Our
History
Our story
ArtHaus Partners', formerly Riaz Capital, roots go back two generations
Riaz Taplin grew up in real estate. In the late 1970s, his father was among the first entrepreneurs to convert San Francisco buildings into condominiums, teaching Riaz the value of mastering a niche with lasting demand. The family business thrived through boom times but was tested by black swan events—from soaring interest rates in the early '80s to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and recession that followed.
By 16, Riaz had already sold his first "flipper," only to watch the Asian financial crisis disrupt the deal. These early experiences instilled in him a deep respect for risk management and resilience—principles that continue to guide Riaz Capital today.
Timeline
Founder Riaz Taplin's father Russ Taplin launches Pasco for condo conversions in San Francisco
• Condo Conversion Era- 1977-1989, Starts with Founder Riaz Taplin's father Russ Taplin launches Pasco completes 400 condo conversions in San Francisco ends with the 1989 Quake with Taplin's Losing a Condo building in Marina District of San Francisco
Russ Taplin, a Stanford graduate, does hourly construction work to supplement family income
• Earthquake Recovery 1989-1995, Russ Taplin rebuilds building in the Marina district using SBA funds making it the first Condo building rebuilt West of the Mississippi with SBA Funds
Condo conversion less in Pacific Heights and Russian Hill
• Beginning of Luxury Development, 1997, Riaz Taplin, 16, sells his first 'flipper' in Burlingame CA, but for zero profit due to the Asian Financial Crisis
Earthquake demolishes Taplin family property in San Francisco
• Pivot to Multi-Family Housing 1998-2001, trade remaining condos to acquire 100+ units of multifamily properties. Passive rental income from these cushioned the impact of the dot-com bust
Trade a Handful of Condos to Acquire 100+ units of multifamily buildings. Passive rental income from these cushioned the impact of the dot-com bust
• Luxury Development Years, 2003-2008, Develop contemporary luxury homes selling the last one 15 days before Lehman collapses
By 2001, the Taplin family had acquired 100+ units in multifamily buildings. Passive rental income from these cushioned the impact of the dot-com bust
• Dot-com bust - Nasdaq falls by 78% from its peak by October 2002
• Passive income from multiple properties and units is central to building a stable portfolio of assets
Riaz starts a new business designing and building luxury properties in San Francisco; grows NOA Design Build to $20 million in revenue
• Federal reserve under Alan Greenspan drops interest rates dramatically, triggering a housing boom
• Riaz defines his contemporary sense of style; learns to optimize time, cost and quality
Riaz manages to sell a newly developed home after a nervous wait, 15 days before Lehman Brothers collapses
• Financial crisis and Great Recession triggered by sub-prime mortgage bust
• Over-reliance on a single event or asset is a flawed strategy
Riaz strikes highly profitable lease-option deals
• Cratered real-estate values in the aftermath of the financial crisis
• When others are fearful, often there is opportunity
Riaz has an epiphany about micro-units for workforce housing; first micro-unit in 2012. Number of tenants grows from 80 to 400 from 2010 to 2012. Raises first fund & purchases multiple transactions. Future leaders and partners Paul DiCarlo, Max Reshulsky, and Seth Lang join the business
• A buyer's market with prices well under replacement cost
Riaz exits luxury housing to focus on workforce multifamily. Number of tenants grows to 800 by 2016. 945 units transacted on in the two years till 2016. Developed adaptive reuse strategy
• Creation of the Affordable by Design Strategy, 2018-2020, Raise first workforce housing fund with a focused on how to effectively service single income professionals in urban environment and start construction and complete first series of projects
Developed affordable-by-design (ABD) concept. Raised ABD Fund 1
• Opportunity Zone Funds, 2019-2021, Raise over $200mn to extend workforce housing strategy adding hundreds of millions of Deployment Capacity. Focus in on how to leverage state housing laws to create workforce housing
Started ground-up acquisitions for ABD Fund 1. Began Fund 2 raise
• Pivot from Covid, 2020-2024, Diversify into Student Housing and Affordable Housing as well as expanding to Berkeley, Fremont, Alameda, San Diego and Santa Cruz. As well as a large number of deliveries growing the portfolio to over 2000 units with another ~2000 in the pipeline
Riaz Capital weathers the pandemic with 94% occupancy between April 2020 and April 2021. Closed Fund 2 raise
