new york state teachers retirement system

New York Teachers Pension Commits $125 Million to Grocery-Focused REIT

The New York State Teachers Retirement System is investing $125 million in a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns grocery stores and shopping centers across the country.

New York State Teachers Retirement System has invested $125m (€109m) of growth capital directly into Donahue Schriber Retail Group.

The investment, made in-house without the help of external advisers, will be used by the real estate investment trust (REIT) to make additional property investments.

[…]

NYSTRS told IP Real Estate that its assets were located in areas with strong demographics and were less prone to large swings in value compared with other commercial real estate sectors.

In the last two weeks, Donahue Schriber has closed on two new acquisitions in California: the 320,000sqft Village Oaks shopping centre in San Jose, California for $111m from California State Teachers Retirement System and PCCP; the 91,300sqft Gilman Village in Berkeley for $33m.

The NYSTRS managed $108.2 billion in assets as of June 30, 2014.

Photo by Gioia De Antoniia via Flickr CC License

New York Teachers Pension Invests $140 Million in Retail, Office Properties

The New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) has committed a total of $140 million to three real estate funds that invest in retail, office and apartment properties.

From IPE Real Estate:

The [New York State Teachers Retirement System] has committed $40m to the Edens Investment Trust alongside $50m allocations to Madison Realty Capital’s Debt Fund III and Rockpoint’s Core Plus Real Estate Fund.

The pension fund said Edens, which invests in retail properties in US Southeast and East Coast regions, is attractive due to its focus on grocery-anchored necessity retail, a sub-sector more economically resistant to market conditions.

“Our decision to provide additional growth capital is a reflection of Edens’ deep, seasoned development/redevelopment team with a proven track record over multiple cycles,” NYSTRS said.

The pension fund has now invested $447m in Edens, in which it holds a 30% stake.

Madison Realty Capital, meanwhile, is targeting a total equity raise of $600m for its Debt Fund III, with a hard cap of $700m.

The real estate manager will co-invest up to $5m in the fund, which has a targeted 16% net IRR.

Debt Fund III will seek to originate and acquire senior-secured loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments collateralised by commercial real estate.

NYSTERS was one of the last investors to go into Rockpoint’s Core Plus Fund, for which $965m was raised.

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NYSTRS said its previous experience with Rockpoint was one of several reasons for going into the fund.

The Core Plus Fund, focused on office and apartment properties in the East and West Coasts of the US, is targeting a 9-10% net IRR, with a significant component from current cash flow.

The NYSTRS has $95 billion in assets.

School Contributions to NY Teachers Retirement System To Increase Next Year; Marks 58% Bump Since 2012

The New York State Teacher’s Retirement System announced Wednesday that school district contribution rates will increase by 8 percent next year, rising from 16.25 percent to 17.53 percent.

[The official announcement can be seen embedded at the bottom of this post.]

The new contribution rate doesn’t go into effect until the fall of 2015.

Including the latest increase, school district contribution rates have increase 58 percent since 2012—the contribution rate in 2012 was 11.05 percent, according to the Public Fund Survey.

That’s partially because the System is paying out more pension benefits than ever before; NYSTRS will pay out $6.3 billion in pensions in fiscal year 2014-15, according to the System’s spokesman. In 2009-10, that number was $5.3 billion.

The NYSTRS, once fully funded, has been on a steady decline for years.

The funded ratio has since dropped to 89.8%, according to the most recent data available.

Here’s the official announcement from the NYSTRS:

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