Harrison Street Closes Ninth US Opportunistic RE Fund at $2.5B

Harrison Street has closed its ninth U.S. opportunistic real estate fund, Harrison Street Real Estate Partners IX LP, securing approximately $2.5 billion in equity commitments. Existing investors accounted for about 60% of the new fund’s capital, the firm said.

The vehicle gives Harrison Street more than $7 billion of buying power, focused on “fundamentally sound” alternative real estate sectors “that possess resilient and growing demographic-driven demand despite macroeconomic headwinds.”

The fund has now committed roughly 70% of its total equity to 70 properties in seven different sectors, with the highest concentrations in student housing, senior housing, and data centers.

The rest of the fund will “focus primarily on acquiring well-located but underperforming assets, as well as those with strained capital structures in need of liquidity, offering distressed pricing,” the firm said.

The fund’s first development project, a student housing asset at the University of Wisconsin, was recently delivered 100% pre-leased. Fund IX also completed its first disposition, receiving offers to purchase a data center site after successfully securing power capacity including installation of an onsite substation.

“We are witnessing a persistent and noticeable investor rotation from traditional real estate into alternative sectors, a trend that has accelerated in its trajectory in recent years,” Rob Cook, senior managing director and portfolio manager for Fund IX, said.’

Harrison Street has now raised $30 billion in equity since it was founded in 2006.