Cornerstone.
Own where you live.

Cities are shaped by the people who live in them. They bring energy, community, and value to the places we call home. But too often, when that value grows, the people who helped create it don't share in the upside.

Cornerstone offers a different path: a direct stake in the place residents already call home — one building, one share, and one community at a time.

Rent is high nearly everywhere, and homeownership can feel like a door that's closing rather than opening. What if you didn't have to buy a whole house to start owning something — just a piece of the place you already call home?

That's what Cornerstone does: it lets you hold real equity in the building you alreayd live in, so some of that value stays with the neighborhood that makes the building worth owning in the first place.

How it could work

01
Intentional
Structure

A building becomes part of Cornerstone, structured with renter ownership in mind.

02
Ownership
Growth

Over time, residents will have the option to buy equity shares, growing their collective ownership in the building.

03
Transparency
and Alignment

Resident-investors see how the building performs — and share in the upside, from dividends to appreciation.

Sound like something you're interested in?

We're collecting interest from renters, owners, and investors as we build Cornerstone. It takes two minutes, no commitment — just tell us you're interested.

Share your interest

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime.

  • Cornerstone is structured under California's crowdfunding exemption (Corporations Code Section 25102(r)), a state law that lets companies raise money from everyday California residents — not just accredited investors. You can read more directly from the sources:

  • Resident-investors (like other investors) take a limited partner (LP) position in the entity that owns the property. That means you share in the economic upside — dividends and sale proceeds — but you don't have a say in day-to-day management or major financial decisions like refinancing or the timing and terms of a sale. Those decisions rest with the managing partner.

  • Generally, no — this is meant to be a long-term investment, and the property itself may not sell for 10+ years from your first share purchase.

  • Share price and minimum investment amounts are set for each individual property, within the limits of California's crowdfunding exemption (linked above). We anticipate that a typical share will start around $2,500.

  • The intent is for participation to work alongside your lease. This is a voluntary program where, for each year a renter is in good standing, they will be eligible to purchase shares of equity.

  • San Diego. It has one of the highest shares of renters of any major U.S. metro — the fourth-highest in the nation — and even renters paying market rent are often priced out of buying the median home here. That gap is exactly what Cornerstone is built for, so we're focused on finding well-performing or value-add multifamily properties in San Diego to get started.

  • No. Cornerstone is currently gauging interest. If a formal offering opens for your building, you'll get complete legal and financial disclosures before you're asked to put in any money.

  • Cornerstone is developed by Dr. Kate Gasparro, founder of Building Better Cities — and a San Diego renter herself. Cornerstone is based on her extensive research on crowdfunding in the built environment. Beyond that, Kate's career has been built around mission-driven work: helping deliver projects that change people's lives and the cities we live in. Cornerstone is built the same way she approaches everything else — context-specific and human-centered.

Why Cornerstone?

Homeownership is one of the most reliable ways American families build wealth — but it's increasingly out of reach, and the gap it leaves behind is stark. Homeowners now hold a median of nearly $390,000 more wealth than renters, a gap that's grown 70% over the past three decades.

It's not that renters save less by choice. Rising rents leave little room to save at all — renters' typical savings have stayed nearly flat for years, while homeowners' have climbed.

Cornerstone is a way to open that door from the inside: building real equity in the place you already live.

This page is informational. Cornerstone is not currently offering securities for sale, and nothing here is an offer, solicitation, or promise of investment return.