New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) has invested over $1bn (€963.3m) in real estate, by acquiring two apartment buildings in the US and committing $500m to a data centre strategy managed by IPI Partners.
NYSCRF’s apartment acquisitions, in Southern California, comprise the Simone Little Italy in downtown San Diego for $283m and The Royce in Irvine for $247.5m.
The $275bn pension fund acquired the 36-storey, 395-unit apartment complex in San Diego through a separate account with BlackRock. The property, developed in 2023, was a joint venture between Trammell Crow Residential, Pacific Life Insurance Company and AAA Management.
The Irvine asset is a 520-unit property completed for a separate account with MetLife Investment Management.
NYSCRF told IPE Real Assets that it found the size, location and return potential of the acquired properties to be attractive.
“The CRF continues to find attractive opportunities to increase exposure to the housing sector. The CRF real estate portfolio is approximately 21% allocated to the housing sector as of the third quarter of last year,” the pension fund added.
NYSCRF’s data centre investment involved making a $400m commitment to the IPI Partners III fund and another $100m into a co-investment sidecar to invest alongside the fund, marking the pension fund’s first investment with IPI Partners.
The pension fund said in an email: “The investment to data centers provides reasonable exposure to a rapidly growing sector and will complement other digital infrastructure investments within the CRF portfolio.”
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