Multifamily owners and operators Spruce Properties and New Urban Residential have formed a partnership to develop value for investors in their existing properties plus pursue new acquisitions.

Spruce Properties, along with S3 Capital, is part of Spruce Capital Partners, a privately held, New York-based real estate investment firm founded by Robert Schwartz and Joshua Crane. Spruce owns and manages 4,000 rental units in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.

Spruce Properties

“We are excited to combine forces with New Urban Residential at a critical juncture for the nation’s residential housing market,” says Schwartz. “The partnership will create numerous synergies as we expand acquisitions and jointly grow our portfolio in the Sun Belt and throughout the country.”

New Urban Residential, which was founded by Seth Wolfman as Wolf Multifamily Investments in 2018, owns and operates 550 rental units in North and South Carolina. After launching New Urban Residential to manage its portfolio of workforce and affordable housing, Wolf rebranded the entire company to New Urban.

To be headquartered in New York and led by Wolfman, the role of New Urban Residential will vary based on the investment plan of each individual acquisition. The company’s regional office in Raleigh, North Carolina, will cover the Mid- and South Atlantic, and an office in Kansas City, Missouri, will cover Midwest markets.

“I’m excited to work with the Spruce team on our existing portfolios and jointly pursue acquisitions. Our team is eager to replicate a portfolio of similar scale in the Mid- and South Atlantic to the one Spruce has built in the Midwest,” says Wolfman. “It’s our expectation that by combining operations, we will strengthen our ability to deliver value to existing and new investors.”

Crane adds, “We have confidence in the continued appreciation of multifamily rental assets in growth markets throughout the United States. We deploy patient capital, and we will continue to execute a conservative, long-term business plan to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns.”