The Bascom Group (named after “Bascom Hill,” upon which the University of Wisconsin Business Schools sits) was founded by three University of Wisconsin alumni, Derek Chen, Jerome Fink, and David Kim in 1996 in the midst of the savings and loan meltdown. Their business plan was to acquire and re-position 300 to 500 unit apartment buildings in the midst of the foreclosure and job crisis of the early 1990s in California by creating value-added renovations and community outreach programs. In 1996, the Bascom Group acquired their first property, a 58-unit property later called “Ontario Plaza.” From there, they went on to develop into California, Arizona, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Utah, Texas and other select markets across the U.S.