DENVER — McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc., a 35-year-old development and investment company that broke onto the Northern Colorado scene more than two decades ago with the Centerra master-planned project in Loveland, has rebranded as Realberry, a nod to the firm’s fruit stand roots.
“The name Realberry draws from the company’s earliest chapter, a small berry stand run by brothers Chad and Troy McWhinney, and reflects the connection between the company’s earliest beginnings and our ongoing commitment to transparent, timely communication with investors,” the company said in a news release.
In the mid-1980s, the brothers ran McWhinney Berries along a Southern California roadway, where they hawked fruit produced by a farmer who leased Orange County fields owned by the McWhinney family. By 1991, McWhinney Berries peaked, operating 28 stands that employed 75 people and churned more than $1 million in sales during a four-month season.
The McWhinneys then turned their focus to real estate development, and in following decades their company has been involved in a number of high-profile projects such as Broomfield’s Baseline and Denver’s Union Station.
“For over three decades, our work has centered on unlocking possibility,” Realberry co-founder and CEO Chad McWhinney said in the news release. “This next step honors where we began while expanding who we serve. Realberry will seek to marry deep real estate expertise with technology and connect accredited investors to real estate assets. The real difference here is that we’re not a tech company trying to figure out real estate. We are a longstanding real estate investor and developer seeking to leverage tech to drive greater access and transparency for accredited investors.”
Alongside the rebrand, Realberry is executing a “strategic shift in the company’s investment approach, aimed at expanding access to high-quality real estate opportunities and broadening wealth-building pathways for accredited investors nationwide,” according to the release.
Realberry “believes its decision to move toward expanded access is reinforced by the growing number of accredited investors in the U.S.,” the company said. “… At the same time, the credit lending environment remains challenging, increasing demand for diversified capital structures. Realberry’s model responds to these trends by providing qualified investors access to information about real estate opportunities and by supporting sponsors with a broader potential capital base.”
The first project that the company will make available to its expanded investor pool is Red Hawk Crossings, a 60-unit residential development in Castle Rock.
“We’ve always believed that real estate can be a long-term, value-creating asset class,” Chad McWhinney said in the release. “We believe Realberry positions us to share those opportunities more broadly, with the same level of rigor and discipline that has defined our work from the start.”