RangeWater Launches $800M SFR Platform
The Sunbelt-focused multifamily firm plans to build and operate roughly 15 single-family rental home communities.
The Armory in Boulder. Rendering courtesy of RangeWater Real Estate
Multifamily firm RangeWater Real Estate has launched a new build-to-rent single-family platform, Storia, with plans to deploy $800 million in the business over the next 18 months. Under the new strategy, the company intends to build roughly 15 communities in Sunbelt metros where it already operates.
The announcement marks the latest large-scale bet on the single-family rental (SFR) sector, following the acquisition of Front Yard Residential Corp. by Pretium and Ares Management Corp. in a roughly $2.4 billion deal last month. Privately owned RangeWater, formerly known as Pollack Shores Real Estate Group, manages a portfolio of more than 50,000 multifamily units across 10 states and has offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Tampa, Fla.
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The company will kick off the Storia portfolio with Beacon, a 197-home community in Flowery Beach, Ga., near Lake Lanier. RangeWater closed on the 51-acre site in July and has since broken ground on the detached single-family home property, which will deliver the first units in the second quarter of 2021.
RangeWater made its first foray into the SFR sector last year with two rental townhome developments, The Armory in Boulder and Maverick in Atlanta. The Armory, a 23-building project that will bring 201 units of apartments and townhomes, started construction in October 2019. The company said it would bring its expertise in managing Class A communities to building and operating the new platform.
Sector heats up
Investors are growing more interested in the niche real estate asset class. On the same day that the Front Yard Residential sale was announced, global real estate investment management firm Rockpoint Group said it had formed a $250 million joint venture with Atlanta-based SFR owner and operator Resicap. The partners plan to purchase, renovate and lease 4,500 and 5,000 homes in suburban Sunbelt neighborhoods.
Also in October, Haven Realty Capital and an affiliate of Walton Street Capital LLC partnered to acquire six SFR communities in the Atlanta area for $133.7 million, while Nuveen Real Estate recently announced it was investing up to $400 million in a new Sunbelt-focused SFR startup called Sparrow.
