NC Retirement Grows Its Real Estate Holdings

The North Carolina Retirement Systems, responsible for overseeing $184 billion in assets, is actively growing its real estate holdings. In May, the trustees convened to evaluate the program and assess the performance of the first quarter, which was reported to be 2.64% by the Investment Management Division.

In the past 12 months, the portfolio had a decline of almost 14% in returns. However, in recent months, the program made two new commitments. A $141 million add-on allocation was made to Rockwood Capital’s NorthRock IV in February. In the previous year, $119 million was directed towards the separate account, while an additional $127 million was assigned to NorthRock I. All pledges were classified as U.S. diversified investments in the core real estate sector.

RXR Realty’s RXR NC Development Partners, a joint venture, was given an additional $75 million. The joint venture is also part of a separately managed account. The objective is to allocate funds towards the development of mixed-use development within the state.

Last year marked the first instance in 10 years that investment funding exceeded payouts in the real estate sector, indicating that the team managing the $8 billion program was prepared to increase allocations.

The cumulative amount of alternative investment funds is over $2 billion. Based on the presentation to trustees, the real estate investment team expressed optimism towards several sectors such as data centers, industrial properties, and multi-family housing. However, they held a negative view towards hotels and office spaces.