Bob Faith

Bob Faith’s Greystar soared during the past year with growth beyond its multifamily roots into other commercial real estate sectors.

“We’ve continued to leverage our vertically integrated platform and local market knowledge to not only enhance our core business of rental housing, but capitalize on strategic growth opportunities in new adjacencies like industrial, single-family rental and life sciences,” Faith said. “With talented, integrated teams in over 220 markets around the world, we continued to demonstrate our ability and experience to build, acquire and operate in each of these areas in the world’s greatest cities.” 

Greystar, which Faith founded in 1993, manages and operates nearly $205 billion of real estate in 221 markets globally. The Charleston, S.C.-based, fully integrated real estate company is the largest operator of apartments in the U.S., managing nearly 754,000 units with more than $53.4 billion of assets under management. It has scaled its development and construction platforms over the last year with now $22 billion of multifamily projects in the pipeline.

After initially acquiring a 45 percent stake in Thackeray Partners in September 2020, Greystone purchased the remaining 55 percent in May 2021. At the time of the closing, Thackeray had more than 25,300 rental housing units and nearly 22 million square feet of industrial space. 

Last November, Greystar tapped Tyler Williams from Holt Lunsford Commercial Investments to expand its industrial presence in the Houston, Utah and Louisiana markets. In 2021, Greystar secured over $1 billion worth of future industrial development projects spanning 8 million square feet across 16 markets.

In July 2021, Greystar partnered with CPP Investments to form a joint venture with $1.2 billion of initial equity for pursuing life science developments in particular U.S. markets. The company hired Kerry Hawkins from JLL this past March to expand Greystar’s life science growth. 

“As I reflect on the past year, I think it has not only been a year of resilience for the rental housing sector, but also a year of momentum for Greystar,” Faith told Commercial Observer. “I’m humbled by the significant accomplishments we’ve made, all driven by our dedicated team members.”