The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a harsh blow to many property owners, who struggled with shutdowns, rigid operating requirements and general uncertainty. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the pandemic turbo-charged demand for life sciences, logistics, data centers and self-storage. Which of those sectors have panned out for investors, and which have been more of a flash in the pan?

The interest in alternatives that was gaining momentum over the past several years became more entrenched during the pandemic. “In some ways, the biggest COVID push is the fact that people don’t want to own office as part of a portfolio anymore,” says Rich Kleinman, Americas head of research and strategy and co-CIO for the Americas at LaSalle Investment Management. If capital wasn’t flowing into office, where else was it going to invest? “That shift accelerated the search for all of these alternatives, like the COVID ‘winners’ and other sectors that skated by without a lot of negative