PARIS—In an effort to both grow and consolidate its alternative real estate investments division, AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has created a new business unit focusing on the asset class. The new Alternative Real Estate Business Line was created to meet the growing investor demand for alternative assets, such as student housing, healthcare, police stations and other property types.

The locally based firm currently holds €750 million worth of non-traditional real estate in its portfolio, encompassing 78 assets in seven countries. The aim is those holdings to more than €1.5 billion over the next three years. The firm plans to accomplish this goal through new third-party mandates and by potentially launching a second pooled investment vehicle.

Heading up the new division will be Dan Bowden, who served as the Fund Manager for AXA Real Estate’s first alternative real estate fund, APIV. “We’ve detected a clear shift from sophisticated investors into alternative real estate, attracted by the capital resilience, highly visible income returns and the continuing occupational demand,” he says. The Alternative Real Estate Business Line will “provide clients with an established framework and single point of entry to our a unique and specialist, pan-European management platform and access to these potentially attractive investment dynamics.”