Amherst Announces Development of New Community for Texas Homebuyers
Firefly community leverages offsite construction through Amherst’s StudioBuilt™ business to help address housing shortage
AUSTIN, Texas, October 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Texas-based real estate investment, development, and operating platform The Amherst Group (“Amherst”) today announced it is constructing a new community in Lockhart, Texas, which will have 145 homes for sale. Named “Firefly”, the community is built entirely leveraging Amherst’s modular construction capability StudioBuilt™ and offers local homebuyers an opportunity to own a high-quality, sustainable home that features the latest in homebuilding technology.
According to a recent analysis by Up for Growth, a national, cross-sector member network committed to solving the housing shortage and affordability crisis, Texas is second only to California in housing underproduction, falling 306,000 homes short of needed production in 2023. In direct response to for-sale and rental housing demand in the state, Amherst’s Community Development team is focusing on methodically increasing housing supply in key metropolitan areas across Texas, through new development of full communities of 25-200 homes and the purchasing of individual land lots that can be developed into new resident homes. These projects will all exclusively leverage Amherst’s StudioBuilt business. Firefly is the team’s first major project and represents a milestone moment in efforts to solve the housing shortage facing Texas residents.
“The opening of our new Firefly community generates much needed housing supply for homebuyers in the growing and vibrant city of Lockhart,” said David Schwarz, Head of Commercial Real Estate at Amherst, who leads the firm’s Community Development initiatives. “Our StudioBuilt modular building process coupled with our relationship-based sourcing strategy across Texas allows us to reduce significant barriers presented by traditional homebuilding practices, and meaningfully contribute to boosting supply in the state,” added Schwarz.
StudioBuilt homes, including those in the Firefly community, are installed on a permanent foundation and meet the same building requirements as traditional site-built homes, with an even more rigorous 140-point inspection process. By removing barriers like weather, trade delays, and supply chain issues, these homes can be built about 50% faster than traditional homes with stronger quality controls during the construction process, in addition to being more sustainable.
“Firefly is a testament to the modular homebuilding process at work, and I am so excited to see it come to life,” said Joe Butler, Head of StudioBuilt’s Cuero-based studio. “Through our systematic, highly controlled building process, we can provide the precision, quality, and timeliness that traditional site-built homes cannot. We are delivering superior quality housing at an affordable price point for Lockhart residents to call home.”
Firefly will feature three and four-bedroom homes, three unique floorplans, and ten different elevations. In addition, Firefly residents will be able to choose from various finishing packages to ensure that their home is tailored to their specific functional and design needs.
Firefly homes will be available to interested buyers as soon as November 2024. To learn more about Firefly, visit fireflylockhart.com.
About StudioBuilt
Founded by Amherst, the full-service real estate solutions platform, StudioBuilt™ is an innovative approach to home development that utilizes offsite construction to create new housing supply at scale without sacrificing quality. StudioBuilt homes are constructed at Amherst’s housing studio in Cuero, Texas as well as partner studios across the Southeast and then installed on site. At full capacity, the Cuero facility will create over 250 manufacturing jobs, making Amherst the third largest employer in the area. The StudioBuilt team is comprised of experienced individuals from all trades, working to continuously improve the production process. To learn more, visit StudioBuiltHomes.com
About Amherst
The Amherst Group (“Amherst”) is a diversified data-driven investment management platform at the crossroads of global capital markets and U.S. real estate, offering strategies up and down the real estate capital stack. Amherst manages $18.6 billion* of AUM deployed across real estate equity and debt strategies in single-family rental (SFR), commercial real estate (CRE), and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Today, Amherst has more than 1,000 global personnel working to create value and provide an excellent experience for the investors, residents, and the communities it serves. To learn more, visit Amherst.com.
*As of June 30, 2024
