COMPANY HISTORY
Avi Ben-Zaken and Steven Pontes met several years ago when their daughters both attended the Montessori Family School in Berkeley, California. They had similar backgrounds and shared an interest in real estate acquisitions and development. In addition, Avi had significant experience with construction.
In 2003, Steven and Avi found a property in Oakland that would become the Mutual Creamery Lofts, their first joint venture with Pontes Financial Group and Avi's company, Pacific Bay Investments (PBI). Avi and Eric Cress began working together in 2004 when Eric joined PBI.
Mutual Creamery Lofts
The seeds of Urban Development Partners
The Mutual Creamery Lofts (MCL) project is an adaptive re-use in an urban environment. The historic structure was originally built for industrial purposes in 1918. By preserving the existing buildings, a valuable and beautiful component of the urban landscape was kept intact. They converted the building to 26 live/work lofts, preserved the brick exterior, installed new industrial windows, and incorporated state-of-the-art interiors, creating a beautiful contrast between historical features of the building and modern components that were installed.
Beyond its inherent aesthetics, adaptive re-use is an environmentally sustainable way to develop. They were able to reduce the amount of new construction materials by reusing brick, wood, and concrete that would otherwise be put into landfills.
Collaboration of Diverse Backgrounds and Skills
Through the MCL project, Steven, Avi, and Eric found that they shared similar values and vision, and that they greatly admired each other's unique and complementary talents.
Avi is a successful business owner and entrepreneur with an extensive background in construction management, structural engineering, and property acquisition and management. As MCL's general contractor, Avi's talents were valuable in finding and hiring subcontractors, building-out the project at a high level of quality and a competitive price, staying on schedule and within financial guidelines, and finding innovative ways to overcome obstacles that often occur when trying to reuse existing buildings.
Steven has years of experience as an investment manager and entrepreneur with a positive track record, as well as a unique network of people who trust him and provide capital for investments. His ethical standards, focus, and leadership abilities provided clarity when making important decisions. Steven helped organize financial information, understand the implications of financial decisions, and represent investors. Steven's interest and experience in architecture and design, along with his standards of quality and beauty, led to a project that exhibits an overt sensitivity to both design and practicality. He was the key decision maker in landscaping and interior design and also handled marketing and sales for the project.
Eric’s background is in project management in the high-tech industry, and he has extensive experience in managing projects equivalent in size and scope to MCL. At MCL, Eric helped guide the team through process of satisfying legal requirements and attaining zoning mandates. He managed meetings and maintained task lists, budgets, and schedules. He handled all legal and insurance issues and aided in decisions about design, construction, and sales. Eric was also a key contributor to decisions concerning financing and scheduling for the project.
Urban Development Partners
Shared Values and Vision
Following the success of the Mutual Creamery Lofts, Avi, Steven, and Eric formed Urban Development Partners (UDP) in 2006. The company was founded on a unique business ethic, one in which the interests of communities, tenants, homeowners, investors, and the environment are just as important as profits to the company. UDP hopes to set a new standard for real estate development: to read more, please click the links to see UDP's values and mission statement.
