Alvarado to retire from Allstate

Edgar Alvarado, group head of real estate equity at Allstate Investments, the investment management and advisory arm of Northbrook, Illinois-based insurer Allstate Insurance Company, plans to retire from his position effective Thursday, June 30.

In an interview with PERE, Alvarado said he had made the decision to retire about a year ago but only publicly announced his decision recently. He said that he planned to take time off for the rest of the year to travel, and intended to begin his search for his next role at the end of the year or the beginning of next year. “From a professional perspective, I would look for opportunities where I can create strategies, develop teams and establish relationships, and not necessarily in real estate,” he said.

Alvarado said that Allstate did not have any plans to hire a replacement for his role. Instead, his responsibilities would be split among Michael Moran, head of the company’s overall real estate investment group, and Michael Durst and Carrie DeWees, who will handle the day-to-day business of the real estate equity group.

Alvarado’s retirement would draw the curtain on a career that spanned more than two decades at Allstate Investments. He joined the company in 1993 as asset manager of real estate equity, and rose to become head of the group in 2006. As group head, Alvarado was instrumental in shifting the real estate portfolio from primarily fund investments toward more direct strategies through structured transactions, beginning in 2010. In 2014, he began to expand Allstate’s real estate equity direct investments to include entity-level transactions involving the operating companies behind real estate assets.

Alvarado also led investment initiatives in Low Income Housing Tax Credit funds, socially responsible investments and a diversity emerging manager program in private equity and real estate that was launched in 2013.

Prior to joining Allstate, Alvarado worked at Travelers Realty Investment Company from 1989 to 1993 and ABN/LaSalle Bank in Chicago from 1980 to 1989.

Allstate’s real estate equity group is one of two divisions under the insurer’s larger real estate investment group, which also invests in commercial mortgages. As of December, that group managed $7 billion of assets, including approximately $2.5 billion in real estate equity, on behalf of Allstate’s pension plan and various insurance and financial products.

Allstate’s real estate investments group typically seeks core and value-add opportunities across geographies in the United States and internationally, and through a variety of investment vehicles, such as funds, co-investments and joint ventures. Allstate’s real estate investments include retail, multi-family, office and industrial properties. One of the company’s most recent property transactions was the acquisition of The Mosaic at Mueller, a 441-unit mid-rise apartment community in Austin, Texas, through a managed account with CBRE Global Investors.