Perica Bell (left) and Alice Carr.
Alice Carr and Perica Bell
CEO; managing director for preservation at April Housing
Formed in 2022 after Blackstone acquired a large affordable housing portfolio of over 90,000 units across the country, April Housing is on a mission to preserve such residential properties in the U.S. at scale.
Under the leadership of Alice Carr and Perica Bell, the almost 4-year-old firm is doing just that.
“When Blackstone made this acquisition, they made a public commitment to preserve the affordability of the housing that they plan to keep within the portfolio, and our mission is preservation at the forefront,” Bell said.
The mission continued this past year against headwinds such as inflation, labor shortages, and regulatory issues on the state and federal levels. The firm is still expanding its resyndication program — the allocation of more low-income tax credits — and adding more affordable units to its portfolio.
April Housing recently closed a deal for a portfolio of 18 properties with 4,200 units in the Pacific Northwest for an undisclosed amount, expanding the firm’s presence in that market.
“Another preservation that we recently closed on is a property called Webster Bay Point,” Bell said. “It’s 236 units in the Houston metro area, near the NASA Space Center campus. The property will undergo $22 million in renovations.”
This is April Housing’s first resyndication in Houston.
“We are among the top preservers of affordable housing through our resyndication work,” Carr said. “And we are a top buyer of affordable housing through this major purchase we just made in the Pacific Northwest, as well as an additional 800 units that we purchased in Orlando, Fla.”
April Housing did not disclose the price of the Orlando properties, but Growth Spotter noted a purchase price of $174.8 million. And, with 2025 wrapping up, Carr and Bell say they are fixing their gaze on what comes next — perhaps even some uncharted territory.
“We do view on the horizon new development as being something that we want to add to our tool kit,” Carr said. “And we are already starting to think about what that would look like and where those first projects might be.”
