NY Common allocates $755m to RE

The New York State Common Retirement Fund committed $755 million to two real estate funds in December, according to its most recent transaction report.

The country’s third largest pension plan allocated $300 million to Jamestown Properties’ open-end real estate fund, Jamestown Premier Property Fund. The Atlanta, Georgia-based real estate investment firm launched the vehicle in October 2011. Other investors in the fund include the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS); the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund; and Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS), according to meeting materials from the pensions.

With capital from the fund, Jamestown invests in core and core-plus strategies in office, retail and mixed-use assets located in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, Boston and San Francisco. The firm has a net return target for the open-ended fund of eight to 11 percent, according to LACERS documents. From inception to September 30, the fund has posted a 15.2 percent gross return, according to KPERS meeting materials.

NY Common also made a follow-on commitment to its joint venture with MetLife Real Estate Investors, adding $455 million to MetLife Core Plus Partners. The 50/50 partnership invests in US office, industrial, multifamily and retail properties. The pension fund previously invested $369 million of equity.

MetLife Core Plus Partners’ first investment, the acquisition of a $1.4 billion portfolio comprising seven office buildings across the US, closed at the end of December. MetLife and the pension fund have partnered on previous deals. In 2011, for example, MetLife sold a 50 percent stake in the Wells Fargo Plaza, a 71-story skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas, to the fund.

Lastly in December, the pension plan funded a $638,392.81 mortgage for a six-unit affordable housing property in Yonkers, New York, at 144 Linden Street.

No placement agents worked on any of the deals.