New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) has invested $72.7m (€67m) to buy five medical office buildings in the US.

The pension fund told IPE Real Assets that the 179,659sqft portfolio provides the fund with a “geographically diverse collection of high-quality medical office facilities that are well-positioned in densely concentrated medical corridors near healthcare infrastructure, generally in an established healthcare cluster”.

NYSCRF added: “Each asset is located within five miles of a major hospital in addition to smaller medical centres and urgent care facilities in the near vicinity.”

The properties are located in the metropolitan statistical areas of Reading and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Dallas, Atlanta and New Haven, Connecticut. The portfolio is 99% leased, primarily to credit tenants.

Medical office assets currently represent less than 1% of the pension fund’s real estate portfolio.

“As demonstrated during the recent pandemic, medical office is believed to be a much more resilient than traditional office. Medical office tenants are often more credit-worthy and much more likely to renew their leases upon expiration,” the $233bn pension fund said.

NYSCRF has also added Arc Capital Partners to its emerging manager programme for real estate by making a $15m commitment to the Arc Urban Investors partnership.

“This investment was an opportunity to invest with an experienced and cohesive team that has been working together for many years,” the pension fund said.

The Arc Urban Investors partnership, which will seek deals in the western US and Texas, will acquire repriced retail/commercial properties to convert to mixed-use and purchase value-add apartments or develop new apartment communities.

NYSCRF’s other emerging manager commitments made include issuing $15m to NB Partners Fund IV and $5.2m to Sundance Bay Debt Opportunity Fund and its sidecar fund.

To read the latest edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.

Topics