Plymouth, Minnesota-based affordable housing developer Dominium is preparing to break ground on its first-ever build-to-rent property on May 12 in Maricopa, Arizona, according to a news release shared with Multifamily Dive.
Once complete, Saddleback Village at Stonegate will offer 215 townhomes ranging from two to four bedrooms in size, arranged in clusters across the property. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Lifestyle Homes is the property’s builder, and Phoenix-based Todd & Associates is the architect.
The estimated rents at the property — $1,515 for a two-bedroom townhome, $1,750 for three bedrooms, and $1,953 for four — are between $435 and $931 lower than the equivalent fair market rents for Maricopa’s ZIP code, according to Rentdata.org. Residents at the property must earn 60% or less of the area median income, starting at $47,160 for a single occupant, according to the property website.
Each home will include granite countertops, in-unit laundry, vinyl plank flooring, Energy Star appliances and a private backyard, according to the website. Select units will be wheelchair accessible. Property amenities will include grilling stations, a play area, a community center and access to nearby walking trails.
The Saddleback Village at Stonegate site is located within minutes of downtown Phoenix, offering access to public transportation and nearby employers, including Harrah's Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino and Exceptional Community Hospital Central Arizona College - Maricopa.
A new direction
While Dominium’s standard development types are three-story walk-ups and four-story double-loaded corridor buildings, the developer was inspired to explore single-family build-to-rent after seeing similar communities pop up in its markets, according to Ron Mehl, senior vice president and project partner at Dominium.
“We started seeing this come about in the market-rate world,” Mehl told Multifamily Dive. “We quickly realized they weren’t a whole lot different than what we were doing... The total cost was about the same.”
Following about a year of research and development, Dominium chose the 19.15-acre Maricopa site for its existing zoning. “It opened up a whole other market of zoned land for us,” Mehl said. “We're used to looking at property that's on between 22 to 30 units to the acre, and this is more 10 to 12 units to the acre. That's land we would have just passed on.”
Mehl expects the BTR product type, which is unusual in affordable housing, will appeal to families looking for a single-family home experience at an affordable price point. The property is slated to take a year and a half to complete and should deliver its first units next year.
Dominium manages more than 40,000 apartments across over 220 properties in 19 states, according to the release. It has 10 properties in the Phoenix area and plans to build 1,500 units of new affordable housing in Arizona across 35 projects in the coming years.
The developer has moved swiftly to expand its development pipeline in the last year, propelling it from No. 15 to No. 2 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top 25 Developers list, and from No. 15 to No. 3 on the Top 25 Builders list. The company started 5,763 units in 2024, up from 3,054 in 2023.
