Bobby Orr Firm Building Single-Family Rentals, Market briefs

In Houston, Leva Living, a Houston development firm led by Bobby Orr, Jr. has purchased land in Humble for a single-family for-to-rent development.

The project is planned for an approximately 160-unit single-family rental dwellings. Construction will begin immediately.

Avison Young negotiated the sale of 16 acres of land located on the east side of W. Lake Houston Parkway.

In Avison Young Principal Tommy LeBlanc and John, Michael Kamel, an Associate in the firm’s Houston office, represented the sellers, two local private individuals. The buyer, Houston-based Lēva Living, LP was represented by Ryan Campbell Anderson of Orr Commercial.

This will be Lēva Living’s first Houston development. Bobby C. Orr, Jr, a veteran in the Houston commercial real estate business, is CEO and co-founder of Leva Living. In 199, Orr founded Orr Commercial, which has developed, owns, or manages over 1 million sq ft of retail space.

The Leva Living site is bordered by Harris County Park on the north and is a short drive to Atascocita High School.

The build-to-rent single-family segment has taken off in the last year. It offers renters amenities such green space and backyards, which consumers have found appealing in the era of social distancing. The crowded elevators and dense corridors of regular multifamily community were considered by some to be more threatening as Covid-19 was spreading.

The build-to-rent projects have become popular investments even attracting institutional investors that acquire the single-family rentals in bulk.

Houston’s apartment rents have increased in 2021, after showing softness in 2020.