Bob Faith

Two big strategic investments last year only strengthened Greystar’s leading position in the multifamily sector.

The National Multifamily Housing Council in 2020 named Greystar the largest rental-housing operator for the 11th straight year, following a June acquisition of Alliance Residential and its more than 500 apartment assets across 21 states that expanded its domestic footprint by 25 percent. Greystar also acquired a 45 percent stake in Thackeray Partners last September that sets the international real estate investor up for future expansion in multifamily properties.

“This past year has proven just how resilient of an asset class rental housing is,” Bob Faith said. “We’ve seen so much change in such a short amount of time, from workplace habits to retail logistics and more, but the need for four walls and a roof overhead at night remains as sure of a bet as any.”

Greystar, which Faith founded in 1993, manages and operates more than $200 billion of real estate in nearly 200 markets globally in 2,600 apartment complexes. Faith said his firm’s sharp focus on rental housing the past three decades positioned it well during the pandemic, when there was large-scale demand for multifamily properties.

Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar has more than 70 development projects in the pipeline, with active investments in 16 countries and 109 markets. Faith said he hopes the new partnership with Thackeray can result in expansion into other growing sectors like industrial. To this end, Greystar’s subsidiary, Modern Living Solutions, purchased a 256,000-square-foot, off-site, plastic-manufacturing asset in Knox, Penn., in December that will be repurposed to assemble luxury modular bathrooms.

Faith also joined nearly 2,000 other CEOs in April in signing a pledge to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, which he said would be a chief goal moving forward.

“For us, DEI isn’t something that’s led by a person or division,” Faith said. “It is an effort that is driven by the entire business, and I’m energized by what we are learning and what we’re collectively doing.”—A.C.