SAN FRANCISCO-It was the quote heard 'round the world, or at least the world of commercial real estate, that is. Roger Urwin, global head of investment content at Towers Watson, a respected global investment consultant, actually said it out loud. Speaking to a group of leading institutional investment professionals at the recent IPD Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, he said that as an asset class, commercial real estate is “still clunky and poorly integrated with the mainstream investment world.”

Now here's the rub: I've been among the many in our industry who agree that commercial real estate is finally showing promising signs of breaking from its former “alternative” status into a more mainstream asset class.

However, I have to agree with Urwin on several counts. Yes, real estate is at a sort of crossroads when it comes to completely shaking off the vestiges of its clunky past. There is no denying it is now a favored son for many of the world's largest investors who are striving to integrate it into new allocation models. This includes what Urwin dubbed the “Thrifty Fifty,” or the 50 largest pension funds and sovereign wealth funds on the planet.

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