Nuveen Global Cities REIT acquired several properties in North America and funded an investment in a vehicle that will provide investors exposure to commercial real estate property in select European cities.
The non–exchange traded REIT was formed to invest in income-oriented properties in top cities located in and around leading cities in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. The fund is sponsored by Nuveen, a TIAA company, and externally advised by Nuveen’s affiliate, TH Real Estate Global Cities Advisors.
Recently, the fund acquired a fully leased, class A creative office property in Atlanta and a newly constructed class A apartment community in Austin.
The Atlanta acquisition includes two office buildings, known as Defoor Hills, totaling 91,000 square feet, both of which are fully leased. Designed to foster tenant interaction and connectivity, the buildings in the West Midtown submarket of Atlanta provide creative, collaborative office space surrounded by compelling lifestyle amenities close to the city’s thriving urban core.
The Austin acquisition is a 246-unit apartment complex known as Tacara Steiner Ranch, located in northwest Austin. Part of a master-planned community adjacent to Lake Travis, the location provides access to recreation and retail amenities, employment centers and strong schools. The complex is approximately 95 percent leased.
Including these latest acquisitions, the fund now owns five distinct properties in the United States, including a 96 percent leased suburban multifamily property in Chicago, as well as two industrial properties — one in Phoenix that is 100 percent leased and a six-building portfolio that is also 100 percent leased and is located across three Denver submarkets.
Additionally, the Nuveen Global Cities REIT funded an investment in TH Real Estate’s European Cities Partnership SCSp, an open-ended diversified investment fund that holds retail, offices and logistics assets across leading European cities. The investment will provide the fund with immediate diversification and scale by investing in a €1.4 billion ($1.32 billion) Pan-European portfolio, which leverages its deep local platform and sector-specialist expertise to create value. The fund will look to its investment in Europe to provide enhanced diversification and income stability.
The fund’s strategy is underpinned by TH Real Estate’s “Tomorrow’s Cities” research, which has identified leading global cities selected by utilizing a proprietary model that applies a filtering and scoring process focusing on the factors that will be required in order for cities to continue to attract a talented workforce, global occupiers and brands over coming decades. The model focuses on economic, demographic and socio-economic data to assess a city’s resilience and ability to thrive even in globally adverse conditions. The fund will target only the top 2 percent of cities in the world that we believe are best positioned for demographic and structural megatrends.
