ArchCo Residential was founded in 2013 by Neil Brown, former Chief Development Officer of Archstone, to pursue multifamily development opportunities in select markets across the United States. ArchCo Residential’s experienced and proven development team has a long, successful track record and, in a short time, has built a robust development pipeline. ArchCo’s team members have an average of more than 30 years of real estate development experience extending through several real estate cycles.
In October 2013, Mr. Brown and two former Archstone colleagues formed a partnership (“KNR”) and started construction on a 444-unit multifamily project (total project cost in excess of $100 million) in San Diego, California and in January 2016, began construction on a 510-unit multifamily project (total project cost in excess of $150 million) in Huntington Beach, California. Monogram Residential Trust, Inc. (NYSE: MORE), formerly known as Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, Inc., is providing the capital for both of these projects. In addition, ArchCo Residential and Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. (NYSE: BRG) have three multifamily communities under development – one each in Charlotte, North Carolina, suburban Dallas, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Many of the principles that guide ArchCo Residential were derived from Archstone where Mr. Brown spent more than 17 years culminating in serving as Chief Development Officer from 2010 until the company was acquired by Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities in February 2013. Archstone was one of the most successful apartment companies in the nation and, at the time that it was acquired, was one of the largest owners of high-quality apartment communities in the United States. Highly respected in the real estate industry, the company’s focus was primarily on the acquisition, development, redevelopment, operation and management of apartment communities in select supply-constrained, coastal markets. Prior to the closing of the sale to AvalonBay and Equity Residential, Archstone owned or had an ownership interest in 181 apartment communities in the United States with nearly 60,000 units that were operating or under construction.
From the beginning of 1996 until it was acquired, Archstone completed approximately $6 billion of new apartment developments including complex urban high-rise and mixed-use projects as well as mid-rise and garden communities. Archstone’s development pipeline at the time of the acquisition, if developed as planned, would have had a total investment cost of $5.75 billion. This development pipeline was comprised of 53 apartment communities that were either under construction or in planning, and encompassed 15,917 apartment units, including the massive CityCenterDC mixed-use development project in the heart of Washington, DC.
Archstone’s development team, a team that was built and led by Mr. Brown, was comprised of 82 regional officers and staff. The senior development officers had an average of 23 years of real estate development experience extending through several real estate cycles.