The State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) of Ohio has teamed up with a Chicago- and Brooklyn-based real estate investment and asset management firm to make value-added acquisitions in the industrial real estate space in the US.
According to a statement, the $66.8 billion state pension plan and Sitex Realty Group are looking to invest more than $140 million in industrial real estate over the next 24 months. Beginning 1 June, the new venture will focus exclusively on value-added acquisitions in the metropolitan regions of Chicago, New Jersey and New York.
A spokeswoman from real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which matched the two investors, told PERE that Sitex was seeking an equity partner to purchase industrial properties around the US. Together, Sitex and Ohio STRS now have $140 million in equity and debt with which to begin making acquisitions. At press time, neither STRS nor Sitex could be reached for comment.
“We were very fortunate to find the cross section of needs between a boutique industrial owner-operator focused on value-added assets and a national pension system in search of an efficient way of investing in that very same product,” said James Tramuto, the executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle who led the transaction. “It was a perfect match.”
News of the new venture follows the recent announcement in late March that Ohio STRS is in contract to buy Foundry Square I, an office in San Francisco, from AREA Property Partners for $238 million.
Ohio Teachers, Sitex form US warehouse venture
The new venture plans to spend more than $140 million on industrial, value-added acquisitions in Chicago, New Jersey and New York.
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