TRS commits $150m to AEW senior housing fund

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas made one real estate commitment at its April meeting, the pension system said Friday.

The pension system wrote a $150 million check to AEW Capital Management’s latest senior housing fund, AEW Senior Housing Investors III. The value-added US fund was launched last month, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A spokesman for Boston-based AEW declined to comment on the vehicle.

Overall, TRS has invested in five AEW funds for a total of $640 million, according to a spokeswoman. TRS committed $100 million to AEW Senior Housing Investors II, which closed on $371 million in July 2014, according to a source with knowledge of the vehicle. The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana also allocated $40 million to AEW’s second senior housing fund, according to PERE Research & Analytics.

AEW’s last publicly-disclosed senior housing transaction was the November purchase of a 2.5-acre development site with LCB Senior Living in Melrose, Massachusetts for $3.6 million, according to real estate data provider Real Capital Analytics (RCA). The joint venture plans to redevelop the former industrial site at 116 Essex Street into 90 senior housing units, according to RCA.

In January, TRS doled out £133 million ($194.5 million; €180.5 million) to an AEW holding company. The entity purchased Festival Place, a 1.1 million square foot shopping center in the UK, for £290 million in December.