Stephen Rosenberg

One thing became clear in 2022 for Greystone after it made $15.3 billion in originations: The firm’s joint venture with Cushman & Wakefield from late 2021 is truly paying off. 

Roughly 7 percent of Greystone’s origination volume last year resulted from the partnership, notably the 10-year, $257.4 million Freddie Mac loan Greystone originated for the Beacon multifamily apartment and parking garage complex in Jersey City, N.J., and four transactions targeting affordable housing acquisition and rehabilitation developments in South Carolina totaling $118 million. 

Stephen Rosenberg told CO that the agreement with Cushman & Wakefield has given Greystone direct access to thousands of debt brokers who generate daily deal flow and has allowed the firm to more easily fill liquidity gaps in the alternative lending space. 

“We’re seeing momentum building and relationships building between our folks and the Cushman folks,” Rosenberg said. “It’s been a great collaboration, and we expect to do billions of dollars of transactions with Cushmnan this year. It just keeps getting better.”

While more than three-quarters of Greystone’s loan portfolio is devoted to the multifamily sector, especially the affordable housing space, a significant portion of the firm’s balance sheet — roughly 13 percent — is devoted to underwriting assets in the health care sector, primarily within the area of skilled nursing. 

“Number one, what we like is the demographics, which scream the need for this type of service,” Rosenberg explained. “Additionally, what I like about it is, for the most part, it’s not private pay — it’s government subsidized by Medicare and Medicaid, so there’s reliable cash flow.” 

Rosenberg noted that Greystone’s position as the top lender in the country to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has positioned his firm to finance that asset class going forward, as well. 

To be fair, it shouldn’t be surprising that Rosenberg finds the health care sector attractive: He’s likely the only executive in CRE with a D.M.D. in dentistry from the University of Pennsylvania. 

And he’s likely generated many smiles among his employees through the various DEI initiatives Greystone has initiated over the last year. These have included partnering with Project Destined to nominate four nonprofits per month to receive a total of $5,000, publishing the firm’s first social impact report, hosting a Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group, and bringing 10 New York-area students to work with Greystone mentors as part of the Project Destined program. —B.P.