Dive Brief:

• Charleston, South Carolina-based multifamily giant Greystar is launching a new brand, Ltd. by Greystar, focused exclusively on attainable housing. Among other features, apartments in this brand will cap annual rent increases at either 3% or the trailing 12-month increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is greater.
• The Ltd. brand will work in tandem with Greystar’s recently opened Modern Living Solutions modular construction factory to build prefabricated modular housing components for upcoming projects. This will allow Greystar to scale construction of Ltd. communities to meet housing needs.
• “Over the course of my career, I have seen the incredible need for attainable housing options across the United States,” said Bob Faith, founder, chairman and CEO of Greystar, in a press release. “We are excited for the opportunity to apply our platform and our culture of innovation to build housing supply that offers an attainable, high-quality experience for renters.”

Dive Insight:

Two of Greystar’s Ltd. communities are currently in lease-up: Ltd. Med Center in Houston’s Brentwood neighborhood, which opened for move-ins in April, and Ltd. Champions Ridge in Davenport, Florida, which is slated to open in July. Both are site-built projects, according to Scott Berka, senior managing director of brand and customer experience at Greystar.

The three-story Ltd. Med Center property provides 378 one- and two-bedroom apartment units with keyless entries, in-unit laundry and walk-in closets. Amenities include an outdoor pool, fitness center, lounge area, game room, dog park and package delivery via Fetch. High-speed internet will also be available throughout the property.

Rents at Ltd. Med Center range from $970 to $1,410, falling below Houston’s average one- and two-bedroom apartment rents of $1,260 and $1,532 respectively. Half of Ltd. Med Center’s units — 189 total — are set aside for applicants making 60% to 80% of the area median income. (Berka noted that this won’t be typical for the Ltd. brand, as it will largely be focused on serving the middle market.)

The Modern Living Solutions factory opened in April in Knox, Pennsylvania, specifically to support Greystar’s affordable and attainable housing operations in the region. The factory has 170 employees and expects to produce components for properties in the Mid-Atlantic region, where housing supply is low, according to a press release.

Three more Ltd. brand communities are under development across the country, with 1,600 new units expected in the next 18 months. The first will be built near the MLS factory in Knox, followed by two more in Elkton, Maryland.

“While we are focused on the delivery of the first apartments and communities within the radius of the Knox factory, we will also be looking to scale across the country if and when the time is right,” Berka told Multifamily Dive. “Greystar intends to perfect the production process, design and construction methodologies for our modular program at our flagship factory. Once that is completed, we will look to expand to a second factory, with the ultimate goal of having production capacity to reach the majority of the US population.”