HARTFORD-Real estate investment advisor Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers has taken its “club” approach to a new level. In an effort to capitalize on prime commercial real estate in primary markets, the firm -- an indirect subsidiary of MassMutual -- closed its enhanced mortgage fund after raising $315 million from a specific group of domestic and international investors.

The fund, designed in the “club concept” fashion of fewer, select investors, is an opportunity where the firm took advantage of the “aggressive pricing” in core real estate, company CEO Robert F. Little tells GlobeSt.com.

“In terms of the strategy itself, what we are really trying to do here is make first mortgage loans on very high-quality properties with very strong sponsors, that, through some means or another, suffered through the financial downturn, that was typically occupancy related, or, they were overleveraged,” he says.