Gehan Homes, Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Forestry) announced the acquisition of an 80% interest in Southern Impression Homes, a builder/developer that provides a Build-to-Rent platform for its investors. The transaction represents the company’s entry into the build-to-rent space.
Southern Impression Homes, founded by Chris and Carter Funk, has operations in Northeast Florida, North Central Florida, and Southwest Florida. The company has experience in developing a variety of rental housing products, including town home, single-family, duplex, quadplex, and 5+ unit configurations. The company owns and controls approximately 5,000 lots. Included in the acquisition are the affiliated Property Management, Construction, and Title Service Companies.
Southern Impression’s client base consists of individual real estate investors acquiring homes for their personal portfolio and institutional investors focused on building large-scale rental operations.
In addition to its traditional home building operations, Southern Impression also offers general contracting services geared towards developing and building communities for institutional clients on a fee-service basis.
The acquisition will provide Southern Impression access to Gehan’s capital, increased efficiencies through technology, and strengths in vertical and horizontal construction. These attributes, combined with their regional expertise, investor relationships, and distinct product offerings, will help accelerate Southern Impression’s growth and expansion.
“We are looking forward to the partnership with Chris and his team,” said John Winniford, president and CEO of Gehan Homes. “This transaction provides our Company entry into the emerging and evolving build-to-rent space and provides an opportunity to diversify our offerings. As the macro environment changes, higher home prices and rising interest rates should only increase the demand for rental homes.”
Southern Impression Homes was founded in 2015 to address the undersupplied need for single-family build-to-rent units. To maximize efficiency and manage cost controls, Southern Impression maintains select product lines consisting of single-family units ranging from 1,200 SF – 2,000 SF and units from 950 SF – 1,300 SF for multifamily projects. They have grown steadily due to an effective business model that specializes in building, selling, and managing single-family rental homes.
“We see build-to-rent as complementary to our core business. This strategic relationship provides the opportunity to expand Southern Impression’s business model into markets within our existing footprint,” said Winniford.
Gehan Homes’ parent company has other homebuilding subsidiaries in the U.S. When asked about Gehan’s acquisition of Southern Impression Homes, Atsushi Iwasaki, president of Sumitomo Forestry America said, “We would like to see the BTR business expand not only within Gehan’s markets but also to other areas through collaboration with our other group companies.”
As part of the agreement, Chris Funk will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of Southern Impression Homes.
“We are very excited to join the Gehan family and continue our mission to providing affordable quality build-to-rent homes with the support of such impressive organizations as Gehan and Sumitomo Forestry,” said Chris Funk, president of Southern Impression Homes. “This partnership will pave the way for Southern Impression Homes to quickly and efficiently enter new markets by utilizing Gehan’s expertise and local relationships across their extensive footprint.”
Builder Advisor Group served as the sole investment banker in this transaction, representing Southern Impression Homes.