The vehicle was in the works for a while, says Peterson, who explains that he and the SCP chairman Gene Zink--a former top executive at Duke Realty--had known each other for several years, back when Peterson was mayor. "We began talking about a real estate fund that would be different from what SCP had been doing since its founding three years ago," relates Peterson. "This fund would focus on underserved and disinvested urban communities. Historically, many urban neighborhoods have not seen the level of investment in real estate development that suburban areas have seen.

"We felt it was important to try to bring real estate investment capital to these areas that often are neglected by the traditional real estate industry," he continues. "Some have just never received much investment and some were once-thriving areas that saw a lot of capital flight--store closures, the deterioration of housing stock and the loss of other commercial enterprises. We felt like this was an important thing to do. It's something you have to have a strong desire to do."

The firm has a strategy of "triple-bottom line investing". This means it invests not only for monetary returns, but also to bring about positive community benefit and promote green development. "Funds like this have a slightly different mission than traditional real estate funds," says Peterson. As for environmentally conscious investment specifically, he adds, "SCP is a strong believer and supporter of green development and best practices for existing buildings. It has a strong policy on green development. This fund promotes green buildings, LEED-certified buildings and best practices up to and including certification for existing buildings. The overall approach is two-pronged--both from a technical standpoint in terms of certification and best practices, but also from an ethical standpoint."