Harrison Street has announced the final close of its new Harrison Street Real Estate Partners IX, L.P. fund, with more than $2.5 billion in capital commitments raised.

The fund, which Harrison Street noted has more than $7 billion in buying power all told, will target a variety of product types, which includes student housing, senior housing and data centers among its largest targets.

The rest of the fund will “focus primarily on acquiring well-located but underperforming assets, as well as those with strained capital structures in need of liquidity, offering distressed pricing,” according to a press release about the move.

Harrison Street is undertaking the fund in part to address what it sees as “historically low levels of new supply across targeted sectors, where rising demand supports the need for additional inventory.” Senior living is one such sector where demand for services is currently eclipsing the number of open communities. 

The number of construction projects compared to total inventory in the third quarter of 2024 was just 1.1% higher than in the same period in 2023, representing the lowest amount of construction the senior living industry has seen in a decade.

Harrison Street is a current capital partner to companies including Brightview Senior Living. In September, the company bought five communities managed by the Baltimore-based senior living operator. Harrison Street acquired almost a dozen communities from Brightview in 2019 in a similar manner.

The fund close is occurring amid “a persistent and noticeable investor rotation from traditional real estate into alternative sectors, a trend that has accelerated in its trajectory in recent years,” according to Rob Cook, senior managing director at Harrison Street and the fund’s portfolio manager.

“With Fund IX, we continue to be focused on deploying strategic capital that leverages our experienced team, deep relationships, and consistent commitment to risk management to create high-quality and resilient portfolios across alternative real estate sectors that meet the growing investor demand,” Cook said. “As a leader in alternatives, we are distinctly positioned to create scale across these sectors and manufacture portfolios that showcase core characteristics at a time when we believe operating fundamentals are the strongest that we have seen in decades.”

Harrison Street has to date raised about $30 billion in equity. The company’s investments have included 42,000 senior housing units in that time. Today, the company is among the largest owners of senior housing communities in the U.S.