Homz, led by veteran real estate and hospitality investors, has announced its launch, with a focus on creating a portfolio of sustainable and wellness-focused communities centered around branded attainable housing. According to Homz, through its mixed-use, master-planned communities, it seeks to provide a range of housing options at more attainable prices that help to preserve or increase socioeconomic diversity while also creating a wealth of public amenities.
The Homz team has created a vertically integrated platform that emulates the hospitality model. Over the next five years, the firm plans to break ground on 50 communities in secondary and tertiary markets that are seeing strong population and job growth but are in need of new purpose-built housing 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 crisis plaguing markets across the world,” said Homz managing director Dipika Patel, who has over two decades of investment and operational expertise and previously served as president and CEO of hospitality investment and management firm Hayden Holdings. “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 of the communities will be comprised of four multifamily brands—UP, 24, NJOY, and LYF—to meet renters in different life stages as well as a selection of build-to-rent single-family homes. According to the firm, the UP and 24 brands will target value seekers, and the NJOY and LYF brands will provide larger floor plans for roommates and growing families.
In addition to the housing, Homz plans to introduce over 50 public amenities, including clubhouses, swimming pools, athletic fields, playgrounds, urban farms, and Miyawaki, or tiny, forests. The master-planned communities could also include hospitality, retail, and office components.
Homz said it expects to invest between $140 million and $170 million in each community and will work in partnership with federal and local governments.
“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,” added Homz managing director Lakshmi Narayanan, an impact investor and serial entrepreneur with experience building business and investing in real estate. “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.”
