Published in Denver Business Journal on January 14, 2022. Written by Jensen Werley.

IHP Capital Partners, a leading real estate investment firm based in California, has partnered with Colorado-based homebuilder Berkeley Homes in a joint venture for the acquisition and development of 43 single-family lots in Aurora.

The lots are within the Painted Prairie master-planned community. The joint venture purchased the lots in finished condition, IHP Capital Partners announced in early December. They anticipate starting construction on two-story homes on the properties in the first quarter of this year and home sales are expected to start in the fourth quarter.

“First and foremost, this was an opportunity to work with Berkeley Homes again,” said Jeff Enes, senior vice president at IHP Capital Partners. “The timing of this opportunity allows us to build and sell housing in 2022. It’s well-timed given the lack of inventory and the new home demands today.”

IHP Capital and Berkeley Homes previously teamed together on a housing community in Broomfield. There, the joint venture plans to build 160 three-story detached, single-family homes at the Baseline master-planned community. As of June, construction was already underway on the first 40 homes of the Berkeley at Baseline community. Home sales are expected to begin in the third quarter of this year.

Enes said that his firm was attracted to Painted Prairie because of its location and amenities. The 628-acre site, which is still in development, is located at 64th Avenue and Himalaya Street, just south of the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center. When Painted Prairie is complete, it will have about 3,000 homes, a town center and a 22-acre central park.

The opportunity to build these 43 lots in a Phase Two development came to Berkeley Homes after the original builder of Phase One decided not to continue, Enes said. He added that there will be some improvements upon the initial design, including higher ceiling heights. The three- and four-bedroom floorplans will range in size from 1,742 to 2,426 square feet. They will include two- or three-car garages. Available options for these homes include an outdoor patio, a recreation room, a basement and additional bedrooms.

Enes declined to share what the joint venture paid for the lots or how much the joint venture expected to invest in the project.

Home prices will be announced in 2022 and will target the $500,000 to $750,000 price range.

“That price point of $500,000 to $750,000 is where roughly 40% of the resale transactions occurred [in the Denver area] in the first half of 2021, and this price segment has little resale inventory,” Enes said.

By the end of December 2021, there were 1,025 new listings in the $500,000 to $750,000 home range, according to the January market trends report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. In 2021, there were 23,529 homes sold in that price range, up 33.94% from 2020, when there were 17,567 sold.

The 43 new homes come at a time when the Denver metro area is hurting for housing inventory. The area already had low inventory when a wildfire swept across Boulder County on Dec. 30 and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 homes.

“Time will tell on how this tragedy will impact the housing market,” Enes said. “We’re focused on any way we can add more to the housing market at a pricing and execution level people are satisfied with.”

Not far from Painted Prairie, along 56th Avenue and E-470, there are plans for an 850-acre master-planned community. Windler will have 5,000 homes and secured $287 million in financing in October. The project is expected to start this year and be completed in 2032.