CHARLESTON, SC—Greystar Real Estate Partners has begun raising capital for its next and largest value-add multifamily fund, PERE reported Wednesday. The new Greystar Equity Partners IX seeks to raise up to $1 billion, according to PERE, with a first close scheduled to occur before year's end. A spokeswoman for Greystar, the nation's largest operator of apartment buildings, dtells GlobeSt.com the company has no comment.

The new fund would follow on the June 2014 closing of Greystar Equity Partners VIII, a discretionary commingled fund that raised $800 million. It drew upon a diverse group of global investors that included domestic and international pension plans as well as private wealth managers.

Althugh the investment strategy for GEP IX is not known, Greystar said when GEP VIII closed that it would aggregate "a nationally diversified portfolio of high quality multifamily assets in target markets that are poised for outperformance." Bob Faith, Greystar's chairman and CEO, said at the time that "the recent expansion of our operating platform gives us even greater depth throughout the major markets in the US, which will further enhance our ability to identify and execute on attractive investment opportunities for our investors."