As Goldman Sachs grows its presence in Dallas, its investments in the city’s housing communities are also taking shape.
Following a tour of a community in Far North Dallas that Goldman Sachs had invested in, Asahi Pompey, the global head of Goldman Sachs’ office of corporate engagement, said the bank’s investments happen where the company knows the community.
“We invest where our people work and live and certainly as we think about the Goldman Sachs footprint, Dallas is now … our second biggest office,” Pompey said. “Our building is being constructed, so we have deep roots in Dallas and part of that is our commitment to build affordable housing.”
The Fortune 500 bank has housing investments across the country, with concentrations in cities like New York, California and Utah. As Dallas becomes a more prominent site for the bank’s operations, its real estate investments in the area are also a focus for the company.
D-FW Real Estate News
Goldman’s growing presence in Dallas includes a new office building, which reached its highest point of construction in November and is expected to be completely finished by 2028. Employees are being pressed to move to Dallas as part of the company’s efforts to grow talent in the region.
Goldman has invested about $350 million in housing developments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area across 20 different projects, Pompey said.
One of the bank’s investments, the Residence at North Dallas, is a housing complex located at 18665 Midway Rd., at the northern edge of the city.
Goldman invested in the project in partnership with developers several years ago as the complexes expanded and renovated. Although the bank is an investor in the property, it isn’t an owner or manager. The property is managed by CAF Management.
Within the complex, a portion of the units are designed to be affordable to individuals making 80% of the area’s median income, Pompey said. The project, which has over 1,000 total units, provides housing for people in the “missing middle” who might make too much for subsidized housing, but could have difficulty affording market-rate housing, Pompey said.
Available floorplans — from studios to two bedroom units — on the complex’s website have prices ranging from $771 to $1,475.
The complex also has an after-school program for kids living at the development. The Kids-U Learning Center serves kids from Kindergarten through eighth grade. The program has other locations across the Dallas area that serve low-income children.
Banking companies have obligations to reinvest in the communities where they operate because of the Community Reinvestment Act. Banks will often invest in affordable housing to meet the act’s obligations.
Goldman has obligations to make impactful investments and does that through affordable housing, Pompey said.
“In terms of what Goldman’s getting out of it, we care deeply about impact,” Pompey said. “We care about being responsive to communities.”
The banking company has invested in other sites in the area like Derby Park, an apartment complex in Grand Prairie that is opening an onsite after-school facility in May.
The company also has also invested in projects like Timbale Terrace in New York, a mixed-use development that broke ground this month and the repurposing of the Anita Ferrales Coy Facility in Austin from a school to a housing development.
Sometimes people can have a distant view of housing, Pompey said, but housing is fundamental, she said.
“It’s safety, it’s security, it’s dignity, all of those things,” Pompey said.