Kinect Real Estate Partners is opening a new opportunity zone fund built around a single, already-permitted and under-construction development site outside Portland, giving investors a narrower, faster option than the diversified multifamily fund the firm closed weeks earlier.
A Single Asset, Not a Blind Pool
The Gresham OZ Fund is a Qualified Opportunity Fund centered on one shovel-ready, transit-oriented multifamily project adjacent to the Gresham Station light rail stop east of Portland, Oregon. Fund is a single-project vehicle: investors know the site, the entitlement status, and the submarket before they commit, rather than betting on a pipeline that will be assembled over several years.
According to the company, the project already holds full entitlements and has construction progress underway, meaning investors are entering after the two stages of real estate development that typically carry the most risk and the least certainty about timing. The land basis is described by the firm as favorable relative to current market pricing, and the site sits in what Kinect calls a supply-constrained submarket with direct access to retail, dining, and the light rail line itself.
Kinect also points to a specific local advantage: the firm has been operating a property adjacent to the new project alongside Blackstone, giving it a direct read on leasing conditions, rents, and tenant demand on the same block before committing new capital there. That is a different kind of diligence than underwriting a market from research reports; it is underwriting a market in which the firm already has a meaningful operating history.
Not Kinect's First Opportunity Zone
The Gresham fund is not the firm's first use of the opportunity zone structure. American Capital Group, Kinect's affiliated operating platform, previously developed Kinect at Lynnwood, a 239-unit multifamily community in Lynnwood, Washington, located about 20 minutes north of Seattle and adjacent to a newly opened Sound Transit light rail station. The project sits inside a federally designated opportunity zone.
The Lynnwood development gives Kinect an internal precedent for pairing opportunity zone tax treatment with transit-adjacent multifamily investments. Project materials state that American Capital Group commenced construction in spring 2020, completed both construction and lease-up in just 28 months, and then executed a cash-out refinance of the construction loan with Fannie Mae, returning 60 percent of investor equity and generating a 15.1 percent cash-on-cash return to date.
Kinect has followed a similar opportunity zone playbook at Kinect at Burien, a 230-unit development in downtown Burien, Washington. The property is located in a walkable, transit-connected submarket with access to dining and entertainment. According to project materials, American Capital Group completed construction on schedule and $2 million under its initial development budget and executed a cash-out refinance of the construction loan with Fannie Mae in May 2025, returning 18 percent of investor equity in what it describes as a challenging interest-rate environment.
Enso is a new opportunity zone development that further demonstrates the platform's experience executing high-quality multifamily projects in designated opportunity zone locations. The project is consistent with the same broader strategy reflected in Lynnwood and Burien, combining new residential supply with a long-term hold period designed to align with opportunity zone requirements. Construction has been completed, and the property is currently in lease-up. As leasing progresses, Enso provides another current example of the firm's ability to deliver and stabilize opportunity zone multifamily assets.
Taken together, these three earlier projects position Gresham as an extension of an established strategy. The firm and its operating platform have already paired long-term opportunity zone holdings with transit-oriented multifamily assets, then used refinancing to return capital while retaining ownership, giving investors in the new fund a track record to evaluate rather than a purely theoretical thesis.
Opportunity Zone Benefits
Opportunity zone funds carry a specific pitch to investors: capital gains rolled into a qualified fund can be deferred, and in some cases reduced, provided the investment meets federal holding-period rules. Kinect is marketing Gresham to investors who want that tax treatment paired with a long-term ownership position rather than a short-term flip.
BJ Kuula, Kinect's co-founder and managing partner, has described the firm's broader approach as extending a familiar model to a new set of investors. "We set out to extend a time-tested real estate strategy to the private wealth channel through a platform where operational depth and investment discipline are fully aligned," said Kuula. That description applies to Gresham's single-site structure as much as it did to the diversified fund Kinect, which closed in June.
The Gresham fund follows Kinect Opportunity Fund II, which closed at $126.5 million against a $100 million target, and the two vehicles reflect different parts of the same strategy: one diversified across markets and asset types, the other narrowed to a single site the firm already knows well. The firm has not disclosed a target raise amount for Gresham.
Timing Tied to a Transit Stop
Kinect is targeting a July 2026 launch for the fund, positioning it to reach investors while capital gains realized earlier in the year are still within the window governing opportunity zone reinvestment for many filers under federal rules. That timing, more than the deal terms themselves, will shape how much of the fund's target audience it can actually reach, since opportunity zone investing runs on a calendar that most other real estate fundraising does not.
Gresham is a high-conviction investment thesis that speed and specificity—a single, identified site rather than a diversified pipeline—will resonate with investors seeking a tax-advantaged Opportunity Zone investment. As the Fund attracts capital, it will offer an early opportunity to demonstrate the appeal of Gresham's focused, site-specific investment strategy.
