Bow River Capital Buys San Antonio BTR Community

Bow River Capital has entered the San Antonio market by lassoing a built-to-rent community.

The Denver-based investor that focuses on what it calls the “Rodeo Region” purchased Cottages at Leon Creek, San Antonio Business Journal reports. The seller is Atlanta-based RangeWater Residential. JLL represented the seller and arranged buyer financing.

The sale price was not disclosed, but Bow River secured a $39.1 million mortgage from Delaware Life Insurance to purchase the property, according to loan documents.

Cottages at Leon Creek is a 284-unit community at 12839 Berthoud Lane, just south of the University of Texas at San Antonio campus. The property was valued at $55 million in 2024, according to the Bexar Central Appraisal District.

Built-to-rent products soared in popularity when the pandemic sent renters looking for property with more space. Shortly after, would-be buyers were stymied by low inventory and rising interest rates. A recent report from RentCafe found that 27,500 houses built for rent were delivered in 2023, a 75 percent increase from 2022; in addition, 41 percent of the nation’s built-to-rent homes were constructed between 2018 and 2023.

San Antonio ranks ninth in the country for built-to-rent homes constructed in the last five years; about 1,300 units were delivered in the city between 2018 and 2023, the report said.

RangeWater Real Estate is a developer and property manager that focuses on built-to-rent and multifamily assets.

RangeWater owns three other built-to-rent properties in San Antonio. Winding Brook and Mission at Davis Ranch are northwest of the city, while the Willows at Kendall Brooks is located northeast of downtown. Caliza at the Loop, which is north of San Antonio off of Loop 1604, is coming soon, the firm’s website says.

Bow River Capital’s real estate operation focuses on light industrial, single family and multifamily assets in the Rocky Mountain West and Southwest.

— Jess Hardin