Crescent Communities and Heitman Announce Joint Venture Partnership Under Crescent's HARMON Portfolio

Partnership will invest an initial $235 million across a portfolio of single-family build-to-rent developments throughout key sunbelt markets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. and CHICAGO, May 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Crescent Communities, Heitman, and a state pension fund separate account today announced the formation of a joint venture to invest in the HARMON by Crescent Communities single-family build-to-rent platform across 14 key strategic growth markets, with a $235 million initial investment in projects across North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona, set to begin construction this spring.

The venture's communities will become part of the HARMON by Crescent Communities brand, which focuses on offering a premier rental experience with the benefits traditionally associated with single-family living – including privacy, extra living space, and a sense of community pride – without the friction of homeownership. Together, Crescent Communities and Heitman will leverage their collective experience and track records across industry sectors to establish new and support existing communities of differentiated, high-quality housing options in attractive sunbelt markets.

"The expanding relationship with Heitman during a very challenging capital markets environment is a testament to this growing sector and the confidence in our brand," said Tony Chen, senior managing director of Single-Family Build-to-Rent at Crescent Communities. "This partnership further cements Crescent Communities as a leader in our field, implementing our vision of how rental communities should be designed, developed, and operated, and successfully – and consistently – delivering high-quality communities."

Residents will have the option to choose from a combination of three- and four-bedroom townhomes or detached single-family houses, and each community will include unique amenities and features with engaging spaces to encourage residents to fully immerse themselves in the neighborhood. Every home will be energy and water efficient, offering residents a greater degree of comfort and lower utility bills. 

"We are excited to kick off this venture with Crescent Communities as we believe demand fundamentals for single-family rental housing will continue to grow at an attractive pace," says Brian Pieracci, Head of North America Private Equity at Heitman. "Over the next decade, we expect a growing number of older millennials and retirees to rent as median home prices have grown at twice the pace of median incomes since 2000, making home purchasing less attainable and far less desirable. We believe that the HARMON product line and the locations that Crescent Communities is targeting are well suited to meet this demand."

Crescent Communities continues to experience significant growth, with $8.4 billion of multifamily and commercial investments and developments currently under construction, in operation, or planning, including 17,700 units of multifamily and 7.1 million square feet of office, industrial and life sciences space. Crescent's diverse multifamily portfolio, combined with its longstanding relationships with contractors and homebuilders in addition to the Sumitomo Forestry homebuilder collection, will amplify opportunities to drive rapid growth and expansion for the HARMON by Crescent Communities business line. 

About Crescent Communities:
Crescent Communities is a nationally recognized, market-leading real estate investor, developer, and operator of mixed-use "communities." We create high-quality, differentiated multifamily and commercial communities in many of the fastest growing markets in the United States. Since 1963, our development portfolio has included more than 85 multifamily communities and 24 million square feet of commercial space. Crescent Communities has offices in Charlotte, DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, Dallas, Denver, and Phoenix. Our multifamily communities are branded NOVEL, RENDER and HARMON by Crescent Communities, our industrial developments are branded AXIAL by Crescent Communities, and our life science developments are branded THE YIELD by Crescent Communities.

About Heitman:
Heitman is a global real estate investment management firm with $50 billion in assets under management as of March 2024. Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Chicago, Heitman has 10 offices worldwide and is an active participant in the global real estate property and capital markets. Heitman makes real estate investments through private equity, debt, and publicly-traded real estate securities.

SOURCE Crescent Communities and Heitman