TruAmerica Multifamily has acquired Villas at West Road, a 240-apartment home community located in northwest Houston. With its 11th purchase in the Lone Star State, the Los Angeles-based multifamily investment firm has built its Texas portfolio to approximately 3,300 units in less than 18 months, including 900 units in the Houston MSA.

Completed in 2006, Villas at West Road features a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes averaging 1,137 square feet. Through its multimillion-dollar capital improvement program, TruAmerica plans to upgrade the property with the installation of new quartz countertops, lowered bar tops, stainless steel appliances, vinyl plank flooring, white shaker cabinetry and upgraded lighting/plumbing fixtures. 

“Suburban Houston’s impressive population growth and the community’s quality location between The Woodlands and the Energy Corridor are big reasons why it held such major appeal for us,” said TruAmerica Senior Director Ammanuel Metta. “Then add to those fundamental advantages the value-add opportunity we have to elevate all of the apartment homes to a consistent, higher-end finish level and you have a really great investment opportunity.”

Villas at West Road is TruAmerica’s 11th investment in Texas and its third in the Houston metro. The Los Angeles-based multifamily investment firmed established a Central U.S. regional headquarters in Dallas December 2020 under the direction of Metta. 

TruAmerica Multifamily has acquired Cannon Oaks, a 230-apartment home community located just seven miles from downtown Austin. 

Completed in 2003, Cannon Oaks is located at 2302 E. William Cannon Dr. and features a mix of two-, three- and four- bedroom apartment homes averaging 1,000 square feet. Through its multimillion-dollar capital improvement program, TruAmerica plans to improve the property’s curb appeal and renovate interior units, including new quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, vinyl plank flooring, white shaker cabinetry and upgraded lighting/plumbing fixtures. Additionally, the opportunity remains to install washer/dryer machines in all 230 homes. 

“Austin continues to be a very popular city for renters and that has translated into really strong apartment absorption last year and record rent growth,” said TruAmerica Senior Director Ammanuel Metta. “This well-located asset in Southeast Central Austin allows us to not only tap into that growth, but also seize a very promising value-add opportunity given that approximately 87 percent of the units at Cannon Oaks are still in classic condition. TruAmerica’s business plan involves renovating all 230 homes to a consistent, higher-end finish level.”

Cannon Oaks is TruAmerica’s 10th investment in Texas and its third in the Austin metro and brings its local portfolio to nearly 1,000 units. The Los Angeles-based multifamily investment firmed established a Dallas regional headquarters in December 2020 under the direction of Metta.

The acquisition of Cannon Oaks comes on the heels of TruAmerica’s acquisition of Rancho Mirage, a 310-apartment home community in the Dallas/Fort Worth submarket of Irving.

TruAmerica Multifamily is a vertically integrated, value-add multifamily investment firm based in Los Angeles. Since its founding in 2013 by Robert Hart, TruAmerica has been one of the country's most active multifamily investors and manages a portfolio of approximately 59,000 units across prime locations throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, Oregon, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico and Washington.

TruAmerica Multifamily announced that Dr. Eryn Mack Legette has been promoted to Chief People Officer. 

“Her promotion to the senior executive suite is recognition of the significant contributions Eryn has made at TruAmerica, and for the contributions she will certainly make in our future growth,” said TruAmerica Founder and CEO Robert Hart. “She has done a remarkable job to curate a culture of inclusion that has greatly impacted our bottom line.” 

Dr. Mack joined TruAmerica in July 2018 as Director of Human Resources. Since her arrival Dr. Mack has been a driving force in furthering TruAmerica’s longstanding philosophy of inclusion, diversity and belonging in the workplace. 

Through her human resource and organizational development programs and policies, that include enabling employees to participate in the hiring process, driving productivity to outpace business goals and creating workshops to encourage open dialogue and collaboration, TruAmerica employees have been given exceptional opportunities to grow within the organization. 

“The dynamic personal growth of our employees under Eryn’s leadership can be seen in the remarkable strides we’ve made as a company,” added Hart.

Dr. Mack is a major contributor the field of Human Resources and Organizational Development as she is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California’s Bovard College where she teaches Change Management and Organizational Development. She also is a passionate steward of social responsibility by playing an active role as a Board of Trustee member in both the Ronald McDonald House of Charities, Los Angeles and South Bay Children’s Health Center 

TruAmerica Multifamily has built its portfolio in Texas to nearly 3,000 units in less than 18 months with the acquisition of Rancho Mirage, a 310-apartment home community in the Dallas/Fort Worth submarket of Irving. 

