Harrison Street


Harrison Street is an investment management firm based in Chicago, Illinois founded in 2005.[3]Since inception, the Firm has created a series of investment solutions focused on demographic-driven, needs-based assets. As of Q2 2020, the Firm had invested $36.3 billion across senior housing, student housing, healthcare delivery, life sciences and storage real estate as well as social and utility infrastructure, and the Firm had acquired or developed 1,093 assets and realized activity of over 454 assets. [4] The firm’s assets had already housed over 430,000 students, cared for over 40,000 seniors, created over 15,000 jobs and possessed enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of over 38,000 homes annually.[5]

Harrison Street
IndustryInvestment Management
Founded2005 (2005)
FounderChristopher N. Merrill
Christopher Galvin
Michael Galvin
Headquarters444 W. Lake Street
Chicago, Illinois 60606
United States
Key people
Christopher N. Merrill, Chairman and CEO
ProductsStudent Housing
Senior Housing
Self Storage
Healthcare Delivery
Life Science
Social Infrastructure
Utilities
AUM US$29.0 billion (2020) [1]
Total assets1,093 acquired or developed properties since inception, 454 sold properties since inception [1]
Number of employees
185 (2020)
Websitewww.harrrisonst.com
Footnotes / references
[2]
River Point Plaza - Harrison Street's U.S. Headquarters

The firm has over 185 employees across two offices located in Chicago and London.[6]

History

Early History Timeline
2005 - Founded by real estate veteran, Christopher Merrill, in partnership with the Galvin family (founding family of Motorola). [7]
2007 - First fund close was the Opportunity Fund I in June with a total capital commitment of $208.5 million, and by December had $700 Million assets under management. [8]
2009 - Closed a $135 million investment with Extra Space Storage making the firm the 7th largest US owner of storage by square feet. [9]
2011 - Launched the first ever core real estate open-ended fund,[10] registered as an Investment Advisor with the SEC, and had a final close of the 2nd Opportunity Fund with total commitments of $595.5 million. [11]
2013 - In October established a Sustainability Committee to focus on the firm’s ESG initiatives and total assets under management by December were $5.8 Billion. .[12]
2014 - Named top three “Firm of the Year” in North America category by PERE and awarded Pensions & Investments top three “Best Places to Work” in Alternative Managers category. [13](Harrison Street has gone on to be awarded Best Places to Work in Alternative Management for each consecutive year, six thus far in total.) [14]

Expansion
2015 – In October expanded footprint to Europe and opened a London Office[15] and in December Forbes featured the firm in a piece titled “Real Estate for the Ages,”.[16]
2016 - The US Core Real Estate Open-End fund surpassed $5 billion in gross assets. The first European Fund I closed in November 2016 with total capital commitments of €235 Million. [17]The Firm announced the completion of its acquisition of Campus Crest Communities, Inc. (NYSE:CCG), a student housing property of over 76,000 beds on 85 campuses. [18]
2017 - In January was ranked 2nd in Top Owners of Student Housing by Student Housing Business.[19] The Operating Partner Services department was established to create value and ensure the Firm’s operating partners had access to research, relevant ancillary services, groundbreaking technologies and key industry benchmarking data. [20]
2018 - In July, Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI) purchased the interests of the Galvin family and acquired 75% of Harrison Street. [21] The firm launched a Social Infrastructure Fund and also began investing in new asset classes, e.g. life science. [22]
2019 - Ranked in the Top 25 of PERE’s list of Top 100 private equity real estate firms, and was awarded Alternatives Investor of the Year: North America by PERE.[23]
2020 – Adopted a new company tagline: Making an Impact, accepted the Best in Building Health Industry Leadership Award from the Center for Active Design, acquired its 1,000th asset, and had $29.0 billion assets under management.[24] The company's CEO was interviewed by CNBC on the state of the student market. [25]

Sectors
  • Senior Housing, Self-Storage, Medical Office Buildings, Student Housing as of 2005[26]
  • Expanded Healthcare sector with Behavioral Health assets in 2014[27]
  • Life Science in 2018[28]
  • Social Infrastructure in 2018[29]

Funds

Since its inception, Harrison Street has launched and managed a series of closed-end opportunity funds investing in both North America and Europe, an open-end core fund focused primarily on stabilized, cash-flow producing real estate and an open-end social infrastructure fund the invests primarily in infrastructure and real assets that support the education, healthcare, government and utility sectors.[30]

Firm Culture & Values

The company culture is built on five key values:[31]

  • Teamwork: Working inclusively with loyalty and respect to achieve collective and individual goals
  • Innovation: Creating opportunity through developing the “new” and approaching all things with an exploratory mindset
  • Passion: Pursuing work with a positive attitude, high energy, and purpose
  • Integrity: Collaborating and executing honestly and ethically in all aspects of the business
  • Excellence: Striving to be best-in-class through disciplined execution of strategy, reflection on performance and continuous improvement

Making an Impact

In early 2020, as the Firm entered its 15th year of business, they unveiled a new company tagline, “Making an Impact”. In addition to measuring financial impact, the Firm takes a comprehensive look at how it, and the products and services it provides, impacts the world. This includes governance and core values, lives enhanced, diversity and inclusion, healthy buildings and tenant wellbeing, team wellness, social impact, efficient operations and climate risk and resiliency. The Firm has a department that focuses solely on capturing, creating, and celebrating the positive impact Harrison Street and their operating partners have on the world. Utilizing the sustainability framework and mindset, Harrison Street takes a holistic look at performance, growth opportunities and risk management not only of physical assets, but the human assets as well.[32]

Diversity & Inclusion

The Firm’s diversity and inclusion committee is tasked with raising awareness, forming strategic partnerships to help develop the next generation of talent and implementing a range of programs to foster inclusion and increase diverse representation at all levels. In 2020 28% of senior management was comprised of women and minorities, and 40% of the workforce were women. [33] They have partnered with the several organizations that provide career exploration, internships and networking opportunities, including Girls who Invest, America Needs You, and My Block My Hood My City.

