"We are anticipating investors will make between 16 percent and 19 percent annualized returns over three to five years," he said, adding the average investor put in $250,000, but the range was between $10,000 and $1 million among 250 equity investors from the crowd.
Real estate equity crowdfunded projects are a top draw in the U.S., according to Crowdnetic, a data-driven interactive platform tracking equity investments in projects in real time. Today the company, in partnership with CNBC, launched the CNBC Crowdfinance Real Estate Average. It is a daily arithmetic average of total capital commitments in excess of $1,000 raised by private U.S. companies listed on Crowdnetic. These equity sites are CrowdStreet, EarlyShares, LendZoan, Patch of Land, Prodigy Network, RealCrowd, Realty Mogul, RealPartner, Return on Change and SeedInvest.
Companies on the average represent the following real estate sectors: development; online services; investments; property management; rental and leasing; residential construction; green construction and manufactured housing.
Read MoreCNBC Crowdfinance Real Estate Average
Luan Cox, CEO of Crowdnetic, said real estate projects in particular have drawn $130 million from the crowd in the U.S. from September 2013 through the end of 2014, making it a leading sector.
"Real estate is especially attractive because of the hard asset behind it," Cox said. "It's perceived to be less risky, and the returns are pretty good."
And final rules are expected from the Securities and Exchange Commission on Title III of the JOBS Act later this year, which would allow both accredited and non-accredited investors alike to put cash into projects like 17 John. Real estate equity raises, however, will be capped at $1 million and under if the rules stay as they are currently written, Cox said.
Regardless, opening up the market to those who do not meet accreditation thresholds means more cash from the crowd, a win for entrepreneurs, she explained.