Houston Chronicle Fifth Ward preservation program produces profits

Very appreciative of the Chronicle highlighting this important milestone in the Buy The Block project. Not many funds have the pleasure of paying out distributions so early.

This project is proof that collective group economics can have a significant impact on the community.

What’s even more impressive to me is the number of investors that chose to reinvest their distributions, instead of receiving payouts. It’s a testament to everyone’s commitment to changing the narrative.

My goal is to create a blueprint and cultivate as many leaders as possible to carry the torch so that we can revitalize these communities through collective ownership.

Houston Chronicle Fifth Ward preservation program produces profits
Houston Chronicle Fifth Ward preservation program produces profits

“Christopher Senegal set out to prove it’s possible to invest in a low-income neighborhood without displacing longtime renters.

He crowdsourced funds in July to buy a collection of 18 Fifth Ward rental homes, roughly 600 square feet apiece and leased for between $550 and $700 a month, with the promise not to raise rents.

On Christmas Day, he proved the model can be profitable.

The roughly 1,500 people who invested a total of $1.07 million in Senegal’s Historic Fifth Ward Buy the Block Project received their first distribution of profits, which came out to a 4 percent return.

In a year that pummeled commercial real estate as many tenants struggled to pay rents, the returns outpaced those of the industry overall, according to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries, which found that the average annual return for commercial real estate investments at the end of the third quarter was only 2 percent.

It was certainly a better bet than the return on a 10-year Treasury Bond this year, which fell below 1 percent in March and stayed there…”

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