Longridge Partners: A Natural Investment
Longridge Partners’ investment in the natural features of real estate properties pays long-term dividends for its clients.
The unrelenting growth in the Greater Toronto Area has made the region one of the most dynamic in North America. But there is a downside — sprawl, where urbanization is swallowing up nature. The familiar real estate saying, “Land, they’re not making any more of it,” has never been more appropriate than in Southern Ontario, meaning properties with superior natural features will be in perennial demand while the sprawl advances, creating a diminishing supply of natural environment.
That is the fundamental and overarching investment philosophy of Longridge Partners Inc., an investment company that manages the long-term holdings of Canadian real estate assets on behalf of institutional and high-net-worth clients, founded in 2018 by John Clark and Mackenzie “Mack” Crawford, the company’s CEO.
“Natural features in real estate hold their value above all else,” Clark said. “A commitment to long holding periods unlocks their value.” With more than $100 million capital investment in just its first five years, the mission of Longridge is to protect natural environmental features through long-term investments and sustainable development.
Longridge aims to unlock the potential of properties with these key features and to offer their clients a better quality of life, one that is enhanced by access to these prized outdoor features — properties such as the Pulpit Club, a private golf club that is one of Longridge Partners’ flagship investments, set amid the rolling Caledon Hills just northwest of Toronto. That is where Dolce recently enjoyed a splendid spring day with Mack Crawford, who is also the Pulpit Club’s president.
With its remarkable topography and incredible vistas afforded by its superior location overlooking the Toronto skyline, the Pulpit Club is what is known in golf circles as a “36-holer,” meaning the minute you finish your 18-hole round, you want to turn around and play another 18. It is consistently ranked among the top 25 golf courses in Canada, with Golfweek ranking it as high as No. 13.
While Crawford would describe himself as an OK golfer, he admits he is no Rory McIlroy, which gave him the time and perspective by which to take a broad overview of the Pulpit Club and its offerings, expanding amenities to attract entire families and non-members alike.
“Natural Features In Real Estate Hold Their Value Above All Else, And A Commitment To Long Holding Periods Unlocks Their Value.”
“We made a decision at Pulpit that if we were just competing on golf, we’d just be competing against other golf clubs,” says Crawford, explaining the Longridge strategy. “Where we’ve been able to take Pulpit is in access to nature. That can be through golf, but that can also be through your entire stay at our home retreats, which combine a stay and full access to the club for non-members. We offer kids’ clubs and a swimming pool. Our vision was to see the whole family come to the club and for everyone to enjoy all of our amenities and feel immersed in nature. And this separates us from other private clubs, which typically limit access exclusively to their members and their guests. Our guests have access through our homes, which is quite unique.”
If this insightful perspective on hospitality and deep appreciation of nature seems odd coming from the head of an industry-leading investment company, it is a product of Crawford’s childhood. He was basically born in the great outdoors, which is where he and his partner John Clark still choose to spend their time, and into the hospitality business.
“I grew up in a bed and breakfast on a lake in small-town Ontario,” he explains. “My father was a professional fisherman, which brought us to the country, so we started using our home as a B&B with some of our spare rooms. From a young age I was involved in the business, greeting guests, giving them tours of the home, making their dinner reservations at local restaurants, so hospitality was a part of my upbringing that my parents instilled in me, to have that approach to service. So, the Pulpit Club is a similar version of what I was doing many years earlier in my own home.”
Longridge Partners’ investment approach may seem rather simple, but its innovative strategy, that of recognizing how natural properties will appreciate in value over time as urban areas continue to sprawl, and of making use of what nature provides, has proven extremely lucrative for its clients. Investing in that nature now can help investors realize long-term future returns.
“I can envision quite a lot of scale for the investment management company to pursue other investments, which create realized long-term gains for our investors,” says Crawford. “As development occurs around us, there will be fewer of these nature- set properties, which will keep them in demand. We want to bring this strategy beyond Caledon and Ontario to other markets as well, which will allow us to build out an even larger portfolio of rich, premium properties as high-end assets and allow us to find uses for those properties.”
