Newsline

With two decades of experience in the self-storage sector, Harrison Street Asset Management views today’s environment as one shaped by supply discipline, diversified demand drivers, and the advantages of scale and long-term operating partnerships. In this interview, Mike Gordon, global CIO at Harrison Street, reflects on how the firm’s self-storage thesis has matured since 2005, why demographic shifts and rising customer length of stay underpin long-term demand, and how falling construction starts are reshaping the sector’s supply/demand balance. Gordon also discusses Harrison Street’s recent joint venture with Morningstar Properties, the role of institutional capital in driving competitive dynamics, and why self-storage is increasingly viewed as a core-plus allocation within institutional real estate portfolios.

GMH Communities (GMH) and AEW Capital Management (AEW) have acquired two student housing communities.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust, and Dream Asset Management Corporation (Dream) have formed a joint venture to acquire last-mile industrial properties in major markets across Canada.

Almanac Realty Investors, a business unit of Neuberger, has committed up to $300 million of growth capital to SparrowHawk.

Stream Realty Partners has closed on the recapitalization of a portfolio of seven class A industrial assets in Texas.

The latest employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed signs of meaningful weakness in the labor market, with the unemployment rate climbing to 4.6 percent, the highest level since September 2021. It is up from the 4.4 percent reported in the previous month, in the most recent pre-shutdown data — and a weakening job market is set to have significant implications for investors in real estate, infrastructure and other real assets

Bain Capital Real Estate and 11North Partners have announced the close of a capital raise of up to $1.6 billion to invest alongside their co-owned, dedicated open-air retail-focused operating platform. 

Forum Investment Group has appointed Jarvie Worcester as head of real estate.

LaTerra Capital Management, an affiliate of LaTerra Development, in partnership with Respark Residential, is under contract with AIMCO to acquire a 1,495-unit, seven-property multifamily portfolio located across key Chicago suburban submarkets including the cities of Evanston, Lombard and Elmhurst. The portfolio is being acquired at a purchase price of $455 million, with a closing targeted for the first quarter 2026. 

Nuveen views today as one of the most attractive commercial real estate credit environments in more than a decade. In an interview with IREI, Jason Hernandez, head of real estate debt, Americas, at Nuveen, explains the compelling relative value in the market, how investor allocations are shifting toward floating-rate senior loans, and what lending conditions could look like over the next 12–18 months.

Kering and Ardian have executed a joint venture agreement effective immediately regarding the Kering property located at 715-717 Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Slate Asset Management and Hamilton Lane has acquired a majority equity stake in Cold-Link Logistics, one of the ten largest privately-held cold storage platforms in North America.

Manova Partners, an international independent real estate investment firm based in Munich, has launched a new joint venture, giving institutional investors access to the Mexican industrial and logistics real estate market.

Fairstead has made a $242 million acquisition and rehabilitation of Haverstock Hills Apartments.

Affinius Capital and Kennedy Wilson have closed financing for the ground-up development of Harborside 8.

Institutional investors often see themselves as passive recipients of the technology their investment managers choose. They are the true end customers. Investment managers select, implement and operate the systems that ultimately influence how institutional capital is sourced, underwritten, monitored and reported. Since institutional investors are the customers of investment managers, they hold significant power to define the minimum standards for technology consideration, participation and engagement. They already do this in every other part of the manager selection process. They set expectations for reporting, compliance, governance, transparency and performance. The same influence can and should apply to the technology that underpins every workflow across the investment lifecycle. When institutions recognize this role, they unlock the ability to shape the technologies that will support more efficient processes and stronger fiduciary outcomes for decades to come.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has released its eighth annual Global Alternatives Outlook, providing a 12- to 18-month outlook across key alternative asset classes, equipping investors to make tailored portfolio decisions. This year’s report details high-conviction ideas as private markets mature into a structural mainstay of global finance.

Walton Global has acquired 56 residential lots in Los Lunas, N.M.

Gen Z is rapidly gaining financial power and reshaping the luxury market, with real net worth for U.S. households ages 18–34 up an estimated 170 percent since 2019 and global spending projected to soar from $2.7 trillion in 2024 to $12.6 trillion by 2030, according to Newmark’s recently released report Luxury Retail: Meet Gen Z.

Build-to-rent (BTR) housing, once a niche investment concept, has evolved into a mainstream sector driven by demographic demand, affordability pressures and a rapidly expanding development pipeline.