Florida State Board earmarks $150m for real estate investment

The Florida State Board of Administration has approved $150m (€136.9m) in real estate commitments.

The US pension fund is committing $100m to the Blackstone Real Estate Partners Fund VIII and $50m to Heitman Value Partners III.

Blackstone recently bought its first asset for Fund VIII, a portfolio of 38 offices in Seattle’s Bothell and Redmond East sub-markets.

The transaction was part of the $23bn debt and equity deal in April between Blackstone and GE Capital Real Estate.

The Seattle portfolio is around 80% let, lower than the current market average.

Blackstone raised $15bn of equity for the opportunity fund, which is investing globally.

The real estate manager is considering all major asset classes, looking at assets worth at least $50m.

Heitman’s Value Partners III, which attracted $500m, will invest up to $1.5bn over the next three years.

Leverage on the value-add fund is around 67%.

Some of the capital will be invested with US public and private real estate operating partners.

Heitman has already invested at least 40% of the equity in a range of property types including offices, medical office buildings and self-storage assets.