Montréal and New York City — The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), a pension fund investor based in Montreal, and Nuveen Real Estate, one of the largest investment managers in the world, have launched a joint venture with an initial investment of $790 million to acquire open-air shopping centers across the United States.
To date, PSP and Nuveen have closed on 3 million square feet across 19 assets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
The investment strategy is demographically driven, focusing on open-air shopping centers anchored by market or category dominant grocers, necessity-based retailers and essential services that demonstrate “durable performance and resilient foot traffic,” according to the press release.
In particular, the joint venture targets U.S. metro areas with strong population growth, rising household incomes and high barriers to entry, where well-capitalized retailers are actively seeking to expand.
“Necessity-based retail has demonstrated remarkable resilience through various cycles, underpinned by consistent consumer demand for essential goods and services,” says Brian Wallick, portfolio manager of U.S. cities retail strategy at Nuveen Real Estate. “We’re confident this combination of scale, relationships and local execution positions us strongly in one of the most stable and defensive segments of retail real estate.”
Notable acquisitions for the joint venture to date include The Shoppes of Lorton Valley, a 110,000-square-foot grocery-anchored neighborhood center located in the Virginia suburb of Lorton; and Las Tiendas Village in Chandler, Ariz., a shopping center that totals 188,000 square feet and is anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market.
Beyond the individual acquisitions, the joint venture has also completed two larger portfolio acquisitions.
The first portfolio consists of six open-air shopping centers spanning approximately 801,000 square feet across various MSAs, including Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, Orange County, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
The second is an 11-property portfolio totaling approximately 1.9 million square feet across California, Colorado and Washington. All assets in the respective portfolios are positioned at a high-traffic intersection or along a major corridor, as stated by the joint venture.
PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension investors, manages and invests amounts transferred to it by the Government of Canada for the pension plans of the federal public service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. The Quebec-based entity was established in 1999 and had CA$320.6 billion of net assets under management as of the close of their fiscal year on March 31, 2026.
Wholly owned by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), Nuveen Real Estate is one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers. The New York City-based company currently has approximately $135 billion in assets under management.
— Abby Cox