Bell Partners Closes $1.3B Multifamily Fund

Bell Partners’ Bell Lighthouse Point property in Pompano Beach, Fla. Image courtesy of Bell Partners

Bell Partners has raised well over $1 billion with its latest multifamily fund. The investment vehicle, Value-Add Fund VIII, has closed, hitting its hard cap of $1.3 billion and securing equity commitments from a range of domestic and international investors.

Initial marketing for Fund VIII began in June 2022. Most of the commitments came from investors in the firm’s previous funds. Hodes Weill Securities was exclusive global placement agent for Bell Partners.

Like its predecessor funds, Fund VIII will utilize a value-add investment strategy that will aim to acquire well-located, quality market-rate apartments in 14 target markets across the U.S.: Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Dallas, Texas, Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., and Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa, Fla.

Bell Partners’ Bell Westford property in Westford, Mass. Image courtesy of Bell Partners

With leverage, Fund VIII has an investment capacity of approximately $3.2 billion. The fund has lined up its first acquisition opportunity, securing a purchase agreement and aiming to close later this summer. Bell Partners plans to add value to acquired properties through renovations, enhanced operations and investment into surrounding neighborhoods.

Joe Cannon, executive vice president of portfolio management at Bell Partners, said in prepared remarks that the apartment market’s fundamentals are still solid and the firm is confident that multifamily housing will be able to handle changing market conditions.

Prior to Fund VIII, Bell Partners closed on its Bell Apartment Fund VII at $950 million in June 2020. That investment vehicle acquire assets that included two communities in North Carolina totaling 544 units and four communities in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles.

In February 2022, Bell Partners closed on its Bell Core Fund I that raised nearly the same amount at $930 million. That fund garnered commitments from domestic and international institutional investors and acquired eight properties.