Camden Property Trust has entered the build-to-rent battle, starting construction on two properties near Houston in the third quarter.

The Houston-based REIT is building 200 homes at Camden Long Meadow Farms in Richmond, for $80 million. The development will sit in Houston-based CJ Development’s 58-acre Grand Center at the Long Meadow Farms master-planned community. In The Woodlands, Camden is building an 89-home Camden Woodmill Creek for $75 million. The first homes should be available next summer.

Camden’s Ric Campo said that the two development deals offer Camden an opportunity “to really understand the market and learn the market because I think it’s a very compatible business with the regular multifamily business.”

Structured as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), the company is primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, and construction of multifamily apartment communities. The Company is headquartered in Houston. Camden Property Trust owns and operates 171 properties across the United States.