Another company is relocating its headquarters to Austin. This time, the company is moving from Portland, Oregon.
CrowdStreet is an online commercial real estate investment company that connects individual accredited investors with commercial real estate firms.
CEO and co-founder Tore Steen said CrowdStreet saw increasing interest from real estate firms and individual investors last year. When COVID-19 hit the United States, many institutional investors were concerned about their portfolios and less focused on making new investments, Steen said. This led companies like Greystar to join CrowdStreet.
Last year was CrowdStreet’s most successful year yet with more than $640 million invested across 90 projects, according to a news release. The company also added 45 commercial real estate firms to its growing list of partners.
With the influx of new investors and real estate firms joining CrowdStreet, the company is looking to hire and open a new headquarters. Office space for the new headquarters has not been identified, but Steen said he is looking at space in downtown Austin or near the Domain. The new headquarters is expected to open on June 1.
Austin caught Steen’s attention due to the city’s culture, business-friendly environment and thriving tech scene. CrowdStreet also named Austin the second-best place to invest in 2021.
“Texas is number one, in terms of the number of projects that have been on the CrowdStreet marketplace,” Steen told Built In. “Of the 460 projects that we’ve listed on our marketplace, over 80 of them have come from Texas alone. ... And [Texas is] the second largest state in terms of number of investors on our marketplace behind California.”
CrowdStreet also plans to hire 80 new employees this year. Steen said these positions will be remote but he anticipates hiring several Austinites or those interested in moving to Austin.
The Portland office will remain open, making Austin the company’s second location and new headquarters. Steen said the company implemented a “work where you work best” philosophy offering a hybrid work model for employees. Nearly 30 percent of CrowdStreet’s employees currently work outside of Portland.
CrowdStreet launched in April of 2014. To date, the company has invested more than $1.69 billion in nearly 475 projects across the U.S. with more than $197 million in distributions, or capital returned to investors. CrowdStreet investors can invest in funds, individual deals or a tailored portfolio. The company was also recently named one of America’s Best Startup Employers of 2021 by Forbes.
