Rockpoint strikes second core-plus deal

Rockpoint Group has purchased The Wimbledon, a 230-unit apartment building in New York City, from JPMorgan Asset Management for $218 million. The acquisition was the second deal on behalf of Rockpoint’s newly closed vehicle, Rockpoint Core Plus Real Estate Fund, which collected a total of $950 million in September.

Rockpoint closed on the purchase at the end of December and is financing the transaction with a $115 million mortgage from Wells Fargo Bank, according to the New York City Department of Finance’s Office of the City Register. The seller was a joint venture between JP Morgan Asset Management and Adellco, which previously purchased the property for $150 million in June 2008, according to data provider Real Capital Analytics (RCA). The Wimbledon, which is located at 200 East 82^nd Street, was built in 1980.

Rockpoint’s sole other core-plus investment to date was the purchase of 275 Battery Street, a 472,000-square-foot office building in San Francisco from TIAA-CREF. The $307 million acquisition of the building, also known as the Embarcadero Center, closed last month. The property was built in 1988 and is approximately 88 percent occupied, according to RCA. Core-plus assets, like core properties, are considered largely low-risk, stabilized investments that require a relatively minor level of lease-up or renovation activity.

On behalf of its core-plus fund, the firm will pursue transactions in multiple commercial real estate property types in major US markets. The fund will be focused on stabilized assets with strong existing cash flows and less capital-intensive business plans than Rockpoint’s opportunistic fund investments. With the core-plus strategy, the firm will target 11 to 12 percent gross returns.

Meanwhile, the firm has been marketing its latest opportunistic vehicle, Rockpoint Real Estate Fund V. Rockpoint held a first close on the fund last month, raising $1.4 billion of its $2.5 billion equity target in just three months.