By Angela Gonzales
Two out-of-state developers plan to build nearly 2,000 build-to-rent units across metro Phoenix — bringing a unique approach to the wildly popular niche that originated in Arizona and is taking the country by storm.
Palm Desert, California-based Family Development currently has nearly 1,000 units at some level of construction, while Atlanta-based Trilogy Investment Co. has plans to match that number.
Family Development, which has been building for-sale homes in Arizona since 2012, entered the BTR space in 2018. The company is breaking ground on two new luxury lease communities in Litchfield Park and Goodyear within gated communities with resort-like amenities and their own back yards.
Atlanta-based Trilogy Investment Co. is building rental units in a 3-story townhome model with garages, offering a different option for renters and allowing the developer to fit more units on a smaller land parcel.
When Mesa-based Christopher Todd Communities and Phoenix-based NexMetro Communities introduced the build-to-rent market to metro Phoenix, they were buying 20-acre parcels on the periphery of the Valley, allowing them to build detached, single-family homes — or horizontal apartments — with their own mini back yards.
Valley is 30% of Trilogy’s pipeline
Jason Joseph, CEO and managing partner of Trilogy Investment Co., said he sees an undersupply of attached town homes as a rental option in Phoenix, Avondale and Prescott Valley, where he’s building.
“It doesn’t exist in Prescott Valley,” he said. “It creates a competitive advantage and option for the renter.”
Trilogy started buying land last year and plans to break ground on three projects in Avondale, one in Phoenix and two in Prescott Valley.
The first to break ground will be the 84-unit Encanto Villas on seven acres at the corner of Encanto Boulevard an N. Avondale Boulevard in Avondale. Trilogy partnered with Cimbra Capital on this project.
Joseph said he expects to have his building permits ready by April to break ground in May.
Each project will have its own capital partner, with total development costs in Avondale to exceed $150 million, Joseph said.
“Outside of that, as we get into Phoenix and Prescott, we can easily double that amount,” he said.
Trilogy also is building in six other states, with metro Phoenix representing 30% of its construction pipeline.
“We still have a big belief in what Phoenix is doing with the industry coming there and industry currently there,” Joseph said.
But not all of Trilogy’s products will be town homes.
Its project at Avondale Station will feature all detached single-family homes.
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