Hillpointe, a multifamily developer focused on attainable housing, is in growth mode. After rapidly rising in the past few years, the vertically integrated real estate development and management firm moved up to No. 4 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s top 25 developers list this year, starting nearly 5,000 units in 2024.
The firm has recently made personnel moves that will support further nationwide expansion. Jamie Telchin has been promoted from vice president of development, Florida, to managing director of multifamily development. In addition, Mike Boone joined the firm as managing director of multifamily operations. Telchin will lead nationwide land acquisition and development for all its Pointe Grand apartment communities and Pointe Villas build-to-rent communities, while Boone will lead the leasing and property management teams across those communities.
“Our top priority is to build a scalable, best-in-class development operation that can support Hillpointe’s trajectory toward 10,000-plus annual starts,” notes Telchin.
On the development side, the firm has 25 projects under construction with over 50 additional projects in the predevelopment pipeline.
Telchin says his key focus is to grow Hillpointe’s pipeline across the Sun Belt.
“Sourcing is a challenge in any market, and continuing to work with brokers and land sellers remains an ongoing priority for our team to locate appropriate sites throughout the Sun Belt where we can successfully develop our attainable housing platform,” he adds.
Hillpointe has a current fund with $750 million in capital that it is continuing to deploy for quality sites in targeted markets. According to Telchin, the firm looks for sites close to growing regional areas in primary, secondary, or tertiary markets that have a deficit of attainable housing.
“When you look across the Sun Belt, the reality is there’s a lot of undeveloped land. We look to identify certain pockets that have demand drivers, such as key retailers, new large employers coming into the market, such as Amazon, or sites that are close in proximity to medical services and hospitals, where residents could live and have shorter commutes to work at a more affordable price,” he says.
Hillpointe also is strategic in getting its cost basis down to provide the attainable housing without sacrificing quality, with Telchin touting the vertically integrated developer’s cutting-edge approach to programming and developing its projects.
“We act as the developer, the general contractor, and self-perform a majority of the subcontractor trades, which allows us to reduce the frictional costs that are typically embedded in the construction process,” he says. “We source most of our materials on a bulk basis, which helps to significantly reduce the cost of building materials.”
Another strategy is building three core prototypical product types: three-story, garden-style walk-up apartments with two bedrooms and two baths; two-story townhomes that offer three bedrooms with attached garages; and one-story cottages with one, two, and three bedrooms.
“We are providing housing for the missing middle—people who make between 60% and 120% of the area median income. What differentiates us from traditional market-rate development is our target rental price point, which, while it typically carries no formal regulatory restrictions on rent, is targeted to be affordable (meaning residents do not spend more than 30% of their income on housing) to the essential workforce that too often has been priced out of high-quality housing,” notes Boone. “We have long believed that attainable housing should be a price designation, not a quality designation.”
While it enables that mission through its cost advantage on the development side, Boone says Hillpointe utilizes the advantage of having uniform product throughout the portfolio to drive operational efficiency and an enhanced resident experience.
“Resident satisfaction starts with delivering on the basics uniformly—well-maintained communities, quick response times, and transparent communication,” he says. “Our goal is to go further by creating a true community at our properties. What matters most to us is that residents feel Hillpointe communities are great places to live at a great value. We are laser-focused on delivering ‘pride of place’ to our residents.”
On the operations side, Boone says the most impactful innovations are those that combine technology with people. Hillpointe is putting an increased focus on centralizing operations, such as applications, renewals, and collections, to deliver consistency and scale while taking work off front-line associates so they can focus on the resident experience. Other innovations include resident experience teams who solely focus on building community and retention; a proprietary operating platform that integrates data across leasing, maintenance, financials, and resident services to provide one source of truth and enable artificial intelligence (AI)-driven decision-making; and AI-enabled lead engagement and self-guided tours.
“Our mission is to provide great places to live at a great value for the consumer,” adds Telchin.