About
JCG DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIZES IN URBAN community redevelopment and the preservation and creation of affordable housing. Other areas of specialty INCLUDE:
new and restorative commercial development in cooperation with various governmental/local agencieS.
repositioning and rehabilitation of properties anD neighborhoods which provides enhanced services to community residents.
coordination with local non-profit and other service groups.
Jay Wentz is the owner of JCG Development and a licensed California attorney since 1981.
JCG Development is the co-owner of the Lafayette Hotel Swim Club and Bungalows. Mr. Wentz managed the rehabilitation and restoration of the historic Lafayette Hotel in the community of North Park, San Diego, California. With an allocation of funds from the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency, New Markets and Historic Tax Credit equity and other private debt and equity, Mr. Wentz and his team have restored this iconic community asset to the former grandeur it enjoyed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Hotel has been the recipient of energy efficiency awards and many accolades for becoming a catalyst for further redevelopment in North Park including the prestigious January, 2012 cover of the Journal of Tax Credits published by the Novogradac Company.
In spring of 2013, JCG Development, in partnership with Iwashita Development through their acquisition entity Grasshopper Development bought the Historic Valley Bank & Trust building in downtown Phoenix out of bankruptcy. The team successfully finished the entitlements necessary for the conversion of the property to a boutique Hotel, set the stage for positive political and community support, completed the effort to secure Historical Tax Credit equity, took the steps to secure an allocation of New Market Tax Credits, completed all environmental studies and provided detailed architectural drawings for the conversion before selling the asset to CSM Corporation of Minneapolis in December of 2013. Hotel Monroe is set to open in the fall of 2015 as a Hilton Garden Inn.
Mr. Wentz was a co-founder and 50% owner of Hampstead Partners, Inc., an affordable multi-family development and consulting company from 1992 through 2012, at which time Mr. Wentz sold his ownership in Hampstead Partners.
As Hampstead’s managing partner, Mr. Wentz was an integral part in helping to create the positive national reputation that Hampstead Partners, Inc. and The Hampstead Companies have today. Mr. Wentz has carried forward the accumulated knowledge and experience which he gained through his many years as co-founder of Hampstead Partners into new development ventures through JCG Development.
During the transition from Hampstead to Principal of JCG Development, Mr. Wentz acquired and redeveloped a 143 unit mid-rise affordable senior housing community, The Rose of Sharon, on Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.
While Mr. Wentz was with Hampstead, it became one of the preeminent national affordable housing consultants and developers over two decades, with a primary focus in the area of repositioning older government assisted multifamily housing communities. www.hampstead.com
As part of Hampstead’s activities in the repositioning of older affordable housing projects across the United States and in conjunction with its legal counsel, Nixon Peabody of Washington, D.C., Hampstead consulted on or recapitalized and repositioned 260 multi-family properties totaling more than 28,000 units through the ELIHPA and LIHPRHA preservation program. This represented approximately 20% of the national market share processed from 1993 through 1996.
From 1997 through 2010, Hampstead devoted much of its energies to the redevelopment of 28 apartment communities throughout the country as the Managing General Partner comprising more than 3,400 units. These developments included some of the most innovative projects in the nation. Hampstead was on the forefront through the years utilizing a variety of new and complex financing tools that resulted in the firm being able to pay maximum prices for properties while at the same time meeting the needs of investors, property rehabilitation and the Federal, State and local government.
Sol Price, the founder of the Price Club, the nation’s first membership warehouse club, which was later merged with Costco, became an investor and owner in Hampstead Partners in 2000. Mr. Price and his team offered strong financial backing and public market experience to Hampstead. This investment by Mr. Price added capacity for Hampstead to meet the opportunities present in the industry in 2000 and allowed Hampstead to flourish. The managing principals of Hampstead bought back Mr. Price’s stock in 2007. Hampstead maintains excellent relationships with current and former Price Entities’ principals.
