF and Sack Properties found Estrella's location to be very compelling; it is located less than ten minutes away from Tustin's major regional retail centers: the District and Tustin Marketplace. In addition, Estrella provides an excellent rental value to residents since the property features rents that are more than 20% less than the new-construction product in Tustin.