It is not often, in this time and in this economic environment, that you encounter a developer who has a vision of a community that will impact the local area and region in a positive manner—who stays committed to that vision regardless of the external forces and economic climate—who embraces and collaborates with environmental groups to develop solutions for environmental issues and challenges in the spirit of mutual cooperation—who spends the time necessary to address all the details for the vision to become a reality—who invests their own capital and owns fee title to the land and buys potable water for build-out.
The Cambay Group
Cambay is a wholly owned subsidiary of UK based Somerston Holdings, that focuses on real estate based development and investment opportunities in California.
Our activities are concentrated on the development of land for master-planned communities as well as adding value to the Group and our shareholders through commercial, office, and industrial development projects. Our commitment to quality starts with the planning process.
We have a long term view of our projects and are willing to make the investment necessary and take the time to address all the elements involved in bringing a master planned community to reality in the right way. The result is a community that has a lasting positive impact on the area, region and most importantly on the people who call it home and work there. As such, we stay with our projects for considerably longer periods than developers with a short term, “want my return now” view.
We operate a decentralized management structure which provides streamlined decision making, focusing on the selection of strong local managers who are empowered to achieve the strategy set by our central management team.
Our management team is able to make strategic decisions and conclude transactions quickly due to a combination of clear goals, short reporting lines and well established relationships with professional advisors who understand the markets in which we operate.
We are a privately owned and well-capitalized company. Our success over the years and the above average returns we deliver can be largely attributed to upholding a pioneering spirit, achieving a finely managed balance of the risk and reward characteristic of an entrepreneurial company and by maintaining a philosophy consistent with our parent company: streamlined decision-making, proper risk assessment, decentralized management, strong local leadership and sound business and customer relationships.
Financial Capability
The project site is owned in fee and there is no external debt on the property except for a Community Facilities District. Public financing for infrastructure, in the form of bonds is provided by the RiverIslands Public Financing Authority (“RIPFA”) which is separate and distinct from the City of Lathrop.
Our commitment to the project is so strong that we are currently investing our own capital to build a 500 foot long bridge over the San Joaquin River. Additionally, the first two schools in the development are under construction. This all before we have any corporate or housing commitments.
To date, RIPFA has funded nearly $80 million in public infrastructure for the project, including potable water and wastewater treatment and disposal facilities. Besides conventional financing methods, RIPFA is a vehicle that can provide financing for a host of infrastructure and related facilities for the project that is independent from the City, County or any other public agency’s credit or financing capabilities.
Poised for Development
We have addressed all the details necessary so that you can create that workplace environment that you envision for your employees… NOW!
The initial 200 acres of RITEC is fully entitled and we are ready to move forward with building your unique workplace environment. We have established zoning for the entire project and a Tentative Map has been approved which establishes individual parcels for development. We have negotiated a 25 Year Development Agreement with the City of Lathrop which establishes and vests our land use rights and prevents changes by future city councils.
We benefit from agreements that have been negotiated with several environmental groups that prevent future opposition to the project and bring about the opportunity to work together in the spirit of mutual cooperation. These groups include the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Natural Heritage Institute, Sports Fishermen and Delta Keeper Chapter of the Bay Keeper.
We have developed and reserved capacity for sanitary sewer provided by the City of Lathrop. In addition we have developed and purchased potable water for the build-out of the project. In our current economic and regulatory environment this provides a significant advantage to companies which locate here.
We have also engineered, designed and constructed super-levees that are 300 feet wide which protect against a 200 year flood event and have been touted as the new “gold standard” for flood protection. The first phase of development is surrounded by this super-levee which will eventually surround the entire project.
Companies and schools today need more Internet, fiber and other communications capacity than ever before. To insure that our partner companies, our schools and institutions of higher learning have the capacity that their employees, students and instructors need, we have made available very high bandwidth options to the project.
The Team
Our team has over 100 years of experience in planning, developing, and delivering innovative mixed use projects to businesses, their employees and the community.
F. Allan Chapman
Allan is the President and CEO of The Cambay Group, the developer of River Islands at Lathrop and the River Islands Technology & Education Center.
Allan has extensive real estate development experience in the United States and Europe and has been intimately involved with many of the projects developed by both The Cambay Group and by Somerston Holdings including retail, office, hotel and industrial properties as well as small and large scale master planned mixed-use and residential communities. He co-founded Chapman & Wilson, Inc. with John Wilson in 1983 and prior to that was a principal at Richard Ellis, Inc., an institutional real estate investment advisor. Allan was born in the UK, was educated at Oundle School, has an MA from Cambridge and is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Susan Dell’Osso
Susan is Cambay’s Project Director for Master Planned Communities. Susan joined the Cambay team in 1987 and has focused on land development and entitlement for the bulk of her career. In early 2001, after the successful entitlement and sale of The Cambay Group’s 2300-acre Windemere Ranch project in San Ramon, Susan assumed responsibility for the River Islands at Lathrop master planned community, overseeing all aspects of the development and entitlement process, including the River Islands Technology & Education Center. With a Masters degree in Economics, Susan has extensive experience in the financing of large communities and before joining Cambay in 1987, Susan worked with one of the big five accounting firms as a project consultant.
Bill Hvidt
Bill is the newest member of the Cambay team and is The Director of Business Development for RITEC. He has extensive experience with corporate users and developers identifying alternative solutions for businesses and projects. He is highly skilled in defining and executing strategies involving the marketing, positioning, design, entitlement, budgeting, financing, construction, leasing and disposition of new projects and portfolios for clients. He has an MBA in Real Estate and has extensive experience on the service as well as the corporate side of corporate real estate and development.