Brookfield Properties joins forces with Newland through acquisition to strengthen position as a leading land development company in North America
Strategic Acquisition Closes, Bringing Together Powerhouse Land Developers to Enhance Capabilities and Create Influx of Coast-to-Coast Opportunities for Mixed-Use, Master-Planned Communities in Key Major Growth Markets
COSTA MESA, Calif. 1 June 2021 — Capitalizing on today’s strong market conditions, one of the largest private developers of master-planned communities in the U.S., Newland, is pleased to join Brookfield Properties, a leading global developer and operator of high-quality real estate assets. The strategic acquisition of Newland, and its 5% General Partner’s equity interest in 15 (of the 20) active master-planned communities, further positions Brookfield Properties as a leading land development company in North America, one with an enviable, advantageous breadth of land holdings and operations.
In addition to significantly widening Brookfield Residential’s geographical footprint to complement its existing platform, today’s acquisition closing enhances its strategy to grow its development business and capitalize on the high demand for land and lot supply. As outlined during Brookfield Asset Management’s 2020 Year End Results Conference Call, the company has a 34-year investment history in the land and housing footprint provided by the Brookfield Residential portfolio, which has produced a gross IRR of over 22 percent and a significant multiple of capital over this period.
“Adding Newland’s scale to our already robust mix as a fully integrated land developer is another major step toward our long-term real estate development growth goals. As the public homebuilding market is searching for controlled lot supply, and looking to the lot manufacturing business to provide that service to support their expanding businesses, we see an innovative lot sales process for the land assets and an operational skillset being rewarded for the product it produces,” said Adrian Foley, Managing Partner, Real Estate and President, Development. “We’re extremely excited to join forces with Newland and bring this and other services to the homebuilding community across North America. In addition, we aim to assemble a capital base to invest in new land developments alongside Brookfield, and we see this as a very rewarding proposition for ourselves and our future investment partners.”
Today’s closing and joining of industry leaders represents a momentous land expansion opportunity for all of Brookfield Properties, one that is characterized by coast-to-coast reach with a collective land development team representing more than 110 years between the two companies. Together, the organization is one of the few that has the breadth and depth of resources, capital and operational talent to successfully scale in the mixed-use area of the market.
By adding 20 of Newland’s active communities across 10 states to its current 30-community land portfolio, Brookfield Residential has access to a high-quality land pipeline for expanding its traditional homebuilding operations. It scales the land and lot supply business across eight of the top 10 markets in the U.S. (and 13 of the top 20) and, through other uses on the lands it now controls, provides significant opportunities to build out a sizeable single-family rental portfolio alongside a strong multifamily portfolio of lots.
“In a time of strong new home demand and constrained supply, we’re thrilled to join Brookfield Properties and welcome the opportunity to bring even more innovative and inspired master-planned communities to homebuyers and consumers across the country,” said Bob McLeod, former Executive Chairman, Newland. “We see this as a game-changer for both Newland and our partners in terms of capabilities and increased access to high-quality developed land throughout the U.S. The future impact on customers and the overall market is positive as well.” McLeod will take on a new role as Executive, Land Investments at Brookfield Properties. Read more