Former Cassidy Turley CEO Launches
$30 Million Real Estate Fund
By Brian Feldt – Senior Reporter, St. Louis Business Journal | Oct 30, 2017
Mark Burkhart, the former CEO of Cassidy Turley, has raised $30 million for a new real estate investment fund.
Burkhill Real Estate, the private real estate investment firm started by former Cassidy Turley CEO Mark Burkhart, has launched a new $30 million investment fund.
The fund, called the Burkhill Real Estate Fund I, will invest in a variety of real estate asset types across the country, Burkhart said.
Burkhart started pulling together the funds in 2016. The money came from unnamed investors and real estate professionals he’s gotten to know over his 40-year career. He served as CEO of Cassidy Turley, which is now Cushman & Wakefield, for 25 years between 1987 and 2012.
Burkhart said the fund will enable the firm to buy up to $70 million worth of real estate. He did not give a timeline on when he’ll start investing.
“If we could find something today, we’d buy it,” he said. “But we’re going to be selective and our investors understand that patience is a virtue. We’re not going to be pushed up where we have to get money out. We’ll be patient for the right opportunity.”
Private real estate fundraising through the first three quarters of this year reached $77 billion, according to market research provider Preqin. That’s down about 22 percent from this time last year, when investors put $99 billion into such funds.
Still, there are a record 569 private real estate funds in the market today that are collectively seeking $185 billion in investor capital, according to Preqin. And so-called “dry powder” — essentially, the amount of uncommitted capital funds have to draw from — stands at $244 billion, down $9 billion from July of this year, “suggesting that fund managers have succeeded in putting capital to work over the past quarter,” the Preqin report said.
Burkhart said he’s chasing deals today and the new fund will allow them to act quicker on a desired asset.
“It’s good to have that money ready to go rather than putting something under contract and then going out and raising the money,” he said. “The fund gives us a bit more credibility with sellers as we won’t have to go through that process of raising.”
In St. Louis, several real estate funds have been launched over the past 18 months. Among those: a $100 million fund from Clayton-based Altus Properties launched in August; a $20 million investment fund from Creve Coeur-based Altus Properties in June that will focus on acquiring local real estate assets; Jim Koman’s ElmTree U.S. Net Lease Fund II, which has raised at least $55 million since October 2016; and Tom Hillman’s $15 million real estate fund that was created in June 2016.