PORTLAND NEW YORK
Development Group
"Good citizen” real estate entrepreneurs creating income & impact in equal measure."
ABOUT
Our passion at Citizen Development Group, is fixing the world one great real estate project at a time. That's our mission, and we bake it into the DNA of every project we touch.
We are a Portland-based real estate development and investment company with principals in Portland, Oregon and New York City. Our business is built on our depth of experience, our integrity, and our focus on being a good community partner; a good "Citizen" in the communities in which we work.
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Our Work
Citizen's work falls into two categories:
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Midwest Multifamily: We invest in existing multifamily apartment communities in specific markets in the Midwest, with an eye toward acquiring and adding value to class C assets, that we hold long term. We do this through our fund, Citizen Multifamily Fund I (contact us for more information).
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Special Projects: Sometimes a project offers an opportunity to make an impact in a community in a big way. Perhaps it's breathing new life into an historic building, or bringing affordable housing to an area where rents have spiraled beyond the means of the average resident. Sometimes it's bringing much needed services to low income areas, or creating a space for artists and entrepreneurs to thrive. We love to tackle projects that don't fit neatly into a traditional box, especially if they make a positive community impact.
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No matter the challenge, complexity, or project size, our team always brings our creative problem solving skills, decades of experience developing real estate in a variety of property types, and can-do attitude to every project. We truly love what we do, and we do it well.
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Why work with Citizen?
We believe in partnerships as the best way to build great projects that leave a positive impact on the communities where we build. Our list of past projects includes adaptive reuse of historic buildings, seismic upgrades, retail, office, multifamily, and public-private partnerships. None of these projects would have been possible without strong partnerships with our lenders, investors, architects, contractors, and local community groups.
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Some of our favorite
PROJECTS
TEAM
Josh fuhrer
CEO & DIRECTOR OF REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
Citizen Development Group is led by Josh Fuhrer. Over the past 20 years, Josh has developed over a million square feet of retail, office, industrial, and residential projects, both private as well as public/private partnerships. He has served on numerous real estate-related boards, and held elected office as a city councilor in Gresham, Oregon, where he also served as Executive Director of the city's urban renewal agency. Josh is passionate about creating opportunities for artists, entrepreneurs, and communities, through projects that tell great stories about our collective future.
Josh holds a Master’s Degree in Real Estate with a double concentration in finance and international real estate from Georgetown University, where he earned the Pierre Charles L’Enfant Award for Vision and Leadership in Real Estate Academics. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Portland State University. Josh was previously awarded a Forty Under 40 award from the Portland Business Journal.
garry wade
SVP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING
Garry is based in the greater New York City area and joined Citizen Development Group to help expand and develop the company’s profile to a wider investment marketplace. Currently, the company works with a number of offshore investment groups in Europe and Asia looking to expand into the US and European commercial real estate markets. Garry is a key part of Citizen's capital raising team.
Garry studied Electrical Engineering in the UK and has spent the last eight years consulting with several companies on business design and development. His unique perspective and creative problem solving allows him to conjure up solutions to a broad diversity of business challenges.
CRIS TAYLOR
SVP ASSET MANAGEMENT
Cristel began her career in real estate over 25 years ago working for a major regional residential management company. In 2001, she became co-owner of a development and management company that managed industrial, retail, office, residential, and senior assets. The strategy was to focus on building a senior living portfolio large enough to attract an institutional buyer. This goal was achieved in 2012, selling the portfolio for an industry record sales price per bed at the time. At the time of sale, the company managed $73 million in assets and had over 450 employees. Cristel went on to perform asset management for a national senior living company with locations across the country including six facilities in Indiana.
Cristel has a strong operational and analytics background that she utilizes to perform critical due diligence in acquisition and to optimize performance post acquisition. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Portland State University.