Grosvenor, a privately held property owner and developer with a 70-year track record in North America, celebrated another successful year of continued growth, with the announcement of several new developments, acquisitions and financing transactions throughout 2022. The company also made new, key leadership appointments and continued to make headway on its critical ESG goals. 

Looking ahead, across its urban property, food and agtech, and rural estates activities, Grosvenor has set a company-wide commitment to reduce carbon emissions in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C - building on and accelerating the company’s progress so far. 

“Over the course of the year, we were active in the rapidly changing environment around us as we grew our assets under management from $4.4bn to $5.4bn. In doing so, we made meaningful progress on our longer-term strategic objectives of advancing our partnership and net zero ambitions,” said Steve O’Connell, Chief Executive of Grosvenor’s North American property business. “In this volatile time, our conservative financial planning and the resiliency of our business put us in a good position to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves over the coming months.”

In Canada, Grosvenor’s development highlights for 2022 include securing approvals for a Metro Vancouver area development that will transform a 7.9-acre site in Burnaby into a uniquely pedestrian-friendly, low carbon mixed-use community with approximately 3,500 new homes and 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. 

In addition, Grosvenor 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. Also in 2022, 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” (Best Overall) award. The Vancouver development team was also awarded Best Customer Experience in the BC High Rise category during the Homeowner Mark of Excellence Awards, reflecting their commitment to customer care at The Pacific residential tower in downtown Vancouver.

As part of its commitment to hiring a best-in-class leadership team, Grosvenor 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. In Vancouver, Michael Ward was promoted to Managing Director, Development, to oversee Grosvenor’s development activities in the Pacific Northwest and Marc Josephson, Senior Vice President, Development, has taken over leadership of the Vancouver Development program.

Grosvenor participates in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB®) Real Estate Assessment and in 2022, it increased ratings for both its Development and Investment activity, exceeding benchmark averages in Leadership, Policies, Reporting and Stakeholder Engagement and earning a 91/100 overall Development ranking, ten points above industry peer average of 81. 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.

The company was awarded Best Corporate Responsibility Program by NAIOP DC and continued to partner with and support numerous charitable organizations in North America, granting over $600,000 across Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C.

Grosvenor has operated a diversified real estate business in North America since 1952. As of December 31, 2022, the company had assets under management of CAD$5.4bn, including 74 high-quality properties, and is executing on a CAD$6.3bn 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.