Heitman

We are proud to now be the largest private owner of self-storage after making our first investment in the sector in 1996. Heitman’s large portfolio provides our teams with a deep data set for monitoring fundamentals and informing our investment decisions. Amy Krass, Portfolio Manager of Heitman’s flagship core strategy, shares more on the firm’s short-, intermediate-, and long-term outlook on the sector and how it fits in a real estate portfolio.

Congratulations to Megan May, a member of Heitman’s North American Acquisitions team, for being selected as Innovator of the Year at Bisnow’s Women Leading Real Estate event in Chicago. Megan’s focus on alternative property-types, specifically Student Housing and Build-to-Rent, earned her this well-deserved recognition as one the top female leaders driving innovation in commercial real estate. Congrats Megan!  

Co-Portfolio Manager for Heitman’s US Value-Add strategy Mike Trench recently spoke at the FondsForum USA Conference 2025, which brought together industry participants across the globe. Mike provided insights on alternative property types within the industrial sector, specifically highlighting supply-demand dynamics in the self-storage sector. #USRealEstate #InvestmentConference #USAConference2025 #RealEstateInvestments Photo Credit: USA-Conference.com

We recently celebrated the significant contributions of our colleagues who help our firm, clients, and communities thrive. This year's Heitman Thrive Awards honored 14 outstanding peers from around the world. Their dedication to our core values and their impactful work have been instrumental in our success. Congratulations to all the winners! Aki Dellaportas, Ryan O'Donnell, CPA , Kenneth W., Winnie Cheung, Nancy Chen, Max Neumann, Allie Schoewe, Elisabeth Daum, Irene Tong, Chris Reinhold, Caroline Lyman, Debbie Bakazan, Emily Randecker, Taka Kiura

Earlier this year, the NCREIF-ODCE index revised their guidelines to allow the inclusion of more alternative property types. Heitman has been a longtime advocate for including alternative property types in real estate portfolios.   Amy Krass, SVP and Assistant Portfolio Manager of Heitman’s flagship core strategy, shares why we believe the ODCE updates are a favorable for investors for the following reasons.   Learn more about how alternative property types can benefit a core portfolio: https://lnkd.in/gD2rAkQN

Alternative property types are a cornerstone of Heitman’s investment approach, and we have been investing in alternative property types on behalf of core portfolios for more than 28 years. “This early advantage provides Heitman the deep expertise to explore and include new property types in our core portfolio construction as the sector moves along the maturity curve,” says Blaise Keane, Senior Portfolio Manager for Heitman’s North American Core Strategy.

Heitman is pleased to announce the acquisition of a majority stake in the third largest self-storage operator in Sweden – Servistore. This transaction, made on behalf of Heitman’s European value strategy, allows the firm to continue investing in the rising global demand for self-storage. It follows the firm’s previous self-storage platform acquisitions across Europe, including in Ireland in 2022, Germany in 2021 and the UK in 2020. “Heitman has a history of investing in self-storage assets globally for nearly three decades. The relationships and expertise cultivated over that time drives our ability to identify and acquire off-market opportunities in Europe, which we believe is a core differentiator for Heitman” said Tony Smedley, Managing Director and Head of European Private Equity at Heitman. “That dynamic is evident in this transaction, where the team was able to source the investment off-market.” “We are delighted to bring our experience of operating €2.7 bn self-storage across Europe to the Servistore platform and to partner with its CEO, Ivan Elgstrand, whose technology-led approach to self-storage has created an innovative business,” said Caleb Mercer, Managing Director for Heitman’s European real estate investments and Portfolio Manager for the Heitman European value-add fund series. “The Swedish self-storage sector has among the best fundamentals in Europe, combining strong population growth with high urbanisation rates and mobility of households. We look forward to establishing Servistore as a market leader under our ownership.”

Heitman believes now is an opportune time to make core real estate investments. Blaise Keane, Senior Portfolio Manager for Heitman’s North American Core Strategy says “In our experience, the combination of strong fundamentals and increased cap rates can indicate higher projected total returns on a go-forward basis, evidenced by strong performance we’ve observed following value declines, historically.”   Learn more about opportunities in North America core real estate and view our Return to Core webpage: https://lnkd.in/gg8_RJSJ

Throughout our 30+ years of value-added investing in North America, Heitman has executed on over 130 joint ventures building impactful relationships with JV partners across the United States. Hear Mike Trench, Co-Portfolio Manager for Heitman’s value-add strategy, explain why we believe joint-venture partnerships can provide opportunities for success in value-add strategies. Learn more about how joint-venture partners can positively impact portfolios: https://lnkd.in/eMy5vC5g #valueaddrealestate #alternativeinvestments #jointventurepartnerships

Heitman’s Head of European Public Equity, Jacques Perdrix, recently participated in a panel discussion at the Iberian Property Conference in Madrid which focused on Data Center investments and their similarities to traditional real estate asset classes, and how factors such as  obsolescence risk and supply/demand might  impact rental income and long-term value.