Leading student housing developer Landmark Properties continues to expand its product offerings with the launch of a multifamily division and the addition of Haven Communities’ properties and team. This follows the Athens, Georgia-based developer’s expansion into the build-to-rent market, with a focus on developing quality single-family rental home neighborhoods, last summer.
“We are always evaluating ways we can leverage our competitive advantages to create value in a prudent manner. The decision to enter the multifamily market and bring in a group like Haven is a natural progression for Landmark,” said president and CEO Wes Rogers. “We’ve strategically positioned Landmark as the only true vertically integrated student housing developer in the country with in-house general contracting, development, investment management, and property management teams within our operating platform.”
According to Rogers, these teams bring decades of expertise to provide Landmark with an advantage and greater control over the life cycle of a project.
“While the multifamily space is certainly more competitive than the student housing sector, we feel that our strategy along with our execution capabilities will enable us to create outsized risk-adjusted returns for us and our partners over the long term.”
Atlanta-based Haven Communities has developed and owned both traditional multifamily and student housing communities, but the newly created division at Landmark will focus solely on multifamily, with an initial focus on the Southeast. Haven founder and CEO Jay Williams and the former Haven team will serve as the foundational development team for the division.
“While it is bittersweet to move on from Haven and everything we have accomplished in the last 10 years, the opportunity to work with Wes and the Landmark team was something I could not resist,” said Williams, now a managing director at Landmark. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Landmark and all they have accomplished in student housing, and I am excited to play a part in their continued growth.”
After the transaction, Landmark will have $7.8 billion in assets under management throughout the U.S. It expects to deliver two new multifamily developments within the next two years in strong Sun Belt locales.
