NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – February 13, 2024 – Bain Capital Real Estate and Cherry Tree Capital Partners today announced the formation of BCT Development, a strategic joint venture focused on the ground-up development of premier rental townhome communities throughout Southern California. The joint venture launches with the objective of deploying several hundred million dollars of gross capital over the next several years.
BCT Development will initially focus on acquiring, entitling, and developing land in Southern California’s highest-growth suburban markets with the goal of providing differentiated rental product by way of elevated townhome communities. The partnership plans to target developments in growing neighborhoods, ensuring that residents have access to the best-in-class amenities, schools, and entertainment options.
Chris Marsh and Tim Stanley, who together previously oversaw an aggressive 22,000+ unit multifamily development pipeline as executives of Irvine Company, launched Cherry Tree Capital Partners in 2021 and will lead the new BCT Development venture.
“Aging millennials are the fastest-growing demographic in Southern California. As individuals and families continue to migrate to the suburbs, they’re faced with a lack of attainable for-sale housing, and quality alternatives. That’s where BCT comes in — meeting this deep need of elevated rental living through our premier townhome communities, all while prioritizing affordability by design” Mr. Stanley said. “Bain Capital Real Estate has a long-standing reputation as a thoughtful, thematic investor who shares our conviction in the multifamily housing space. We are thrilled to partner with their team to launch this differentiated and well-capitalized platform to execute on our investment strategy and provide new housing solutions to California residents.” added Mr. Marsh.
“Our multifamily strategy is closely aligned with our thematic investment approach. In a supply constrained market with growing consumer demand, we believe there is a significant opportunity to develop premier townhome communities for the high concentration of households in Southern California that have been priced out of homeownership,” said Martha Kelley, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Real Estate. “We look forward to a successful partnership with the Cherry Tree Capital Partners team and leveraging the combination of our deep industry expertise to provide renters with high-quality, affordable housing options.”
Cherry Tree Capital Partners recently appointed Josh Wheeler as Head of Land Acquisitions. Mr. Wheeler brings over a decade of California land acquisitions experience to the company, and most recently served as Vice President of Land Acquisition at KB Home for over a decade. The Cherry Tree Capital Partners team also includes Principals Austin Maleki, Mike Wu, and John Bosco.
Jones Lang Lasalle advised the joint venture with capital placement services.
About Bain Capital Real Estate
Bain Capital Real Estate was formed in 2018 and pursues investments in often hard-to-access sectors underpinned by enduring secular trends that drive long-term demand growth for real estate assets and services. The Bain Capital Real Estate team has been executing its strategy since 2010 (formerly as a part of Harvard Management Company), having invested and committed over $7.7 billion of equity across multiple sectors. Bain Capital Real Estate focuses on assets where the team applies its deep industry expertise to accelerate impact and drive operational improvements. Bain Capital Real Estate’s strategy aligns with the value-added investment approach that Bain Capital pioneered and leverage’s the firm’s global platform and significant experience across asset classes to further bolster its insights and sourcing capabilities. Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms with approximately $180 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit https://www.baincapital.com/businesses/real-estate.
About Cherry Tree Capital Partners
Founded in 2021, Cherry Tree Capital Partners is a niche real estate investment firm focused on acquisition, repositioning, management, and development of multifamily real estate across key markets in the United States. Headquartered in Newport Beach, Cherry Tree’s Principals have a 30+ year track record in the real estate space and bring billions of dollars of successful transactional and operational experience.
