Logos Pairs with Cooperative LA

Logos Faith Development follows thorough due diligence on its approximately $107 million construction debt facility, the firm announced a partnership with Cooperative LA, an owner’s representation and construction management firm based in Pasadena.

As Logos Faith Development follows thorough due diligence on its approximately $107 million construction debt facility, the firm announced a partnership with Cooperative LA, an owner’s representation and construction management firm based in Pasadena.

Logos, an affordable housing developer in Westchester which builds on underutilized church land, enlisted Cooperative LA to assist with the management of seven projects which will begin upon closing on its debt facility.

“We brought them on as consultants to really make sure the project management and the engineering and the third parties all sync up well, as well as… helping us manage the build out, the completion, the lease-up and the stabilization of the projects,” said Martin Porter, founder and chief executive of Logos.

These projects include a 117-unit complex with flex space in Vermont Knolls in partnership with Saint Rest Baptist Church; a 91-unit multifamily project in Green Meadows South L.A.; a 57-unit development in Broadway–Manchester South L.A. in more than 3,000 square feet of commercial space in Watts.

Upon completion, about 90% of the units in each development will go to low-income tenants under Section 8 standards. The local L.A. projects along with one San Diego development all have anticipated construction starts in 2026. These seven projects either already have ready-to-issue permits or will soon have them, Porter said. Logos has raised and deployed pre-construction funds, and the upcoming funding will serve as construction debt.

‘Quality control’

Acting as “owners reps, project management facilitators and quality control experts,” Cooperative LA will work to optimize returns and project budgets and eye areas of improvement or opportunities to streamline, Porter said.

Cooperative LA will also bring its AI systems for project management and value

engineering to the table. Due to Logos' model of partnering with churches to develop on church-owned land, the firm is able to keep costs low for its projects by avoiding land acquisitions.

Typically, it can keep the cost-per-unit for its projects at under $325,000, Porter told the Business Journal in a June interview.

Porter said Logos has a targeted internal rate of return of 20% to the church and investors with a 7% yield on cost. This development structure appealed to Cooperative LA.

Pastor Martin Porter and his team are proving that faith-based development can be both financially disciplined and profoundly community-centered, and we're honored to help them deliver on that vision," Bryson Reaume, founder and chief executive of Cooperative LA, said in a statement.

Logos also partners with Long Beach-based HTA Construction and JZA Architecture in Culver City on its projects.