PCCP, Integrity Community Builders Form BTR Programmatic JV

Integrity Community Builders (ICB) and PCCP have formed a programmatic joint venture to develop build-to-rent (BTR) communities across the U.S., Commercial Observer can first report. 

The new JV will marry Houston-based ICB’s experience in land acquisition, development and construction with PCCP’s institutional investment expertise. As co-investors, the partners will deploy up to $200 million per year into BTR communities — comprising detached homes, townhomes and cottage-style rentals — in the markets ICB and its affiliates currently operate in. 

“We believe this venture allows us to scale our build-to-rent platform with the right asset-managing partner,” Chad Durham, vice president of BTR at ICB, said in a statement. “Together with PCCP, our goal is creating thoughtfully designed rental communities in up to 19 markets.”

Jennifer Diaz, partner and head of multifamily for PCCP, said the partnership reflects a strategic focus for PCCP: expansion into BTR. “We are proud to partner with ICB as we seek to develop high-quality build-to-rent communities in growth markets,” she said in a statement. 

Integrity Community Builders, a wholly owned subsidiary of Weekly Homes, was founded in 2020, and has since built 22 communities with another five under construction for a total of 3,000 rental homes. The firm has worked with PCCP in the past as a general contractor, having built several communities for PCCP.

“We feel like we’ve developed a pretty good brand and reputation in the space as a general contractor, serving clients like PCCP and other sponsors,” Durham said. “We knew that we wouldn’t be able to control our growth and get to the number of homes per year that we’d like to be building — which is 1,500, plus or minus — by just depending on other sponsors bringing us projects to build, or going into the market and trying to find sponsors on projects that we’ve sourced. So strategically, we always liked the idea of doing what we’ve done here with this programmatic JV when the timing was right.” 

ICB looked three to four years out from the time it started searching for the right partner to gauge supply-demand metrics in the markets it was already operational in. The company kicked off the process of trying to find that partner in early 2025, hiring Eastdil Secured to represent it in a competitive process. 

“There were a lot of really solid contenders, but PCCP was the most competitive in what they were offering us. Also, just given their reputation and their experience in the marketplace and with successful BTR properties under management, we felt like they were the most logical partner,” Durham said. “Having that existing relationship was just the icing on the cake for us.” 

For PCCP, the transaction marks an expansion of PCCP’s growing BTR footprint. It already owns Skymor Living, a national brand launched in 2020, and its portfolio now includes 5,000 homes across 34 properties in 17 markets. 

“We continue to believe in the BTR space and the tailwinds that are driving the demand for that, in the lack of affordability in for-sale homes, coupled with demographic shifts,” Diaz said. “There are renters for longer, and that is driving the need for rental housing that can accommodate older adults, younger families and everyone in between as apartments are often not the right fit for them. For us, the opportunity with Chad is to expand our BTR platform. Our way of doing business has been to form JVs with strong sponsor partners and, as Chad mentioned, we have done many deals together already, so the opportunity to form a JV with a highly reputable builder was one we wanted to pursue. PCCP believes being in business with them on a partnership level and continuing to grow in the BTR space was a great opportunity for us.” 

In deploying the JV’s capital, ICB will focus on the markets where it feels it can achieve the greatest yield on cost and hit the supply-demand curve at the right time, Durham said. 

“There are quite a few submarkets in themajor Texas markets — as well as in Florida, the Carolinas and maybe even Atlanta — that are actionable today,” he said,  “and when you look out two years from now, we feel like those markets will be even more actionable. We also think Phoenix has some tailwinds coming in probably the next year and a half from the supply-demand curve as well.” 

The partnership has a three-year investment period, which starts when the first project is funded. There are currently four projects in the JV’s pipeline that are actively going through approval processes to seed the venture, Durham said. 

The launch follows a capital freeze in the BTR sector that lasted months due to legislative debates surrounding the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which ultimately removed the requirement to sell single-family BTR homes within seven years. The ROAD to Housing Act became law last month. 

“We did have that three-month break due to the legislation at the federal level, and the reason I believe that investors are back in the space is the fact that we are seeing deals close and competition is back,” Diaz said. “I think now that the legislation is hopefully behind us, or at least not creating the uncertainty that it was creating, people continue to believe in the space and are back and active.” 

ICB had quite a few projects in the pipeline on the general contracting side leading into the legislation, Durham said: “To Jennifer’s point, the whole industry was pencils down for the last three or four months, but our phone is starting to ring again, so you can tell the demand is back on from an investor standpoint.” 

In PCCP’s portfolio, the data is showing that BTR continues to outperform apartments in terms of higher renewal ratios and a stronger demographic, Diaz said, adding “this is a space that I think institutions will continue to pursue to provide the housing that a lot of people need.” 

ICB started servicing the rental sector in 2020, and it’s leaning into the market today. “We’ve been in business for 50 years, and we’ve built thousands  of homes across the nation on the for-sale side,” Durham said. “We feel there’s strong demand for rental housing, and we want to build great homes and communities for renters as well. So that’s why we’re continuing to grow this business.” 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.