North Texas builder acquires majority stake in Florida rental home company

A Dallas-Fort Worth homebuilder seemed to the Sunshine State to make its first play in the rental housing market.

Addison-based Gehan Homes Ltd. acquired an 80% curiosity in Jacksonville, Fla.-based rental builder and developer Southern Impression Homes, Gehan Homes said Monday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“This transaction provides our company entry into the emerging and evolving build-to-rent space and provides an opportunity to diversify our offerings,” John Winniford, president and CEO of Gehan Homes, mentioned in an announcement, noting the challenges in the for-sale housing market. “As the macro environment changes, higher home prices and rising interest rates should only increase the demand for rental homes.”

Southern Impression Homes operates in the northeast, north central and southwest areas of Florida. The company has developed townhomes, single-family properties, duplexes, quadplexes and small condominium complexes. It owns and controls about 5,000 heaps.

The Florida builder’s single-family leases vary from 1,200 to 2,000 sq. ft and its multifamily items vary from 950 to 1,300 sq. ft. Its shoppers embody each particular person actual property buyers shopping for properties for his or her private portfolio and institutional buyers constructing large-scale rental operations.

The deal consists of the company’s property administration, development and title service associates.

Winniford mentioned his company sees leases as complementary to its for-sale homebuilding enterprise, and that Gehan hopes to develop and develop Southern Impression Homes into markets the place it already builds.

Those embody Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Tennessee, the place the company has constructed greater than 120 communities beneath the Gehan Homes, Gray Point Homes and Wonderland Homes manufacturers. In Texas, the company has communities all through Dallas-Fort Worth in addition to in the Austin, Houston and San Antonio areas.

Gehan was the Twenty ninth-largest homebuilder in the nation in 2021 with 3,166 closings bringing in $1.2 billion in income, in response to the Builder 100 list.

Father-and-son workforce Carter and Chris Funk based Southern Impression Homes in 2015. They beforehand ran a dry cleansing company in Northeast Florida. They started in actual property by shopping for distressed properties after the 2008 recession, according to their website.

Carter Funk spent 30 years in the power business, together with in management roles at Consolidated Natural Gas and Belden Energy Services. He owned an power consulting agency advising firms equivalent to Shell and Amerada Hess.

Chris, who additionally based Jacksonville-based SunCoast Property Management, will proceed to handle day-to-day operations at Southern Impression Homes.

“This partnership will pave the way for Southern Impression Homes to quickly and efficiently enter new markets by utilizing Gehan’s expertise and local relationships across their extensive footprint,” Chris mentioned.

Investment financial institution Builder Advisor Group represented Southern Impression Homes in the deal.