Between the global financial crisis, tanking housing production, and rapid inflation, housing affordability for middle income workers has become increasingly out-of-reach. Workforce housing, a type of unregulated affordable housing, addresses the limitations that professionals like teachers, healthcare providers, and retail clerks are facing when it comes to owning a home.

In this episode, I unpack the concept of workforce housing and revisit a conversation with Peter Brosens, founder of Stolar Capital, where we cover the details of Chatham on Main, his firm’s garden-style, multifamily complex in Chatham, New Jersey.

Located in an affluent town 45 minutes from Manhattan, Chatham on Main is a 118-unit property featuring one- and two-bedroom floor plans. The extensive renovations include roofing, shutters, lighting, and landscaping.

Stolar Capital specializes in buying mixed-use or multifamily properties and repositioning them through asset management. Peter shares the challenges he faced starting out, which ultimately led him to specialize in this area. He also walks us through approval processes, why he prefers buying and fixing existing property, and the importance of relationships in real estate.

About the Guest:

Peter Brosens is the founder of Stolar Capital, a real estate investment firm with offices in Hoboken and in Philadelphia. The firm's focus since 2012 has been on developing large mixed-use projects in transit-oriented downtown locations in New Jersey. In addition, he has raised a 10 million specialty financing fund to focus on investment in repositioning multi-family residential assets across the country. Prior to starting at Stolar Capital, Peter worked at the JBG companies in Washington, DC. He is a Columbia University alum.

Topics Covered:

• What workforce housing is and who it serves
• Why the term ‘workforce housing’ is considered controversial
• Ways that Chatham on Main delivers a best-in-class living experience
• What goes into the development approval process
• The metrics and criteria that Peter uses to determine which communities to invest in
• Key takeaways from the early days of Stolar Capital

• Workforce housing and middle-income housing subsidies: A primer

Atif Qadir is the Founder of Commonplace, a company dedicated to tackling one of the biggest barriers to more inclusive, affordable, and sustainable development: improving access to capital. Commonplace helps impact-driven developers and capital providers with shared values discover and connect with each other.

Connect with Peter Brosens

• Connect with Peter Brosens on LinkedIn
• Follow Stolar Capital on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Stolar Capital

• Grab our exclusive guide: How Eight Developers & Designers Are Responding to the Housing Crisis
• Learn more on the American Building website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Connect with Atif Qadir on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Michael Graves
• Learn more about Commonplace