Greystar adds 130K units to management portfolio in $200M deal

Negotiations with Alliance Residential began in February

Alliance Chairman Bruce Ward and Greystar Chief Executive Bob Faith (Greystar, Alliance)
Alliance Chairman Bruce Ward and Greystar Chief Executive Bob Faith (Greystar, Alliance)

As large real estate deals across the country have fallen apart as a result of the coronavirus crisis, Greystar has closed on a 130,000 unit deal that solidifies its position as one of the biggest rental operators.

The South Carolina-based firm acquired the business that manages those units from Alliance Residential, the fourth largest apartment manager in the U.S., in a nearly $200 million all-cash deal, the Wall Street Journal reported. Alliance will remain in the business of developing and investing in apartments.

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Greystar’s management inventory, which already had a major presence in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Houston and Seattle, now totals 660,000. The company also owns about 140,000 of its own units.

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Greystar CEO Bob Faith told the Journal that his firm had the opportunity to back out of the deal in recent weeks, but opted to close at the previously agreed price.

The coronavirus’ impact on multifamily has so far not been as severe as initially expected, and Greystar — whose properties are on the higher end of the market — has collected about 95 percent of its rent for April and May.

“We’re in a pretty good spot,” Faith said. “It means that folks are either making good income or have good savings.”

Last week, Greystar was hit with a lawsuit by eight tenants in Los Angeles, who accuse the company of gathering financial and personal information without consent. [WSJ] — Kevin Sun