One Planet Living Real Estate Fund
Canadian closed-end, mixed-use opportunistic real estate development impact fund. Creating happy, healthy communities within the capacity of one planet while delivering compelling returns for investors
The real estate sector has demonstrated that we can profitably create places where people live happy healthy lives within our planet’s capacity but we need to broaden and accelerate wider adoption of ‘planet fit’ real estate assets.
Epic Investment Services, in partnership with Windmill Developments, have introduced the One Planet Living (OPL) Real Estate Fund, a development impact fund delivering environmental, social and market financial returns. The Fund has an initial pipeline in place within Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area markets and operates under the One Planet Living framework for clear and transparent validation and reporting of impact outcome.
The Fund currently has eight active projects across the Greater Toronto Area and downtown Ottawa including:
- Baker District, Guelph, ON – Canada’s 2nd formally endorsed One Planet Living Community
- The Courcelette, Toronto, ON (now selling) – A partnership with a landowner and community leader to turn a former brownfield site into a LEED Platinum condominium.
- Stone Abbey, Ottawa, ON (now selling) – A partnership with an Anglican church to upgrade a valued community space while creating a new highly sustainable residential building.
- Four of the projects will use pre-fabricated Cross Laminated Timber which delivers lower embodies carbon and allows for more rapid construction delivery.
The Fund Portfolio
Through applying the globally recognized One Planet Living Principles (www.bioregional.com/oneplanet-living) the OPL Real Estate Fund has the unique capacity to maximize total investor returns, while simultaneously advancing broader industry knowledge to achieve low carbon and socially progressive real estate with measurable community outcomes.
The outcome will be a direct target impact on +/- 1-2 million sq.ft. of new and retrofitted Canadian real estate that will ultimately achieve a path to carbon neutrality and other impact factors associated with OPL. All data will be shared on oneplanet.com to ensure transparency and easily accessible knowledge sharing.
This portfolio will include investments in both retrofit and new construction in the following three key real estate sectors:
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Majority of projects will be partnerships with impact-oriented, urban land owners where strong market development fundamentals exist.
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Providing deep building retrofits (to non-pension-owned Class B and C buildings) generally on assets that have additional value-add development opportunity.
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Community and large-scale mixed-use developments that are targeting carbon neutral and socially progressive outcomes.
About Our Partner
Windmill Developments is an award-winning real estate development group that is transforming the way we build and live, for the better. Using the One Planet Living framework, Windmill creates communities that help people live happy, healthy lives within the finite resources of our planet.
Founded by Jonathan Westeinde in 2003, Windmill’s diverse experience includes residential, commercial and mixed-use development. Windmill created the first LEED Platinum Community in North America, the first LEED Platinum Mixed Use buildings in Canada and led the development of the only two One Planet Living endorsed communities in Canada. Today, Windmill is utilizing One Planet Living to create communities that deliver financial returns with social and ecological impacts that are tangible and measurable.