GIC exec joins advisor as institutional RE head

Paige Mueller, previously a senior vice president at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation’s (GIC) real estate division, has joined RCLCO (Robert Charles Lesser & Co.) as managing director and director of institutional real estate advisory services, in a newly created position. She is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

RCLCO, a Washington, DC-based real estate advisory firm founded in 1967, has been known chiefly as a consultant on urban planning and real estate transactions, but has lately began to advise institutional investors on their real estate portfolios. In the face of growing demand, the firm said it has decided to focus on institutional advisory services as a new area of business, which will provide consulting services in the areas of strategic planning, investment policies, portfolio structuring and market analysis.

“There’s a lot of change going on in the industry, in terms of a lot of new companies forming, new directives going to other countries and a renewed interest in control and risk analysis and monitoring,” Mueller told PERE.  “Given those changes, we are seeing substantial institutional investor interest in seeking advisory services to help build real estate portfolios.”

Mueller, who will be overseeing a team of six, said RCLCO plans to expand the institutional advisory services business, both in terms of the number of clients and initiatives. The firm currently is advising US public pension funds that have both direct and fund investments in their real estate portfolios, although future clients could also include foundations and endowments.

Before joining RCLCO, Mueller worked for 10 years at GIC Real Estate, where she most recently served as a senior vice president in research, underwriting new deals for the sovereign wealth fund’s real estate investment teams in the Americas, and working with the division’s asset management team on hold/sell analyses and appraisal reviews. Prior to GIC, she was a vice president at LaSalle Investment Management, where she provided research support for the firm’s investment, brokerage, tenant and site selection teams.