NY Pension Allocates $565M to U.S. Real Estate

The New York State Common Retirement Fund allocated approximately $565.2 million to U.S. real estate in August, combining a middle-market fund commitment with student housing, industrial property and grocery-anchored retail investments, according to state comptroller disclosures.

The largest allocation was $300 million to Artemis Real Estate Partners Fund V, which makes debt and equity investments in middle-market real estate and related businesses nationwide. Artemis is an existing manager relationship for the pension. The commitment closed Aug. 10, with future capital calls to be funded from cash.

Through its BlackRock-advised Real Estate Separate Account Program, the fund invested $115.9 million in Skyloft, a purpose-built Class A student housing property in Austin, Texas. The 212-unit property contains 674 beds and was acquired through a joint venture that closed Aug. 13.

A second separate account, advised by J.P. Morgan Investment Management, invested $143 million to acquire Ontario Mills in California’s Inland Empire West submarket. The fully leased industrial property spans 520,000 square feet on 25 acres. That acquisition closed Aug. 18.

The pension also committed up to $6.3 million to Hyperion I through the Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund, managed by GCM Grosvenor. Hyperion Realty Capital is a new relationship for the retirement fund and targets grocery-anchored retail centers in Western U.S. markets. The investment closed Aug. 21.

The approximately $310 billion pension invests retirement assets for the New York State and Local Retirement System. Its August disclosure reported no activity in the separate real assets portfolio.