Giving & Service

The Firm serves the cities where they have offices by connecting employees to volunteer opportunities and through their Charitable Gift Match Program. Employees can engage with organizations and causes that they are personally committed to through a dollar-for-dollar match to their organizations. Harrison Street has held dozens of volunteer events and partnered with several local organizations and programs including: [[Chicago Cares[[, Gardeneers, Ronald McDonald House, Chicago Public School’s Economics for Success program, Gilda’s Club, and Habitat for Humanity.[34]

Committed to Building Health

Harrison Street initiated relationships with industry leaders in setting the standard for how to design, operate and ensure buildings are healthy for all occupants. They are members of the Delos/Mayo Clinic Well Living Lab Alliance,[35] and also have a close working relationship with the Center for Active Design (CfAD), the purveyors of Fitwel, a global certification standard committed to building health for all. In 2019 Harrison Street became the first to receive Fitwel Certification in both senior living and student housing.[36] They are also among the first to roll out the Viral Safety Module from CfAD, which focuses on infectious diseases. [37]

Climate Risk & Resiliency

The Firm has implemented climate-related resilience and risk management procedures in order to recognize and plan for these events. These practices are continuously evaluated and enhanced as the global landscape of risks and evaluation processes evolve. The firm actively tracks energy and water usage at the asset level.[38]

Governance

Since 2013 Harrison Street has submitted to the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) for several of their funds. They are a signatory of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Their ESG goals align with a number of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The Firm publishes an annual Corporate Impact Report guided by industry-leading organizations to promote transparency and demonstrate commitment to ESG-related topics. [39]

Employee Development

Harrison Street University provides employees with a broad array of personal and professional development opportunities. All employees are offered a variety of training topics and learning options to further develop skills related to performance, productivity, communications, team building, problem solving, and personal well-being. [40]

Leadership

Members of the Firm that are listed as Partner and above include:[41]

  • Christopher Merrill, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO
  • Dean Egerter, Partner, Corporate Development
  • Stephen Gordon, Partner, CFO & General Counsel
  • Michael Gordon, Partner, Chief Investment Officer
  • Joey Lansing, Partner, Head of Portfolio Management and Strategy
  • Robert Mathias, Partner, Head of International Business
  • Geoffrey Regnery, Partner, Head of Investor Relations

References
  1. Company web site
  2. https://www.harrisonst.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/HSRE_ESG-Impact_2019.pdf
  3. "Company Overview of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC". Bloomberg L.P. December 11, 2018.
  4. Company web site
  6. Harrison Street Team
  7. Chicago Tribune Q & A: Christopher Galvin
  8. Harrison Street Real Estate Closed Funds
  9. Extra Space Storage Inc. Closes Joint Venture With Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC
  10. Harrison Street's latest fund lands $200 M first close
  11. Harrison Street closes fund with 2B at hand
  12. Harrison Street 2014 Corporate Impact Report
  13. Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work
  14. Pensions & Investments Best Places to work 2019
  15. To be able to copy & paste content to share with others please contact us at [email protected] to upgrade your subscription to the appropriate licence
  16. Forbes: "Real Estate for the Ages"
  17. Harrison Street Real Estate Closed Funds
  18. Street Real Estate Buys Campus Crest for $1.9B
  19. Student Housing Business
  20. Harrison Street Corporate Responsibility Report 2018
  21. Acquires 75% Stake In Harrison Street For $550M
  22. Investing in Infrastructure Harrison Street launches open-end social infrastructure fund
  23. PERE 2019 Awards
  24. Company website
  25. Off-campus housing is seeing an increase in demand, says Harrison Street CEO
  26. Harrison Street 2014 Corporate Responsibility Report
  27. Harrison Street 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report
  28. Harrison Street 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report
  29. Harrison Street 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report
  30. Harrison Street Funds
  31. Harrison Street Corporate Responsibility Report 2018
  32. Harrison Street Corporate Impact Report 2019
  33. Harrison Street Corporate Impact Report 2019
  34. Harrison Street Giving
  35. Harrison Street 15 Years
  36. Cision 20 Firms Receive Prestigious Recognition for Advancing the Healthy Building Movement with Fitwel®
  37. Cision: Center for Active Design Introduces the Fitwel Viral Response Module to Set Building Industry Best Practices for Mitigating Viral Transmission
  38. Harrison Street 2019 Corporate Impact Report
  39. Harrison Street 2019 Corporate Impact Report
  40. Harrison Street 2019 Corporate Impact Report
  41. Harrison Street Team
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