NEW YORK CITY-A few days after acquiring a Washington, DC apartment portfolio in a joint venture with Pantzer Properties, locally based Dune Real Estate Partners said it had closed on another JV related to multifamily investment. TDI/Dune Real Estate Investments LLC is a $1-billion platform with San Diego-based TDI Real Estate Holdings LLC, intended to acquire and develop multifamily assets throughout the US.

According to a release, TDI/Dune will focus solely on the multifamily sector, targeting class A properties in core markets. “Dune is eager to expand its multifamily investment capabilities and believes TDI’s experience, along with multifamily market fundamentals, will create a competitive investment platform to deploy capital beginning in 2011,” says Cia Buckley, a partner with Dune Real Estate Partners, in the release.

The JV is driven by the belief that a shift away from homeownership is responsible for a strong multifamily market, along with rental rate growth based on economic recovery, expected job growth and limited new supply. Former executives of JPI Realty Services, including TDI president and CEO Mark Bryant and CFO Kirk Motsenberger, are heading up the new venture. A Dune spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that JPI veterans Ben Montgomery, Brad Taylor and Gus Villalba have also joined TDI as members of the executive management team, while two of JPI’s founders, Ron Ingram and Bobby Page, serve on the board of managers for the TDI/Dune partnership.   

Earlier this year, TDI and Dune closed on a $62-million, 244-unit luxury apartment development in Los Angeles and a $25-million, 288-unit acquisition in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, according to a release. Last week, Dune and Pantzer acquired eight apartment properties in the DC metro area for $460 million.