Tony Chen will lead the new division. Image courtesy of Crescent Communities.

Multifamily and commercial real estate company Crescent Communities is entering the build-to-rent single-family housing business, with initial projects planned for Atlanta and three other southeastern markets.

Crescent will team up with Sumitomo Forestry’s DRB Group as its primary builder. The communities will each include 100 to 200 three- and four-bedroom single-family homes and townhomes.

Besides Atlanta, Crescent is targeting Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and Charleston, S.C. The brand for the new product segment will be unveiled this summer, the company said in a press release.

Crescent is best known for its NOVEL apartment brand, with seven communities in Atlanta and almost 19,000 units in total. The company also owns 21 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space.

The single-family segment will be led by Tony Chen, the former vice president, chief of staff and head of office of strategic initiatives at Atlanta’s FirstKey Homes.

“As a best-in-class real estate developer, we have an opportunity to address the growing demand of single-family rentals and to create additional housing in the U.S. through a highly desired product in purpose-built rental communities,” said Chen, who was hired as a managing director in April.