Grosvenor’s urban property business in North America celebrated another successful year and continued its growth, as the company announced several new developments, acquisitions and financing transactions throughout 2022. The firm announced new leadership appointments and key hires, and continued to make headway on its critical ESG goals.

"Interest rate increases through 2022 created a rapidly changing environment for us to operate in.  Fortunately, our conservative financial planning provided a solid base of long-term low rate debt which helped facilitate new development and acquisition activity early in the year.” said Steve O’Connell, CEO of Grosvenor’s North American property business. “As we navigate the potential recessionary environment ahead, it's motivating to look back over our 70 years in North America to see the opportunities that we have generated in prior cycles at times like these.” 

Company highlights for 2022 include:

Development and Investments:

• Secured approvals for a Metro Vancouver area development that will transform a 7.9-acre site in Burnaby into a pedestrian-friendly, low carbon mixed-use community with approximately 3,500 new homes and 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. 
• Broke ground on 1951 Shattuck, a 163-residence Class-A apartment building in downtown Berkeley, CA, which is designed to achieve GreenPoint Rated Gold Certification.
• Acquired the Oakridge Transit Centre (OTC), one of Metro Vancouver’s largest undeveloped sites, with plans for a new 1.5 million square foot, mixed-use community.
• Acquired 2600 Telegraph Avenue, a fully entitled development site in Oakland, CA, and plans to build 225 rental homes and 6,000 sq. ft. of specialty retail space.
• Acquired a 237-unit value-add multifamily building in North Bethesda, MD, part of the Washington D.C. market. 

Financing:

• Refinanced 1500 K Street, an office building in Washington, D.C., with an $82.1M first mortgage loan provided by Helaba.
• J.P. Morgan provided a $90M construction loan to Grosvenor toward building 163 Class A rental homes at 1951 Shattuck in Berkeley, CA.
• As part of its Structured Development Finance arm, Grosvenor closed a new $27.8 financing commitment with Hoffman & Associates to build West Falls Condo, a mixed-use condominium project in Falls Church, VA. 

New Hires/Promotions:

• Ashleigh Simpson joined Grosvenor as Senior Vice President, Co-Investment to lead the company’s Structured Development Finance Program. 
• Named Emily Petrila Vice President, Legal Counsel & Corporate Secretary, and hired Cindy MacMillan as Vice President, Investment, in Vancouver. 
• Appointed country specific construction leadership with the hires of Neil Belcher as Vice-President, Construction, U.S., and Woody O’Neill as Vice-President, Construction, Canada.
• Michael Ward was promoted to oversee Grosvenor’s development activities in the Pacific Northwest, and Marc Josephson has taken over leadership of the Vancouver Development program.

ESG Initiatives:

• Increased its ratings in the 2022 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB®) Real Estate Assessment for both its Development and Investment activity, exceeding benchmark averages in Leadership, Policies, Reporting and Stakeholder Engagement and earned a 91/100 overall Development ranking, eleven points above industry peer average of 80.
• Grosvenor was awarded Best Corporate Responsibility Program by NAIOP DC and continued to partner with and support numerous charitable organizations across North America, granting over $600,000 across Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Vancouver, BC.

Awards/Recognition:

• Grosvenor received three Awards of Excellence from the Urban Development Institute for the West Vancouver development Grosvenor Ambleside in the categories of “Best Mixed Use Low Rise”, “Community Amenity” and the coveted “Best in Show” award.
• The Vancouver development team was awarded Best Customer Experience in the BC High Rise category during the Home Owner Mark of Excellence Awards, reflecting their commitment to customer care at The Pacific residential tower in downtown Vancouver. 

Grosvenor has operated a diversified real estate business in North America since 1952. As of December 31, 2021, the company had assets under management of USD$3.6bn, including 74 high-quality properties, and is executing on a USD$4.5bn* proprietary development pipeline across its active markets. Consistent with the firm’s farsighted approach to ownership and development, Grosvenor values long-term partnerships; across their nine active capital partners, the average relationship is 20 years.  

Grosvenor signed the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in 2019 and has publicly reported its annual consumption and reduction values for 15 years. 

*As at Q2 2022.