HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – The Finger Companies, a Houston-based multifamily developer founded and long led by apartment industry veteran Marvy A. Finger, has sold 20 garden-style and mid-rise apartment communities in a transaction valued at $2 billion.
Since establishing his firm in 1958, Marvy Finger has typically retained ownership and managed nearly every apartment project he developed. That approach is increasingly uncommon in the multifamily industry, where many developers build, lease up and then sell stabilized properties to institutional investors.
The portfolio was acquired by a venture led by Greystar, the national multifamily operator and investor.
Finger Employees Will Be Retained
Mindful of long-standing relationships with his staff, Finger said the new ownership group agreed to retain all on-site employees at the acquired properties.
“Today’s announcement is a direct reflection of the talented and devoted family of long-term employees who have consistently upheld the highest standards in the industry,” said Marvy Finger, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Finger Companies. “The agreement to sell part of our portfolio to the venture spearheaded by Greystar will allow that legacy to continue uninterrupted.”
Finger was represented in the transaction by Scott Galloway, Dustin Selzer and Roberto Casas of the JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales Advisory team.
“Marvy is one of the true icons of the multi-housing industry,” said Scott Galloway, Executive Managing Director of JLL Capital Markets. “These assets not only come with prime locations, but they also include high-quality product offerings and one of the best management teams in the business. They complement Greystar’s national portfolio exceptionally well.”
Greystar, headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, manages a portfolio of roughly 750,000 units across the country.
Marvy Finger: Downtown Development Pioneer
Beyond the 20 properties sold, Finger’s development track record includes high-rise multifamily projects such as Museum Tower on Montrose Boulevard and One Park Place in downtown Houston, located across from Discovery Green park.
Finger was an early proponent of downtown residential development, recognizing the untapped potential of Houston’s Central Business District. His efforts helped contribute to a downtown population that today exceeds 10,000 residents.
Now in his mid-80s, Finger has a long-standing reputation for identifying locations that later become popular living destinations.
He began planning his downtown tower in 2005 after observing strong downtown apartment markets in other major American cities. In a 2018 interview with Realty News Report, Finger explained the rationale behind that project: “I’m building apartments in a dozen cities in the U.S.—major markets like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Minneapolis. I’m exposed to all these different major cities, and everyone has a viable downtown where a lot of people are living—ownership and rentals. But nothing new residentially had been built in downtown Houston for a while. Houstonians were not living downtown. People were living in the suburbs. But Museum Tower (in Montrose) had been so successful, and Houston’s population was over 5 million, I said to myself it would be possible. There was nothing new in downtown Houston, and with 5 million people in greater Houston, I knew I can find 340 people out of 5 million who will want to live downtown. I was able to sell that pitch to lenders at the time. I decided to build rental units in downtown Houston.”
The sale to Greystar marks a major milestone for The Finger Companies, but it does not signal the end of Marvy Finger’s involvement in the industry.
“This is a major step towards achieving our goal of maintaining a certain level of excellence for which we are known,” Finger said. “We are perfectly positioned to pursue exciting new projects that will propel the company far into the future.”
Oct. 20, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
For additional context on Texas real estate, see the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins.
File: Marvy Finger Sells Apartments for $2 Billion
File: Houston Multifamily. Marvy Finger Sells Apartments to Greystar