What would have been for-sale townhomes near Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh will now be for rent as the partially-developed community has changed ownership.
M/I Homes (NYSE: MHO) of Ohio was the initial developer behind Altair, an 88-unit townhome community off Blue Ridge Road, and had plans to sell the two- and three-bedroom homes in the high $300,000s.
But on March 29, M/I Homes sold all the lots, including the 17 already finished homes, to a joint venture between PCCP, a NY-based finance and investment management firm, and Abode Communities, a build-to-rent company under Edgewater Ventures of Raleigh, according to Wake County deed records.
The two companies paid $7.663 million for the 14 acres and 17 finished homes at 3709 Nova Star Lane. Edgewater Ventures Principal Justin Good said that eventually, PCCP and Abode Communities will purchase all of the homes after M/I Homes finishes building them. The remaining 71 townhomes will be delivered in phases with an anticipated completion by the end of 2023. Full buyout will be complete by the end of 2023.
The deal signifies that national homebuilders are still willing to walk away from projects that may not carry enough of a benefit to take to completion – a scenario that’s become more common amid the slowdown in the housing market. Elsewhere, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) recently backed out of a 551-home residential development in Rolesville.
M/I Homes did not respond to inquiries for this story.
The Altair community has been renamed to Abode at Kerr Ridge and will now offer rentable townhomes starting in the upper $2,000s per month. Good said leasing has already started with first move-ins happening by May, leasing and move-ins will continue throughout the year as homes are completed.
The homes will be two and three bedrooms ranging from 1,485 to 1,721 square feet on average. Each home will feature high-end finishes such as quartz countertops and stainless-steel gas stoves and have a two-car garage with EV chargers. There will also be a dog park and outdoor lounge area. Residents will have access to the greenway and the community will hold bi-monthly events with food trucks.
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Abode Communities has two other build-to-rent communities in the Triangle — one in Fuquay-Varina and one in Downtown Raleigh. Good said they continues to seek acquisition and development opportunities in the Triangle.
Abode Communities specializes in build-to-rent single-family communities, both acquisition and development. It has more than $475 million in capitalized projects underway across 13 different communities.
PCCP is a real estate finance and investment management firm focused on commercial real estate debt and equity investments. It has $21 billion of assets under management.
