SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Strada Investment Group (“Strada”), a leading vertically integrated private real estate investment and development firm, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (“CalSTRS”), announced that they have entered into a new programmatic joint venture. CalSTRS approved an initial allocation of $300 million of equity capital to the new company, which will target a “build to core” strategy by investing in multifamily development projects in top-tier markets across the Western United States, with a specific emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area. BlackRock Real Estate (“BlackRock”) is advisor to CalSTRS on the venture.
“We are thrilled to continue to invest on behalf of CalSTRS. This platform will allow us to invest more effectively and we intend to prove to CalSTRS that we deserve their trust,” said Michael Cohen, a partner at Strada.
CalSTRS has made a focused effort on expanding direct investments with best-of-class operators in key submarkets like San Francisco. Derek Helgeson of BlackRock added, “The deep knowledge and expertise of the Strada team in both development and asset management has resulted in an outstanding investment track record. We believe they are an ideal partner to CalSTRS for this new venture.”
ABOUT STRADA
Headquartered in San Francisco, Strada is a vertically-integrated real estate investment and development company focused on ground-up and value-add residential development, and value-add office investing. The firm was founded in 2010 by Jesse Blout, Michael Cohen and Scott Stafford, a team of executives with a unique mix of public and private sector real estate experience. They are supported by a team of real estate professionals with expertise in research, acquisitions, financial analysis, asset management, construction and development. For additional information on Strada, please visit www.stradasf.com.
ABOUT CALSTRS
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, with a portfolio valued at $238.3 billion as of August 31, 2019, is the largest educator-only pension fund in the world. CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system, consisting of traditional defined benefit, cash balance and voluntary defined contribution plans. CalSTRS also provides disability and survivor benefits. CalSTRS serves California’s more than 949,000 public school educators and their families from the state’s 1,700 school districts, county offices of education and community college districts. For more information, please visit www.calstrs.com.
ABOUT BLACKROCK
BlackRock helps investors build better financial futures as a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology. As of June 30, 2019, BlackRock managed approximately $6.84 trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com.