Rancho Mirage is TruAmerica’s ninth investment in Texas and its fourth in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex since the Los Angeles-based multifamily investment firmed established a Dallas regional headquarters in December 2020 under the direction of Senior Director Ammanuel Metta.

Rancho Mirage is located at 1200 Hidden Ridge and features a mix of one- and two- bedroom apartment homes. Residents have access to a clubhouse with a 24-hour fitness center, racquetball court, billiards and game room and a business center.  Other community amenities include a lap pool and outdoor gathering areas with barbecue stations.   TruAmerica plans to improve the property’s curb appeal and renovate interior units through a multimillion dollar capital improvement program.

“Despite the tremendous population growth that we have experienced here over the past several years, the relative affordability -- ratio of household income to rent -- is still well below other major metros in the sunbelt states,” said Metta.   “Irving, in particular has been a magnet for renters.  In addition to being the second largest employment center in North Texas with more Fortune 1000 corporations per capital than any other city in Texas, its central Metroplex location is an easy commute to jobs in Dallas, The Platinum Corridor and Fort Worth.” 

Rancho Mirage adds to TruAmerica’s growing Texas portfolio which includes nine properties in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio. 

Stella Pappas has joined TruAmerica Multifamily as Senior Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations, announced Noah Hochman, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Head of Capital Markets 

Pappas, with nearly two decades of real estate investment experience, will be responsible for all facets of the firm’s fundraising efforts and investor relations program and will serve on the firm’s investment committee.  Pappas, will continue building out TruAmerica’s investor relations team and report directly to Hochman, who has led TruAmerica’s corporate equity and debt strategies since 2016.

“As an experienced investment professional Stella will play an important role in TruAmerica’s future as we enter the next phase of growth,” said Hochman.  “Her institutional approach and entrepreneurial mindset will be invaluable in managing and growing our investor base and leading the firm’s capital raising activities.”

The Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm has grown to become one of the largest multifamily landlords in the United States.  TruAmerica, whose portfolio includes approximately 60,000 apartment homes throughout the United States, recently launched a Build-for-Rent development division to build townhome and single-family rental communities.     

Prior to joining TruAmerica, Pappas was Vice President, Investor Relations at Waterton, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm.   She played a key role in helping the firm achieve its fundraising target for its flagship multifamily fund in 2021 and was responsible for the firm’s capital raising efforts across the eastern U.S. and select markets abroad. 

She spent most of her career with Allstate Investments, the private equity real estate acquisitions and asset management arm of the largest publicly held insurance company in the United States.   There she co-launched the direct real estate equity platform and sourced, structured, underwrote and managed $3 billion of fund investments and joint venture partnerships

Pappas earned her BA degree from DePaul University and an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. She is an active member of the National Multifamily Housing Council and of the Pension Real Estate Association, where she serves on the Membership Committee. Pappas is also serves as a long-time mentor for the scholars of the Goldie Initiative. 

News From TruAmerica Multifamily

Privately held real estate investment firm TruAmerica Multifamily has successfully held a final closing on its first discretionary fund, the TruAmerica Workforce Housing Fund (“Fund”), with $575 million in equity commitments, surpassing its fundraising target of $400 million, announced founder and CEO Robert Hart. 

The Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm has grown to become one of the largest multifamily landlords in the United States.  With more than $15 billion in assets under management, the firm and its partners own and operate more than 58,000 units across 16 states and placed 35th on the National Multifamily Housing Councils Top Owners list in early 2021.  TruAmerica invests primarily in Class B garden-style communities in first and second ring suburban markets and creates value through tailored renovation, repositioning strategies and focused asset management.     

TruAmerica received strong support from its existing institutional capital partners but received more than half of the Fund’s equity commitments from new investor relationships.  Investors in the Fund include foreign and domestic insurance companies, public and private pension funds, global asset management firms and family offices, according to Chief Administrative Officer Mark Enfield.     

“The Fund is an evolution of our successful institutional joint venture platform which has helped us to become a leader in the multifamily investment sector in a relatively short period of time.  The workforce housing sector has continued to perform well over the past decade and demonstrated its durability even during the worst part of the pandemic.  Our long-term view of this space is shared by a rapidly increasing number of investors which was apparent during our fundraise,” said Enfield.  

“Our value-add business model, vertically integrated in-house acquisitions, construction management and asset management teams, and strong reputation in the industry certainly played key roles in our successful fundraising efforts,” added Hart.