TruAmerica Raises More Than $700M for Workforce Housing Fund

TruAmerica Multifamily closed the doors on another workforce housing fund, raising millions more than the Los Angeles-based firm secured last time around.

The investment manager brought in $708 million for its Workforce Housing Fund II, the Commercial Observer reported. The fund is set to target Class B multifamily communities in large cities near central business districts. Specifically, TruAmerica is looking at existing, stabilized assets where households earn between 60 and 100 percent of the area median income.

Nearly half the fund, $320 million, has already been deployed through the acquisition of 14 properties, spanning more than 3,300 units. Boston has been an area of interest for TruAmerica, which acquired the Sto, a 179-unit multifamily property in the Boston suburb of Stoughton, for $63 million, at the start of the year. It’s not clear if that was acquired through the fund.

Deployment of the fund is expected to continue over two years.

More than a third of the fundraising came from international investors, according to TruAmerica chief executive officer Bob Hart. Institutional investors, such as insurance companies, pension funds, asset managers and family offices, were also involved.

“We understand what the needs are here, and we understand how to price the real estate for the consumer,” Hart said.

Hart mentioned that garden-style apartments are in TruAmerica’s vision for the fund, particularly those with values of at least $40 million. Specific markets in TruAmerica’s sights include Tampa, Salt Lake City, Seattle and other growing areas.

The firm previously raised $575 million from foreign and domestic insurance firms, public and private pension funds, family offices and other asset management funds for a workforce housing fund that closed at the end of 2021.

TruAmerica also recently acquired two West Los Angeles properties, Luxe Villas and Haven Apartments, with a total of 157 multifamily units; WS Communities and Gortikov Capital sold Luxe Villas while developer Cityview sold the Haven Apartments, respectively.— Holden Walter-Warner