CWS

History of Clayton, Williams and Sherwood

In 1969, Jim Clayton and Bill Williams raised capital from family and friends to purchase a small apartment community in Huntington Beach, California. Jim and Bill personally invested in the property and managed it themselves. In the early 1970's Jim and Bill saw an investment opportunity in under valued mobile home parks in Texas, offering potential for growth in equity, with less risk than apartments. Sharing their vision, Steve Sherwood teamed with Bill and Jim in 1977 to create the firm of Clayton, Williams, and Sherwood. Over the next several years, the three partners embarked on an ambitious investment campaign. They acquired additional mobile home parks in Texas and other Sun Belt states. By 1986, Clayton, Williams, and Sherwood had become the largest owner and operator of mobile home parks in the United States.

In 1990, as the equity in the mobile home parks in Florida and California matured, CWS repositioned equity from these parks into apartment communities in Austin, Texas. When opportunity shifted to new construction as the region flourished, CWS developed luxury apartment communities. In late 1998, CWS formed a private REIT with Security Capital Group, and transferred their manufactured housing portfolio to form CWS Communities. The remaining entities now operate under the parent company of CWS Capital Partners, LLC.