Part of the Bilingual Montessori Daycare campus on Trinity Drive. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Columbus Capital founder and CEO Jeff Branch confirmed on Monday the sale of the property at 3500 Trinity Drive in Los Alamos that houses Bilingual Montessori Daycare to Mission Driven Finance.
“For Columbus Capital, this transaction represents more than a real estate sale. It reflects our longstanding belief that successful communities require more than buildings. They need strong families, quality education, essential services, and the infrastructure that allows people to live and work successfully,” Branch said.
He said Los Alamos holds a special place in New Mexico and in the nation’s future.
“Los Alamos National Laboratory plays a critical role in national security, scientific discovery, and technological innovation. Supporting that mission also means supporting the thousands of employees, families, educators, and local businesses who make this community possible,” Branch said. “We recognize that access to quality childcare is an important part of attracting and retaining a talented workforce. We are pleased that this property will be in the hands of an organization whose mission aligns with that community need.”
He confirmed that Columbus Capital remains committed to the long-term success of Los Alamos and the surrounding region.
“We believe the community has tremendous potential, and we look forward to continuing to work with local leaders, businesses, and institutions to help build a vibrant and sustainable future,” Branch said. “Our goal has always been to leave communities better than we found them. We believe this transaction is another step in that direction.”
Laura Kohn, vice president of Care and Education for Mission Driven Finance, the company that purchased the Bilingual Montessori property, chatted with the Los Alamos Reporter Monday afternoon. She confirmed that a property manager will provide direct services to the Bilingual Montessori as a tenant.
“We’re really excited about the partnership that was established between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Bilingual Montessori in the building owned by Jeff Branch’s team. I can’t speak for them but I think they’re really excited to have a buyer who’s really committed to the child care use of the building and keeping the current tenant in place,” Kohn said.
She said Mission Driven Finance is a social impact investment firm that runs social impact funds – funds that they create themselves as well as funds on behalf of clients across the country.
“One of our social impact funds is called CARE Access Real Estate. CARE is a fund that is designed to take impact investor capital and invest in childcare facilities and we lease those facilities to childcare providers as a mission-aligned landlord,” Kohn said. “We launched 3 1/2 years ago and this is our 25th property, and our first childcare property in New Mexico.”
Mission Driven Finance is very excited to find other childcare properties to own in New Mexico.
“One of our investors is the W.C. Kellogg Foundation and they have a really deep commitment to New Mexico and they helped us to figure out how CARE, the fund, could invest in childcare facilities in the state of New Mexico. That all looked really promising so this opportunity showed up for us,” Kohn said.
She said the company looks at the Los Alamos investment as “stabilization”.
“The owner of the building wanted to sell it and it fits better for the childcare system if a childcare commited buyer buys the property. In other instances we hope to buy properties that aren’t yet childcare and transform them into childcare so that it helps expand the supply,” Kohn said.
She noted that Columbus Capital had been great landlords to Bilingual Montessori and partners to LANL. To reach Laura Kohn, call 760-807-1470