Triangle Business Journal (November 23, 2020) – A Texas commercial real estate company is launching a Raleigh office, bringing a North Carolina native down from D.C. to head the expansion.
Dallas-based Crow Holdings has been active in the Triangle for years, but now, it’s opening an office in Raleigh for its multifamily development arm Trammell Crow Residential with plans to more than double its activity in the region.
“With the opening of our first North Carolina office in Raleigh, we continue Crow Holdings’ and TCR’s expansion into high-opportunity U.S. markets,” said Ken Valach, CEO of Crow Holdings’ development companies, including TCR, Crow Holdings Industrial and Crow Holdings Office. “Establishing a permanent local presence in Raleigh will allow us to achieve more focused growth in both the Research Triangle and Charlotte submarkets.”
The company tapped Trammell Crow Residential managing director and North Carolina native Robbie Brooks to lead the office.
“Having been with TCR, a Crow Holdings company, in the D.C. office for over six years, I’m thrilled to return to my home state of North Carolina to expand our efforts in the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte markets and help lead growth initiatives in the region,” Brooks says.
For the last few years, he says the company has looked to develop a multifamily project in either Raleigh or Charlotte every 12 to 15 months.
“More recently the population migration from more dense and expensive north eastern markets,” Brooks says. “We’re watching those trends happen and to some degree wishing we got down there sooner.”
With this new office, Brooks says he hopes to bump that up to two a year in the Triangle.
Crow Holdings has three main products: urban infill multifamily, workforce housing and single-family rentals.
The company launched the single-family rental product recently in part after its investor partners expressed interest in the growing sector.
Originally from Burlintgon, NC, Brooks has been living and working in Washington D.C. for years. He and his family are moving to Raleigh in January.
“You look at the school systems, the quality of life, the cost of living… It’s gone up since I last lived there but it’s still a discount compared to DC or a larger market,” Brooks says.
The company hasn’t finalized the headcount for the new office, but Brooks says hiring has already begun.
Crow Holdings has been investing in the Triangle for years.
In 2012, Crow Holdings bought the Park & Market apartments in North Hills in the area’s first apartment sale to break above $200,000 per unit. Crow sold the property in 2017 for $88 million.
By Caleb Harshberger – Staff Writer, Triangle Business Journal
