Started by Nate Helbach in 2020, Neutral is a Madison-based real estate development company focusing on carbon-neutral and sustainable building practices. Just a few years later, they’re up to six projects and 21 employees. Their unique multi-residential homes are being built in Madison, Milwaukee, and Northwest Arkansas. They are also in pre-development phases for locations in the Bay Area. CEO and Partner Nate Helbach joined us for a quick chat about what’s going on at Neutral.
What does sustainability mean for Neutral?
When we talk about sustainability, we're looking at it through the lens of what is regenerative versus what is degenerative. Our buildings are designed to implement regenerative practices and promote a circular ecosystem.
We use mass timber as our primary structural material. Turning a tree into a wood product that can be used in a building becomes a carbon storage mechanism. Our goal is to prioritize the use of renewable building materials wherever possible, while minimizing the reliance on unsustainable options such as concrete. We’re always iterating on the available technology to reach our thesis of neutral structures.
Our Milwaukee building that we'll be starting construction on in Spring of 2025 will be 32 stories and the world's tallest mass timber structure. It will be all multifamily residential and located downtown.
What’s the environment like in the spaces you create?
We look at several ways to improve our occupants' health, comfort, and well-being.
We use healthy, thoughtful materials in the interiors of our buildings, and we have systems that create and keep a healthy environment throughout the building. In a typical building, you're breathing around 650 to 750 carbon dioxide parts per million compared to 250 to 350 parts per million outside. With a specialized HVAC system in our buildings, our carbon dioxide count is somewhere around 550, giving our occupants better air inside.
To further support the health and longevity of our tenants we partner with local fitness providers. As part of the leasing process, our tenants receive a comprehensive fitness diagnostic. So when someone signs a lease at our building, they meet with a personal trainer, nutritionist, and on-staff doctor and receive recommendations on how to best look after their long-term health.
We also partner with local farmers, who deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to the building on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so the tenants can be a part of the community farm share. And, all of our properties have vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens onsite.
It's all part of the tenant experience.
What kind of neighborhoods do you look for?
We hold fast to the idea of new urbanism. When doing our site research, we look for areas where our residents can be part of tight-knit walkable areas in downtown cores, not some white box in a cornfield.
I love the idea of a 15-minute neighborhood where someone has access to all of their daily needs within a 15-minute walk. Someone could grab a coffee, go to work, get their groceries, maybe get a workout in and then have dinner and drinks with friends, all within a 15-minute walk of their home.
It's about creating spaces and creating homes for people to live where they want to live and really enjoy living.
How can people get involved?
Our investment model allows any accredited investor to invest in our properties, and it's a really easy process. On our website, we have this “Invest with Us" button, where you can sign up, view all the deals, see all the due diligence and legal documents, and then be able to execute and fund an investment right there. You can also schedule a time to talk with one of our Capital Markets team members to discuss the investment opportunities further. Our capital markets team also hosts luncheon events for interested investors to hear a presentation about Neutral, the company, and our current investment opportunities.
And, if you're looking for an apartment, there are two buildings that we have under construction right now in downtown Madison. One will open up in April of 2025, and then the other will open up in July of 2025.