Middle Street Breaks Into the BTR Development Scene
The project is taking place alongside a streak of recent investments in the space.
Middle Street Partners and Singerman Real Estate are planning to develop Atlantic St. Thomas, a 71-unit build-to-rent townhouse community located in Charleston, SC. Construction is slated to begin in early 2026.
The development will be at 2815 Clements Ferry Road on Daniel Island, a neighborhood in northern Charleston. For most of its history, farms occupied the area, but since the 1990s, residential properties have been developed in the neighborhood.
Atlantic St. Thomas will offer three-story, two- and three-bedroom townhomes ranging from 1,565 square feet to 2,500 square feet. The units will include single and two-car garages.
Common-area amenities will include a resort-style pool, clubhouse, fitness center, dedicated working space and lounge. The units will sport rooftop terraces as well, providing views of the nearby marsh.
Middle Street Construction will be the development’s general contractor. Terminus Design Group is the architect and Studioforme is drawing up landscaping plans. Sitecast is the project’s civil engineer and Cissell Design Studio its conceptual designer and land planner.
Atlantic St. Thomas is Middle Street’s first BTR community, and will see its first residents in spring 2027. Charleston-based Middle Street is a multifamily development and investment specialist, while Singerman is a Chicago-based real estate investor.
As an investor, Middle Street closed in August on the purchase of Elate Royal Oaks, a 55-plus active adult community in Houston. In April, the company bought on Luxe & Legends Apartments, a 378-unit community in Southern Pines, NC.
There will be more acquisitions: early this year, Middle Street completed a $69 million recapitalization with longtime partner Inceptiv Management. The goal of the deal is to facilitate $1 billion in acquisitions and developments over the next two to three years.
BTR stays the course
Build-to-rent, one of the highest growth sectors of residential real estate in the early 2020s, is still strong. But more recently, the sector has been settling into a more stable pattern, according to a report by multifamily direct lender Arbor.
READ ALSO: 2025 Single-Family Rental Index
Developers started 83,000 BTR units nationwide in 2024, with the pace of construction peaking in the third quarter, and remaining at a slightly lower level since. The number of starts in 2024 was 7.8 percent more than the year before.
The BTR niche fills a need, offering an affordable access point to suburban neighborhoods at a time when for-sale housing supply is tight and the cost of housing is high, Arbor notes.
