Partners Brian Albers and Mario Brown met at the Leadership Greenville Program in 2016. That year, like all, the members of LG took an intensive look at many pressing issues in Greenville County. Most notably, the shortage of affordable housing. At the time, the city claimed to lack a whopping 2,500 affordable units. Inspired by the need and opportunity, Mario and Brian decided to combine their respective experience in investing and construction to tackle this issue head-on. Together, they formed Affordable Upstate to address the affordable housing shortage with a positive, people-centric approach to real estate investing. The founders aspire to redefine affordable/workforce housing in their community through the acquistion, redevelopment, and preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing for individuals living at 50-80% of the average median income.

Their first project began with the purchase and repositioning of 63 multifamily units in Greenville in 2017. Today, they own over 1400 units of affordable/workforce housing in Greenville and Spartanburg. By overlaying affordable housing incentives within their market projects, the pair are able to generate outsized returns for investors while preserving housing affordability for both new and existing tenants.

Believing that the essence of Leadership Greenville is to pair personal and business strengths and resources with real community needs, Brian and Mario have collaborated with several of their fellow LG classmates within their projects:

Tina Belge - Affordable Housing Advocacy, Non profit partnerships.

Greenville Housing Fund

Tulia Scott - Architectural Design & Planning

Registered Architect at Moody Nolan

Eric Morris - Capital Investments, Deal Structuring

The Morris Group @ Truist Investment Services, Inc.

Mike Pennington - Capital Improvements & Redevelopment

Zen Development

Their experience in Leadership Greenville empowered Mario and Brian to develop a lasting partnership, leveraging their flagship skills, experience and network to impact a critical community need.