Bishop Ridge Case Study

Last updated: March 2026

Case Study: How Concentrated OZ Investment Transformed Bishop Ridge

Bishop Ridge is a neighborhood in North Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas. In 2020, when we made our first acquisition there, it was one of Dallas's highest-crime areas. Within a month of closing on our first building, a drug-related murder in the street was captured on one of our security cameras. The gang unit told us to stay away.

We did not stay away. Over the next five years, we acquired, renovated, and built 25+ properties comprising approximately 1,000 units in a concentrated 3-by-5-block investment area, all under the Opportunity Zone tax structure. Bishop Ridge is now a case study in what happens when an operator commits concentrated, long-duration OZ capital to a single neighborhood rather than scattering it across a national portfolio.

Why This Neighborhood

We did not pick Bishop Ridge from a spreadsheet. We picked it because the fundamentals told a story the crime statistics obscured:

Strategic boundaries. The neighborhood sits within natural boundaries: parks, the Trinity River, a highway, and schools surround the investment area. We could not fix all of Dallas. But we could change the dynamics of this small, bounded pocket if we owned enough of it.

External catalysts. Bishop Arts District, one of Dallas's strongest emerging retail corridors, was developing immediately to the south. Over $1 billion in public infrastructure improvements to parks, roads, and public facilities were planned or underway. The 2018 Opportunity Zone designation of the tract confirmed our thesis.

The critical mass thesis. One property would not be enough to change the trajectory. We needed to own a meaningful share of the housing stock in the target area to shift the neighborhood's trajectory. We started by acquiring 8 blighted apartment buildings from a single absentee seller. They were approximately 30% occupied.

What We Did

Phase 1: Renovation and intensive management. We renovated the initial 8 buildings, brought in professional management, addressed deferred maintenance, and worked with Dallas code enforcement and police to stabilize the area. Crime dropped as occupancy rose.

Phase 2: Expansion through acquisition. As the neighborhood improved, we expanded. By 2021-2022, Bishop Ridge had become a viable investment area, but the broader market had not caught up. We acquired additional properties, leveraging outdated perceptions of the neighborhood to our advantage.

Phase 3: New construction. We began developing new-build multifamily on vacant land within the same OZ tract. New construction satisfies the "original use" test automatically, requiring no substantial improvement threshold. Projects ranged from 42 to 127 units.

Phase 4: Current status. Bishop Ridge now comprises 25+ properties and approximately 1,000 units. The portfolio includes 16 renovated buildings (approximately 424 units) and 7+ new builds (500+ units). The investment area has transformed from a neighborhood people avoided into one that attracts new residents and complementary private investment.

Why the OZ Structure Mattered

Without OZ, this project likely does not exist at the scale we built it.

The 10-year hold requirement was an advantage, not a constraint. Neighborhood transformation takes time. A 3-5 year conventional hold would not have been long enough for the full cycle of renovation, new construction, lease-up, and stabilization. The OZ 10-year requirement forced a long-term view that aligned with what the neighborhood needed.

The appreciation exclusion made the math work. These were not luxury developments with premium rents. The economics of workforce housing in a high-crime area require meaningful rent growth over a decade for the returns to justify the risk. The tax-free appreciation at year 10 made that equation viable.

The depreciation stack compounded the benefit. With 100% bonus depreciation on new construction, investors received significant Year 1 paper losses. In a qualifying OZ exit, the depreciation recapture that would normally unwind those deductions is eliminated entirely through the FMV step-up. The depreciation effectively functions as a permanent tax credit.

What This Shows About OZ Design

Bishop Ridge illustrates several principles that apply beyond this specific neighborhood:

Concentrated investment works differently than scattered capital. National OZ funds that deploy $5M into 20 different cities create 20 isolated projects. Concentrated deployment creates a network effect. Each building we renovated made the next acquisition more viable. Each new build attracted additional private investment from other developers.

OZ designation is necessary but not sufficient. The tract was designated in 2018. Nothing happened until an operator showed up with capital, local relationships, and the willingness to manage through a difficult first 18 months. Designation opens the door. Execution walks through it.

The operator's risk is real. This was not passive investing. We were managing properties in a high-crime area, dealing with code enforcement, coordinating with police, and navigating construction in a neighborhood with no recent development track record. The OZ tax structure rewarded that risk. That is exactly how the program was designed to work.