Managing Partner of 548 Capital and Solar Chicago Fund, AJ Patton, Named to Midwest Energy News' 40 Under 40 Award

September 18, 2019 - Chicago, IL-AJ Patton, Managing Partner and CEO of 548 Capital, has been named to Midwest Energy News' 40 Under 40 award program for 2019.

Introduced in 2015, the program highlights the region's emerging leaders and their work in America's transition to a clean energy economy. Each year, Midwest Energy News receives hundreds of nominations of Midwest-based leaders and innovators across sectors, including industry, government, regulatory, business, academic, and advocacy.

Recipients and past honorees will be welcomed at a closed reception this Monday, September 23, where Robin Amer, host, creator and executive producer of USA TODAY's investigative podcast The City, will be a featured speaker (tickets are not available to the general public).

See the full list of Midwest Energy News' 2019 40 Under 40 honorees here.

ABOUT 548 CAPITAL AND SOLAR CHICAGO FUND

Solar Chicago is a new ESG and social impact fund creating sustainable, affordable housing as part of the largest low-income solar project in the country. As the initial fund of 548 Capital, Solar Chicago Fund utilizes the credits and subsidies around solar energy and energy-efficient housing to create sustainable, affordable accommodations tied to community solar projects. The fund utilizes innovative construction technology for efficient builds as part of a community renewable energy grid. The result enables financially insecure families to save on their utility expenses.

Managing Partner and CEO Robert "A.J." Patton is an accomplished finance and sales expert with more than a decade of experience in investment banking, endowment management, and real estate analysis. Patton obtained a B.S. in Finance from Indiana State University (ISU). After a ten-year career at Equities First, LLC, a private equity firm, Patton left in May 2016 to found 548 Capital, LLC, a $100 million-dollar fund focused on creating solar-powered affordable housing. Its initial fund, Solar Chicago Fund, will build 3,000 sustainable, multi-family housing units in Chicago's south and west sides.

Says Patton, "As a child, my mother once received a gas bill for over $400 due to a hole in our roof we couldn't afford to fix. She was making $10 an hour, so that bill sat unpaid. Our gas was shut off, and we boiled water for baths for almost an entire year. The direct and far-reaching impact of energy inefficient housing has stayed with me." Patton continues, "With Solar Chicago Fund, we set out to create a blueprint for how to invest in at-risk neighborhoods without gentrifying or displacement. There's a belief that in order to make a place better, it needs to replace people—and that's incorrect. Our goal is to empower current residents to participate in the ascension of their existing community."

Last quarter, Patton and 548 Capital partners raised over $5M, put 100 units under contract, and began construction on their first sustainable housing site: Auburn Gresham, located in Chicago's South Side.

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