Grosvenor Americas JV Raises $300M Investment Vehicle

Project rendering. Image courtesy of Grosvenor Americas

A limited partnership between three Canadian companies has raised $300 million to invest in residential and mixed-use projects in the Washington, D.C., California and Vancouver markets. The True North III partnership includes Grosvenor Americas, Nicola Crosby and Kingswood Capital, who previously worked together on two similar partnerships.

The $300 million was raised through Grosvenor’s Structured Development Finance program and will be used to provide equity financing to projects in Washington, D.C.; the San Francisco Bay Area; Los Angeles; Seattle and Vancouver. The Canadian investors are specifically targeting U.S. markets that experienced supply and demand imbalances caused by the pandemic.

Grosvenor’s SDF program is looking to provide capital for developers in those markets who are working on projects that range in size from 50 to 450 units. True North III has already found its first project to finance and will provide $15 million to Roadside Development and its 10-story condominium project in Washington, D.C.’s Shaw submarket. Roadside Development’s community will offer 79 for-sale units, 24 of which are below market prices. Grosvenor also previously provided financing for a 89-unit condo building in Washington, D.C. through its SDF program.

James Delmotte, executive vice president & chief co-investment officer at Grosvenor, also told Multi-Housing News that there are several other deals in the True North III pipeline located in Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Vancouver that are expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Alex Henderson, Grosvenor’s senior vice president of co-investment, said in prepared remarks that the housing supply and demand imbalance in these markets could worsen, but that True North III would support efforts to supply new product to the constrained markets.

PARTNERING FOR A THIRD TIME

True North III is the third partnership between Grosvenor, Nicola Crosby and Kingswood Capital. Delmotte told MHN that the trio first teamed up for True North I that raised $300 million. The first partnership was followed by True North II, which raised $400 million and also brought on the Manitoba Civil Service Superannuation Board, Delmotte also told MHN. In total, the three limited partnerships saw a total of nearly $1 billion raised in commitments since 2015.

To scale with the growth of the Grosvenor’s SDF division, the company hired Steve Guberer as senior vice president of capital markets, who will lead the capital raising activities in the U.S and Canada. Grosvenor also hired Jennifer Eskildsen as vice president of co-investment where she will oversee the SDF division’s activity in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Orange County.