DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Homz today announced its launch as the first national housing company dedicated to building a portfolio of sustainable, wellness-focused communities centered around branded attainable housing across the U.S. Through its mixed-use master planned communities, Homz seeks to bring greater housing options to residents at more attainable prices that help to preserve or increase socioeconomic diversity while providing public access to vibrant, highly-amenitized urban environments.
Homz is led by veteran real estate and hospitality investors with decades of experience developing, owning and managing over $5 billion worth of assets. Leveraging this expertise, the team has established a vertically integrated platform that emulates the hospitality model, capable of efficiently delivering standardized housing and desirable public amenities at scale. Over the next five years, Homz seeks to break ground on 50 communities in secondary and tertiary markets across the U.S. that are seeing strong population and job growth, but struggle to develop enough new purpose-built housing supply to meet demand.
“We aim to fundamentally shift how rental housing is developed and branded, creating greater efficiencies that result in attainably-priced homes and a viable solution for the housing crises plaguing markets across the world,” said Dipika Patel, Managing Director of Homz. “Our triple bottom line approach focuses on sustainable development, placemaking and public amenities, allowing us to responsibly deliver the highly-amenitized lifestyle residents seek at attractive price points while creating public value that draws incentives from local governments.”
Each Homz community will feature four multifamily brands – UP, 24, NJOY and LYF – that are designed to meet renters at each stage of their lives, along with a selection of build-to-rent single-family homes. The design of these properties will be standardized so as to be easily replicable and identifiable across markets. UP and 24 target value seekers, while NJOY and LYF offer larger floorplans to accommodate roommates and growing families. By offering greater housing optionality, Homz communities are positioned to attract the diverse, highly talented work forces that meaningfully contribute to the growth and development of their local economies.
Alongside Homz’s diverse housing options, the company intends to introduce 54 publicly available amenities, including clubhouses, pools, athletic fields, playgrounds, urban farms, Miyawaki forests and more, that are designed to foster deeper senses of wellness and satisfaction among residents and their neighbors in the community. These amenities create dynamic, vibrant neighborhoods and lifestyles that bring people together and draw visitors and business from within and outside the community. As part of the master plan, each community could also include hospitality, retail and office components.
Homz expects to invest between $140 million and $170 million in each community and will secure financing from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The company will also work in partnership with municipalities on incentives that make it possible to develop these communities. Homz will hold each investment for approximately 25 years, creating a close alignment of interests with each city. It is designing these communities with ESG and sustainability in mind, and each property is being developed to meet the requirements of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing initiative.
“We’ve spent years studying the market opportunity and refining our business model, and we have made significant investments to build out the infrastructure needed to advance our objectives,” said Lakshmi Narayanan, Managing Director of Homz. “We have created a business model that is fundamentally different from anything that exists in the market, and we believe it has significant potential as a viable solution for the housing challenges many markets face in the U.S. and abroad. What we intend to create is not only an attractive living environment, but an experience that is consistent across each destination we develop.”
Patel is a seasoned real estate and hospitality executive with more than two decades of investment and operational expertise. She previously served as President and CEO of Hayden Holdings, a hospitality investment and management company with real estate assets valued at more than $250 million. Prior to her real estate and hospitality career, Patel spent nearly 15 years on Wall Street at investment banks including Citigroup and Bank of America. Narayanan is an impact investor and serial entrepreneur with experience building businesses and investing in real estate and startups in the U.S., Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He has built a strong global network and serves as a Certified Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
About Homz
Homz is the first national housing company dedicated to building a portfolio of sustainable, wellness-focused communities centered around branded attainable housing in key markets across the U.S. Homz looks to develop communities that bring greater housing options to residents at more attainable prices, helping to preserve or increase socioeconomic diversity while providing public access to vibrant, highly-amenitized urban environments. Homz’s mission is to create a better living world with integrated communities that support more meaningful connections between individuals and their surroundings. For more information, please visit www.homzglobal.com.