Phoenix Realty Group (PRG) has completed the capitalization of two real estate private equity funds thanks to $470 million invested by some of the country's largest public pension funds and insurance companies. Investors include the New York State Common Retirement System, the New York City Employee Retirement System and TIAA-CREF Global Social and Community Investments.

The funds now closed are the Metropolitan Workforce Housing Fund and the Genesis Workforce Housing Fund II, focusing on the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state metropolitan area and greater Los Angeles area, respectively.

PRG, based in New York, has now raised some $725 million, which is being leveraged to create $3.5 billion in market-rate rental and for-sale housing, mixed-use properties, and commercial developments in urban and infill areas nationwide.