Our thesis · Adaptive reuse · Coastal U.S. markets
America needs housing. The buildings already exist.
We acquire underutilized hotels and buildings below replacement cost and convert them into Class A apartment communities. Adaptive reuse and ground-up capability live under one operator’s platform.
Demand.
In the markets we work, population and employment growth have outpaced housing delivery for years. The gap is widest where working households actually live: near hospitals, ports, bases, and industrial employers.
Ground-up development cannot close that gap at attainable rents. Elevated construction and financing costs push new projects toward luxury pricing, and multi-year timelines deliver into a forecast rather than into today’s demand. The renters who anchor these economies (medical, aerospace, logistics, education) compete for an aging stock that was never plentiful.
Strategy.
Buy the building nobody wants at the price of its weak current use. Deliver the housing everybody needs at a basis new construction cannot reach.
An obsolete hotel is already most of an apartment community: structure, parking, utilities, grounds, and land, acquired at hospitality-distress pricing. Conversion spends where residents live and touch: interiors, systems, amenities. In-house sourcing and self-performed project management keep scope and cost under our control, and the same platform underwrites ground-up development where the market calls for it.
Acquire
Underutilized hotels and buildings in supply-constrained markets, acquired below replacement cost with entitlements in reach.
Convert
Redesign and convert to Class A apartments with in-house sourcing and self-performed project management.
12–18 months
Stabilize
Lease up and operate. Underwriting is proven against real operating data.
Refinance or exit
Return capital through refinancing or sale once stabilized, as executed at The Jade Winter Haven.
Proven at Winter Haven
What we buy.
Below replacement cost
The completed basis must sit below what the same building would cost to construct new. That position protects the deal without depending on rent growth.
Convertible by design
Structures whose bones already fit housing: residential-scale floor plates, plumbing distribution, parking, and grounds that convert to amenities rather than fighting the program.
Supply-constrained micromarkets
Submarkets where employment has outgrown housing and ground-up delivery is scarce. The demand exists today, before any forecast.
Entitlements in reach
Municipalities motivated to convert underused commercial property into homes, with approvals resolved before or at acquisition.
The guidelines behind the criteria
30–50%
Below replacement cost
The target entry basis against building the same product new.
~95%
Of deals passed on
Selectivity is the strategy. Most opportunities reviewed never pencil.
10–20%
Construction cost savings
In-house sourcing and self-performed management versus market benchmarks.
Behind these sit the market filters: housing demand running ahead of supply by more than 2 to 1, commercial vacancy above 20%, population growth above 2.5% a year, rents above $2.25 per square foot, and by-right zoning or a short, clear entitlement path. Exits stay flexible: rental, condo, or portfolio sale. Guidelines that shape judgment; the covenants live in the offering documents.
Geography.
National criteria, applied to a short list of places.
We underwrite supply-constrained coastal micromarkets across the U.S.: employment outgrowing housing, scarce new delivery, entitlement paths we can clear. Four concentrations meet the test today.
- Bay Area · San Mateo
- The country's deepest housing deficit. Pacific Gardens and Pioneer Vista work here.
- Los Angeles
- Aging commercial stock in a market that permits almost nothing new.
- Central Florida · Winter Haven
- Workforce growth on the I-4 corridor. The market where the playbook proved out.
- Space Coast · Merritt Island
- Aerospace employment and no comparable units delivered since 1986. The current offering.
The platform’s origin is the Northeast: The Hutton Group’s New Jersey and New York practice, and the New York office that still anchors the platform. Offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Tampa.
Proof you can drive to.
The thesis, in questions.
What is adaptive reuse in real estate?
Adaptive reuse converts an existing building from an obsolete use into a new one. In our case that means acquiring underutilized hotels and buildings below replacement cost and converting them into Class A apartment communities. An obsolete hotel is already most of an apartment community: structure, parking, utilities, grounds, and land. Conversion spends where residents live and touch, rather than rebuilding what already stands.
Why convert hotels into apartments instead of building new?
Ground-up development cannot close the housing gap at attainable rents. Elevated construction and financing costs push new projects toward luxury pricing, and multi-year timelines deliver into a forecast rather than into today's demand. Buying the building nobody wants at the price of its weak current use delivers the housing everybody needs at a basis new construction cannot reach.
What does STILL Property Group look for in an acquisition?
Four criteria. A completed basis below what the same building would cost to construct new. Structures convertible by design, with residential-scale floor plates, plumbing distribution, parking, and grounds that convert to amenities. Supply-constrained micromarkets where employment has outgrown housing and ground-up delivery is scarce. And entitlements in reach, with approvals resolved before or at acquisition.
Which markets does STILL Property Group invest in?
Supply-constrained coastal U.S. micromarkets: places where employment has outgrown housing, new delivery is scarce, and there is an entitlement path we can clear. Four concentrations meet the test today — the Bay Area and San Mateo, Los Angeles, Central Florida and Winter Haven, and the Space Coast at Merritt Island. The platform's origin is the Northeast, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Tampa.
How long does a hotel-to-apartment conversion take?
The playbook runs in four steps. Acquire below replacement cost with entitlements in reach. Convert to Class A apartments in 12 to 18 months, with in-house sourcing and self-performed project management. Stabilize by leasing up and operating, which tests the underwriting against real operating data. Then return capital through refinancing or sale once stabilized, as executed at The Jade Winter Haven.
What proves the conversion strategy works?
The Jade Winter Haven. A 330-key hotel converted into 238 apartments, stabilized, and refinanced, which leased through a wave of competing deliveries in Central Florida. It is the completed proof the current offering repeats, and the project is documented in full on the track-record page.