ING Clarion Enters Defined Contribution Marketplace

Real estate investment advisor ING Clarion Partners LLC is entering the defined contribution retirement markets to give plan sponsors access to private real estate investments. Douglas DuMond has joined the firm as a managing director to lead the new initiative.

ING Clarion Partners, one of the country’s largest managers of institutional real estate assets, plans to launch a set of strategies that will be available to ERISA-qualified defined contribution benefit plans, defined benefit sponsors and managed asset allocation programs.  

The underlying assets will consist of both direct real estate including office, retail, multifamily residential and industrial properties, as well as a portfolio of global real estate securities. ING Clarion noted that, historically, private real estate has offered attractive risk-adjusted returns with generally low correlation to the public equity and fixed-income markets.

CB Richard Ellis Investors Acquires 1540 Broadway

Global real estate investment management firm CB Richard Ellis Investors has purchased a 905,533 sq. ft. condo interest in 1540 Broadway, a 44-story Class-A office building in Manhattan. The purchase was made on behalf of its CBRE Strategic Partners U.S. Value 5 fund, a commingled limited partnership real estate fund raised from institutional investors in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

Located in the Times Square submarket, 1540 Broadway is 78% leased. CB Richard Ellis Investors is planning a capital improvement campaign that includes the addition of a gym and conference center that is open to all building tenants as well as upgrades to the cafeteria, building systems and lobby. The cost of the building was not disclosed.