• ArtHaus Multi-Family Platform 2025 Onwards, 4000 unit Real Estate Asset Management, Operating and Development Platform focused on entry level housing including student, affordable, workforce and classic apartments with substantial inhouse design, entitlement, construction management and finance expertise
Riaz Capital rents to 1,500 tenants. ~1,700 units currently under development. $100 million Fund 3 announced
Ozone fund III closes at $125M. 4 sites acquired. In fund III, there are ~450 residences under development and another ~3,500 in the pipeline
3 sites acquired. 140 units completed & ready for lease. Riaz Capital has 471 units under construction & 1,625 units in the pipeline
Distressed Value-Add Fund Announced. ArtHaus Brush, ArtHaus Chestnut, and ArtHaus Ninth launch
ArtHaus 820 launches
ArtHaus Dwight and ArtHaus Telegraph launch
Entry into Multifamily Housing
Starting in 1998, the Taplin family began acquiring and managing a portfolio of multifamily properties — i.e., workforce housing — in Oakland. The dotcom bust of the early 2000s dented the business without seriously damaging it — a consequence of steady passive income from a diversified portfolio of a hundred units. The contrast with the zero-profit Burlingame flipper was stark. Looking back, Riaz muses, "Having a source of passive cash-flow became an anchor in my understanding of how to build a stable portfolio of assets."
The Hard Grind of the Luxury Years
After graduating from the London School of Economics in 2003, Riaz established his own firm developing high-end residences in San Francisco. As a one-man operation, these years forced Riaz to learn every dimension of the business. He was multiple departments - design, permitting, financing, construction management and sales - all rolled into one. Armed with nothing more than a cell phone, a dump truck and his morning latte, he grew this solo operation to ~$20 million in sales by 2006.
These three years proved to be Riaz's proverbial 10,000 hours. By age 25, Riaz had built a reputation for high-end luxury with a contemporary aesthetic. Riaz says of this period, "I learned how to optimize time, cost and quality. Regardless of people telling me I could only have two out of the three, I always insisted on all three."
A (Financial) Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Riaz's focus on the luxury end of real estate came to an abrupt end during the financial crisis of 2008. Riaz was lucky to sell his last luxury home fifteen days before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, after it sat on the market for what felt like the longest two months of his life. This cliffhanger resurrected the ghosts of the Burlingame flipper, and once again exposed the flaws of overdependence on a single asset or transaction.
This latest black-swan event brought home the importance of cycle-resistant investments with strong cash flows. Riaz took to heart the lesson that economic cycles are a reality and often triggered by black-swan events. In Riaz's words, "There's nothing more unsafe than a perfectly safe environment."
This period of devastation presented opportunities as well. Cratered real-estate values and the prevalent fear in the real-estate market led Riaz to strike lease option deals on under-valued properties. The subsequent, and highly profitable, purchase-and-sales were a lesson in the importance of business fundamentals over group-think and emotion.
Luxury Meets Multi-family
In 2011, the demand-supply gap in affordable housing for the Bay Area's middle-income workforce led to Riaz's epiphany about micro-units as a solution to the crisis. This solution brought together his experience in luxury and workforce-multifamily in the form of high quality units at an affordable price. This was the final impetus for Riaz to exit the luxury market to focus on workforce housing.
The business grew in scale - from 80 to 800 tenants in the six years to 2016 and with 945 units being transacted between 2014 and 2016. The Arthaus Partners team developed its strategy of converting local jewels into stylish yet affordable residences. This strategy of adaptive reuse was built on developing the capability and relationships to move opportunistically and quickly, with financing available on tap, whenever a desirable property became available for purchase.
This was also a period of evolution. With Zen-like focus, the team at Arthaus Partners accumulated valuable insights through a build-operate-learn-iterate process on multiple housing solutions for the urban workforce including historic micros, student housing, co-living, micro-studios, and conventional multifamily before arriving at our current model of micro-living.
Weathering the Pandemic
When yet another black-swan event hit in the form of Covid-19, our resilient model helped us weather the ensuing changes in the real estate market more effectively than our competitors, with 95% average occupancy between April 2020 and April 2021.