Founding Bell Family Exits Greensboro Real Estate Firm After Nearly 50 Years

The Greensboro real estate firm Steven Bell started with 258 apartments and fewer than 20 employees is changing hands for $350 million, and the founding family will not be part of what follows.

Sun Life Financial, a Toronto-based financial services company, announced March 30 that it would acquire Bell Partners in a deal expected to close in the second half of 2026. The transaction will fold the Greensboro-based firm into Sun Life's BGO real estate platform, creating a combined entity with more than $100 billion in assets under management.

Bell, a UNC Chapel Hill graduate who served in the Army Reserve before entering mortgage banking, founded the company in 1976 as Steven D. Bell & Company. He built it by purchasing smaller apartment communities across North Carolina, often targeting 50 to 100 units at a time in towns where competition was limited. His son Jon joined the firm in 2001, became president in 2008, and took over as chief executive in 2016, the same year Steven stepped into a chairman role. Over five decades, the two grew what began as a modest Greensboro operation into one of the country's largest apartment investment and management companies, with roughly 70,000 apartment homes across 12 U.S. regions and approximately $10 billion in assets under management as of March 1.

The Bell family's formal retreat from day-to-day leadership began in January 2022, when Jon stepped down as CEO and Lili Dunn was elevated to the role, becoming the first person outside the Bell family to lead the company. Jon shifted to executive chairman; Steven was named chairman emeritus. Dunn, who joined Bell Partners in 2010 as chief investment officer, described the Sun Life acquisition as a logical next step. "For 50 years, Bell Partners has been defined by a strong culture of caring and performance while passionately serving our residents," she said. "It is a natural step in our evolution, preserving the essence of what has made us successful, while also opening new opportunities for the future."

Under the deal terms, at least 75% of the $350 million purchase price will be paid in Sun Life common shares. Bell Partners will retain its name and continue operating as a distinct business under BGO, which Sun Life will also use as its U.S. multifamily operating platform going forward.

Beyond the firm, Steven Bell and his wife Jackie have long directed philanthropic resources across Guilford County. The Bell Foundation donated $7.5 million to Cone Health last year to establish the Steven D. Bell Family Heart and Vascular Center, and Bell pledged $11 million to the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. With the sale pending, the chapter the Bells began in Greensboro nearly five decades ago is drawing to a close on their terms, at a price that reflects just how far 258 apartments can go.