SAN ANTONIO – Another build-to-rent development is underway in the San Antonio area.
As the cost of housing and the elevation of interest rates turn some off of homebuying, more developers are working to supply a product that emulates home living with the flexibility of an apartment. Houston-based real estate investor Urban Genesis recently broke ground on a crop of build-to-rent homes in Stone Oak.
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Dubbed Oasis at Stone Oak, the company is starting vertical work on the 284-unit community. The firm — working with Connecticut real estate investor Grandview Partners as a strategic partner — recently received a $46.3 million loan from U.S. Bank to help finance the project. Urban Genesis CEO Matt Shafiezadeh told the Business Journal that the rest of the project would be funded with an undisclosed amount of equity.
He said the houses in this community will be “alley-served” as opposed to having street-facing garages. The unit mix will be 40% one-bedroom, 20% two-bedroom and 40% three-bedroom. Exact rents weren’t given, though Shafiezadeh indicated that average rents would be an average of 20% to 40% lower than the monthly cost of homeownership in the Stone Oak submarket.
“We’re really trying to go after the barbell of demand for neighborhoods such as the Stone Oak school district and submarket where we’re able to offer more of an attainable home for someone that’s essentially looking to enter their first home or a downsizing baby boomer looking for the conveniences of a renting model ... and not feel like they’re moving into a senior housing facility,” he said in an interview.
The leasing strategy will be approached like a single-family community as opposed to an apartment complex.
“We don’t have very aggressive leasing windows. We want to get the right tenants and obviously phase it in a manner that makes sense for the constructibility of the project,” he said.
The project will be delivered in phases, with the first batch of homes scheduled for delivery in 15 months. Three more phases are expected to be completed in five-month intervals after the initial phase.
Shafiezadeh said the firm is working to identify land in the La Cantera and The Rim areas for similar development opportunities.
You can read the full the story in the San Antonio Business Journal.
Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.