Greystar fully invests Fund VIII

Greystar Real Estate Partners has wrapped up investments for its eighth multifamily fund with the purchase of two New York City properties for $336.3 million, the firm said Wednesday.

The Charleston, South Carolina-based firm finished fundraising for Greystar Equity Partners VIII in June with a total equity haul of $800 million. Investors in the value-add fund include Kansas Public Employees’ Retirement System, which allocated $40 million, and Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, which committed $50 million.

For Fund VIII, the firm has been implementing a strategy of “aggregating a nationally diversified portfolio of high-quality multi-family assets in target markets that are poised for outperformance,” according to a 2014 statement. The firm seeded the fund with a 10-property apartment portfolio acquired for $150 million in 2014.

The firm’s final Fund VIII investments were two separate transactions in New York. In one transaction, Greystar bought The Chelsea, a 204-unit multifamily building located at 160 West 24th Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, for $211.3 million. In addition, the firm purchased a 169-unit multifamily property comprising two buildings located at 247 North 7th and 248 North 8th Streets in the Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood for $125 million.

Bob Faith, Greystar’s chief executive officer, said the firm is not fazed by New York’s heated real estate market.

“History has proven that if you have a long and patient mindset, you can do very well in New York City,” Faith told PERE. “We know that with owning world class real estate real in a world-class market, there will be an opportunity to sell.”

The firm launched Greystar Equity Partners IX in October with a $1 billion target. Greystar held a first close for the fund in December and expects to finish fundraising in the summer. Faith said the firm is seeking to invest in more primary markets and “cool millennial cities,” such as Austin and Seattle, in the latest fund.