Grosvenor, the large London-based real estate investment and development firm, is tapping the head of its Vancouver, Canada, development operations to lead an expansion into another West Coast market.
Michael Ward was named to take on an expanded role with his promotion to managing director of development, heading up projects for the firm in Seattle, an expansion of his previous role.
It's an expansion of Ward's portfolio as well as the business of the multinational firm, which had not previously been an active developer in the Seattle market even as its investment and structured finance arms have had a presence there since the early 2000s.
“We have been an active investor in existing and value-add opportunities in Seattle for well over a decade, and it’s a natural progression for Grosvenor to now move into active development," Ward said in an email.
He added that the company plans to focus on transit-oriented multifamily developments in "high amenity neighborhoods."
Ward explained that "Seattle is a vibrant city, with a highly educated young workforce, with many neighborhoods benefiting from transit infrastructure. This fits our strategy and skill set well.”
Large Projects
The firm, part of a sprawling family company headed by Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, is known in part for megaprojects such as Liverpool ONE project, a roughly 2.5-million-square-foot mixed-use development in the project’s namesake city that opened in 2008.
Grosvenor also has an as-yet unnamed 1.5-million-square-foot mixed-use residential development underway in Vancouver.
A spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s plans in Seattle, but noted its investment arm acquired of the Chelsea apartments at Juanita Village, a 196-unit mixed-use development with just over 22,000 square feet of retail property, according to CoStar data.
Its financing arm funded the development of the Bond apartments, a 139-unit project led by local developer MainStreet Property Group and sold in 2020.
The company’s largest holding in the Seattle area is the Schnitzer North Creek Office Park in Bothell, a 712,000 square-foot, 11-building complex it purchased for $167.5 million in 2020, according to CoStar data.
In all, the company owns at least four properties in the Seattle area, according to CoStar data.
Along with Ward’s promotion, the company also announced a handful of other changes to its U.S. and Vancouver teams. It promoted Marc Josephson to senior vice president of development in Vancouver, taking over day-to-day operations in that market behind Ward, and hired Neil Belcher and Woody O’Neill to oversee its construction operations in the United States and Canada, respectively.