Lend Lease Fund Plans $450M in Office Buys

NEW YORK CITY-Lend Lease Real Estate Investments yesterday revealed that its latest partnership investment is ready to begin a one-year spending spree. The global real estate firm’s new Lend Lease US Tactical Office Partners fund plans to acquire $450 million in office properties as short-term investments.

According to Lend Lease principal Ray D’Ardenne, the venture is capitalized by two unnamed institutional clients, “one offshore and one domestic.” Lend Lease is also a co-investor in the fund, though D’Ardenne would not disclose the amount of cash the firm has committed. The partnership expects to hold properties for roughly four to five years, depending on the nation’s rate of economic recovery.

D’Ardenne says the fund’s buy-low, sell-high strategy has proven a winner for the firm time and again. “It’s pretty simple,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “You buy into weakness and sell into strength. We buy in out-of-favor markets where there’s a little bit of vacancy or some near-term rollover.” He states that the fund will not be looking at properties in Midtown Manhattan or other top-tier locales. “We really want to focus on the Miamis and the Atlantas.”