Blackstone Enters $300M BTR Deal

JLL arranged the recapitalization on behalf of the sponsor.

NexMetro Communities has recapitalized an 849-unit single-family rental portfolio in a transaction that valued the collection at $300 million. The four assets are in Phoenix and metro Denver.

The new financing structure includes $160 million in insurance capital invested and managed by Blackstone, as well as a preferred equity investment from Artemis Real Estate Partners. JLL represented NexMetro.

This transaction furthers Blackstone’s entrenchment in the build-to-rent sector. Last year, the company paid $3.5 billion for Toronto-based Tricon Residential—which owned a $1 billion SFR pipeline in the U.S. as of January 2024. Blackstone also paid $6 billion for Home Partners of America in 2021, a company that owned more than 17,000 SFR units at the time.


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The portfolio comprises four Avilla-branded properties, dubbed Canyon, Magnolia, Gateway and Eastlake. The former three are in Phoenix, roughly 17 miles away from the downtown area. Avilla Eastlake is in Thornton, Colo., about 13 miles north of Denver’s city center.

Built between 2021 and 2023, the properties encompass mostly one- to three-bedroom detached, single story, single-family homes for rent averaging 959 square feet. The communities feature swimming pools, outdoor kitchens and dog parks, among other amenities.

The recapitalization allows NexMetro to fuel its growth across key Sun Belt markets. The company has developed more than 9,400 units across nearly 60 projects throughout the nation.

One of the firm’s holdings is Avilla Palomino, a 197-unit single-family rental property in Glendale, Ariz., which NexMetro developed in a joint venture with Mosaic. The community launched last year.

JLL President Kevin MacKenzie and Senior Managing Directors Brad Miner and Michael Joseph, together with Managing Directors Matthew Putterman and Chris Shea, worked on behalf of NexMetro in the recapitalization process.

The oversupplied Phoenix BTR market

The exponential growth of BTR product in select areas led to a market saturation which contributed to a supply-demand imbalance leading to higher vacancy rates, according to Multi-Housing News2025 SFR/BTR outlook.

One of the saturated markets was Phoenix, with more than 12,500 SFR units debuting between 2020 and 2024, Yardi Matrix shows. The metro’s single-family rental occupancy declined 1 percent year-over-year in November and its advertised asking rents contracted by 3.6 percent during the same period, the data provider reported.