Foster: First, let me say a little bit about our firm. Fident Capital prides itself on supporting entrepreneurism in the real estate community. As real estate professionals, what we do encompasses more than just a single building or property. Our mission is to support entrepreneurial developers and commercial property investors in order to revitalize entire communities, one development at a time, throughout growth markets in the Western United States. As to my goal, it is to find the best operators in the marketplaces in which we are active, and to improve their capital-sourcing activities.

GlobeSt.com: What are the challenges to entitlement in the San Diego market?

Foster: What isn't a challenge in this arena? While there are some differences associated with obtaining entitlements in San Diego and other growth markets in the West, generally speaking, in almost all the markets in which we are active, we see our clients facing uncertain outcomes due to increasing environmental regulations, legal and local opposition, increasing costs and extending timelines (and I could go on), which all equate to uncertain yields.

At the 30,000-square-foot level, San Diego is essentially built out. It will continue to be infill by nature, which by default means tougher entitlements.

GlobeSt.com: How are these challenges being met?

Foster: Simply put, we explore the challenges that developers and commercial-property owners are facing so that we can truly understand how to best position their opportunities for the capital markets.

We recently secured $7.1 million of joint-venture equity for the construction of a 97-unit garden style multifamily project in Chula Vista, CA. This is an infill development. Equity financing, funded through an Austin-based correspondent to a prominent New York hedge fund, stands alongside the sponsor's co-invest and a $15.4-million non-recourse construction loan provided by a national banking source. Given that the area immediately surrounding the site has not seen large-scale investment for some time, targeting the submarket seemed less obvious to many in the cautious investment community. Fident effectively translated the sponsor's market insights to investors with a blend of art and science that supported their realistic performance assumptions.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about Fident Capital?

Foster: We seek to support the real estate entrepreneur. We set ourselves apart from our competitors in that regard. Instead of fighting the big boys, we look to build relationships with entrepreneurial development companies and help them grow. We understand their needs and effectively help them with capital sourcing. In entrepreneurial development companies, the principals with those companies are busy entitling and managing investment properties, and they may not have the bandwidth to go out and seek capital to essentially actuate the deals on which they're working. Where we fit in in a really great way is to act as if we're they're external CFO without the accounting functions. With broad access to capital, equity and every imaginable type of debt in every asset class, we can understand the aspects of their deals and go out into the marketplace and help them achieve their goals, essentially. Focusing on the smaller entrepreneurial real estate groups is not only our mission, but also something all of us are very passionate about. We're not just focused on San Diego, but throughout the Western US. We're very active in San Diego, but also in Texas, Northern California, Seattle and Phoenix. It begins with the relationship and working with really great operators with good values and people. From that, opportunities will follow.

SAN DIEGO—Fident Capital's role as a boutique real estate investment bank that focuses on entrepreneurial development companies allows those firms to concentrate on their areas of expertise without worrying about their capital-sourcing needs, the firm's Gregg Foster tells GlobeSt.com. Fident recently added Foster as a managing director to its production team. Foster has an extensive background in finance, acquisition, entitlement, and disposition of real estate in all asset classes, as well as intensive consulting in the distressed-asset and business turnaround arenas, totaling more than $1.2 billion in value over the course of his career.

Prior to joining Fident, Foster founded Halifax Group, a multi-disciplinary real estate consulting and development company, where he successfully executed asset management and disposition projects valued in excess of $400 million on behalf of builder/developers, banking institutions, court-appointed receivers and equity providers for more than 10 years. Halifax also managed complex superior-court cases related to going concerns throughout the Southwest.

We spoke with Foster about his goals in his new role with Fident and some of the challenges to entitlement in the San Diego real estate market.

GlobeSt.com: What are your goals in your new role with Fident Capital?

Foster: First, let me say a little bit about our firm. Fident Capital prides itself on supporting entrepreneurism in the real estate community. As real estate professionals, what we do encompasses more than just a single building or property. Our mission is to support entrepreneurial developers and commercial property investors in order to revitalize entire communities, one development at a time, throughout growth markets in the Western United States. As to my goal, it is to find the best operators in the marketplaces in which we are active, and to improve their capital-sourcing activities.

GlobeSt.com: What are the challenges to entitlement in the San Diego market?

Foster: What isn't a challenge in this arena? While there are some differences associated with obtaining entitlements in San Diego and other growth markets in the West, generally speaking, in almost all the markets in which we are active, we see our clients facing uncertain outcomes due to increasing environmental regulations, legal and local opposition, increasing costs and extending timelines (and I could go on), which all equate to uncertain yields.

At the 30,000-square-foot level, San Diego is essentially built out. It will continue to be infill by nature, which by default means tougher entitlements.

GlobeSt.com: How are these challenges being met?

Foster: Simply put, we explore the challenges that developers and commercial-property owners are facing so that we can truly understand how to best position their opportunities for the capital markets.

We recently secured $7.1 million of joint-venture equity for the construction of a 97-unit garden style multifamily project in Chula Vista, CA. This is an infill development. Equity financing, funded through an Austin-based correspondent to a prominent New York hedge fund, stands alongside the sponsor's co-invest and a $15.4-million non-recourse construction loan provided by a national banking source. Given that the area immediately surrounding the site has not seen large-scale investment for some time, targeting the submarket seemed less obvious to many in the cautious investment community. Fident effectively translated the sponsor's market insights to investors with a blend of art and science that supported their realistic performance assumptions.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about Fident Capital?

Foster: We seek to support the real estate entrepreneur. We set ourselves apart from our competitors in that regard. Instead of fighting the big boys, we look to build relationships with entrepreneurial development companies and help them grow. We understand their needs and effectively help them with capital sourcing. In entrepreneurial development companies, the principals with those companies are busy entitling and managing investment properties, and they may not have the bandwidth to go out and seek capital to essentially actuate the deals on which they're working. Where we fit in in a really great way is to act as if we're they're external CFO without the accounting functions. With broad access to capital, equity and every imaginable type of debt in every asset class, we can understand the aspects of their deals and go out into the marketplace and help them achieve their goals, essentially. Focusing on the smaller entrepreneurial real estate groups is not only our mission, but also something all of us are very passionate about. We're not just focused on San Diego, but throughout the Western US. We're very active in San Diego, but also in Texas, Northern California, Seattle and Phoenix. It begins with the relationship and working with really great operators with good values and people. From that, opportunities will follow.