North Signal and EJF Capital to Develop 510 Acre Industrial Park in South Carolina Opportunity Zone

A joint venture backed by EJF Capital LLC (“EJF”) and North Signal
Capital LLC (“North Signal”) today announced that it has purchased a
510-acre multi-phased industrial complex in western Jasper County, South
Carolina, an area designated as an Opportunity Zone under the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”). Located in Hardeeville, South Carolina,
the complex will service the Port of Savannah (the “Port”) and
surrounding areas, and will be known as RiverPort Commerce Park (the
“Park” or “RiverPort”).

“We are excited to have North Signal and EJF invest in Jasper County.
The site will meet strong tenant demand and support both the growth of
Jasper County and the Port. We have worked closely with the ownership
group over the past year to create an attractive tax environment for
tenants in RiverPort and stand ready to provide further support for
specific tenants bringing high quality jobs and outsized capital
investment to the region. Ultimately, we expect the residents of the
Southern Carolina counties will benefit from improved employment
opportunities at RiverPort Commerce Park,” said Danny Black, President
and CEO of SouthernCarolina Regional Development Alliance
(“SouthernCarolina Alliance”).

“North Signal and EJF have had the foresight to identify the
opportunities for growth in Jasper County at Riverport, an outstanding
industrial site with excellent proximity to ports and interstate,” said
SouthernCarolina Alliance Chairman Marty Sauls, a member of Jasper
County Council. “We appreciate the job creation this development will
bring to our region, and we look forward to the new business
opportunities their investment will produce for our area.”

“The construction of more than four million square feet of industrial
space at Riverport will not only create temporary jobs, it will seed the
businesses that will locate in these industrial buildings and create
permanent jobs, both direct and indirect, in Jasper County,” said Jasper
County Council Chairman Tom Johnson. “We welcome North Signal Capital
and EJF Capital and look forward to working with them for years to come.“

Hardeeville Mayor Harry Williams commented, “We are excited to have
North Signal and EJF invest in the City of Hardeeville. We view
industrial development within RiverPort Commerce Park as an important
first step in the overall development of RiverPort, including the other
commercial and residential areas and ultimately the addition of the
I-95/Exit 3 interchange. We have worked closely with the ownership group
on their conceptual plans including the development of a new public
safety site and acquisition of a new ladder truck which will bring
important services to this area of Hardeeville. Our support for this
project is consistent with this administration’s track record of
development success.”

Neal Wilson, EJF’s Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, said: “We are
pleased to partner with North Signal on the RiverPort development, which
will bring warehousing, distribution and light industrial jobs to Jasper
County. We anticipate that the RiverPort project will provide an
economic boost to Jasper County and look forward to working with Mayor
Williams and the Hardeeville community for the long-term.”

EJF will invest the majority of the equity required for the land
purchase and initial building construction from the EJF OpZone Fund I
LP, an investment vehicle formed in 2018 that exclusively invests in
construction projects in Opportunity Zones. North Signal will manage the
development of the project on a day-to-day basis.

RiverPort Commerce Park

This represents the first industrial development within the master
planned RiverPort property and will be known as RiverPort Commerce Park.
The property is located along US Highway 17 and is less than ten miles
from the Garden City Terminal at the Port of Savannah. The location is
well-situated and closer than many industrial parks on the Georgia side,
allowing easy access to both I-95 and I-16. The first building in the
Park will commence construction in a few months and is currently planned
to be 149,000 square feet.

Asheel Shah, EJF’s Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate
Development, added, “We believe that western Jasper County is an
attractive industrial market with strong underlying growth fundamentals
necessary for a successful multi-year real estate development project.”

Peter Goulding, Partner with North Signal, added, “The property is less
than ten miles from the Georgia Ports Authority, home of the fourth
largest and fastest growing port in the U.S. The opportunity to deliver
attractive occupancy costs to tenants in a market with limited vacancy
while also setting the table for potentially hundreds of new jobs, drove
our investment.”

“We look forward to having North Signal / EJF involved in industrial
development at RiverPort. They will be a great partner to the overall
success of the project. Due to its proximity to the port region and
convenient access to I-95 and Highway 17, RiverPort Business Park is
poised to become one of the Southeast's best logistics centers for
warehousing, distribution and manufacturing use,” David Moore, Senior
Director of Investments Southeastern U.S. at Stratford Land noted.

Port of Savannah

In 2018, the Georgia Ports Authority (“GPA”) reported that Port tonnage
grew by 7.5% over 2017 making Savannah the fastest growing port in the
country. Currently Savannah ranks as the fourth busiest port in the
country behind only Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York/ New Jersey.

“Over the next 10 years, the Georgia Ports Authority plans to grow the
Port of Savannah’s annual capacity by over 40% to 8 million twenty-foot
equivalent container units,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch.
“As customers continue to realize the operational efficiencies and lower
total occupancy costs associated with the Savannah market, there is a
clear need for additional warehouse space.”

The Port’s growth has resulted in a burgeoning industrial market of over
60 million square feet with over seven million feet of leases generated
last year alone. Given the long-term growth prospects of the Port,
industrial warehouse demand is expected to continue to grow for the
foreseeable future.

“The RiverPort Commerce Park represents an exceptional opportunity to
capitalize on the growth that is occurring with the Port of Savannah.
With capacity for more than 4,000,000 SF, RiverPort was the last
multi-building site available within 10-miles of the Port. The location
is ideal, with easy access to the Port and I-95. RiverPort will be a
true Class A industrial park with modern design elements. Building sizes
are expected to range from 150,000 to 800,000 SF. The property is also
unique in the Savannah market with the capacity for a single 2,000,000
SF building. Early interest in RiverPort from both long-standing
Savannah industrial tenants and new tenants to the market has been
strong. We are excited to be a part of this project,” said William
Lattimore, First Vice President with CBRE.

About EJF Capital LLC

EJF is headquartered in the Washington DC area and manages $7.3 billion
in AUM across a variety of alternative asset strategies (as of
12/31/2018). EJF was founded by Manny Friedman and Neal Wilson in 2005
and has additional offices in London and Shanghai. Since inception, EJF
has focused on regulatory driven investment themes within the financial
and real estate sectors. In 2018, EJF hired Asheel Shah to serve as Head
of Real Estate Development. Mr. Shah was previously President and Chief
Investment Officer of the multifamily division of Kettler Inc., a
leading diversified real estate development company based in McLean, VA,
and he brings nearly 20 years of development experience to EJF.

About North Signal Capital LLC

North Signal is a real estate investment and development firm with
offices in Stamford, CT and Charleston, SC. North Signal seeks to
maximize risk-adjusted returns by employing a value-based approach to
real estate investing. North Signal targets investments supported by
long-term secular trends including the growth of e-commerce and
population growth within the Southeastern U.S. For more information
regarding North Signal, please visit www.northsignalcapital.com.

EJF OpZone Fund I

EJF formed the EJF OpZone Fund I LP (the “Fund”) to take advantage of
certain benefits provided by the TCJA. Such benefits to U.S. taxable
investors include the ability for investors to (1) defer recognizing
recent capital gains for federal income tax purposes until 2026
(treatment of state capital gains varies by state), (2) reduce the
amount of capital gains recognized in 2026 by 15% (for investors
investing in 2019 and prior), and (3) eliminate any federal capital
gains tax generated from investments in the Fund (for investments held
in the Fund for ten years). EJF is targeting a capital raise of $300
million to $500 million for the Fund and EJF partners have made a
substantial investment in the Fund.

If you would like more information on EJF or the Fund, please contact
EJF’s Investor Relations group at [email protected].

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