Jefferson Apartment Group is building a 320-unit rental complex with ground floor retail opposite Malden Center station on the MBTA’s Orange Line and the commuter rail’s Haverhill line.

A developer active in Malden Center’s transformation is teaming up with a real estate fund with plans to acquire $1 billion in apartment properties, including its initial investment in a Boston high-rise.

McLean, Virginia-based Jefferson Apartment Group has an undisclosed Boston property under contract and plans to spend $50,000 per unit on renovations, Multi-Family Investors reports. A commercial real estate executive not involved with the transaction told Banker & Tradesman that the likely property is Equity Residential’s CityView at Longwood complex, which lists units ranging from $2,685 one-bedrooms to $4,125 three-bedroom units. The 295-unit tower was completed in 1970.

The Boston transaction is the first under a venture that Jefferson recently formed with New York Life Real Estate Investors to acquire 4,000 apartment units throughout the U.S. by 2022. New York Life has committed $90 million to the venture, Multi-Family Investors reported. The venture will focus on acquisitions in East Coast metros which remain resilient during economic downturns.

Equity Residential’s Boston portfolio was nearly 97 percent occupied with rents 4 percent higher than the previous year, company executives said this month in a quarterly earnings call.

Jefferson Apartment Group is developing a 325-unit apartment complex called J Malden Center scheduled to open late this year, part of a group of developments totaling more than 2,000 housing units capitalizing on the downtown’s proximity to the MBTA’s Malden Center station.