🛍️ The retail revolution
🏘️ U.S. home prices show signs of stabilizing
🏢 Downtown LA hotel site sells for $120mm
🔧 Upcoming Workshops: How to Build and Fund Data Centers, Building the Zero-Employee Property Manager
📚 Upcoming Courses: Selling into Real Estate Owners, Capital Raising

Data Viz of the Week: Midwest Rising

The latest home price data shows a surprising trend: the midwest is showing the fastest price growth, and it's not just the cities. Rural Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota are seeing the highest year-over-year gains alongside Mountain West markets that have been consistent winners.

Among the losers, southwest Florida is seeing West Virginia-magnitude price declines, while Texas and Atlanta also see modest drops.

Upcoming Thesis Driven Courses & Workshops

•  📣 LAST CALL - February 26-27: Workshop: How to Build and Fund Data Centers (💻 Online): A two-day interactive workshop designed for real estate investors, developers, and capital allocators who want to understand—and invest in—the data center asset class - $499

• March 4-5: Workshop: Building the Zero-Employee Property Manager (💻 Online): A two-day interactive workshop for owners, operators, and asset managers exploring how close we really are to running multifamily properties with little—or no—full-time staff - $499

• March 10: Course: Selling into Real Estate Owners (💻 Online): A five-week ​bootcamp for people selling technology and products into the real estate industry to level up their sales game and build stronger relationships with buyers in the ecosystem - $1,299

• March 4-5: Workshop: Building the Zero-Employee Property Manager (💻 Online): A two-day interactive workshop for owners, operators, and asset managers exploring how close we really are to running multifamily properties with little—or no—full-time staff - $499

• March 11: Workshop: LinkedIn Strategy for GPs (💻 Online):A live, practical workshop for real estate GPs, operators, and fund managers who want to use LinkedIn intentionally—as a capital formation tool, not a vanity channel - $299

• March 16: Course: Fundamentals of Capital Raising (💻 Online): A five-week ​bootcamp for raising capital for real estate projects from individuals, family offices and institutional investors - $1,299

Three Articles We Loved from Last Week

It’s not easy keeping up with everything. Here are three articles we loved from the past week that you may have missed:

1. (WSJ) Retail Real Estate Isn’t Dying—Just Evolving

   Investors and landlords are increasingly repositioning retail assets to meet changing consumer habits, blending experiential tenants, last-mile logistics uses, and service-oriented concepts into traditional shopping centers. While online shopping and store closures have pressured the sector, key properties in high-traffic markets are now commanding strong rents as retailers rethink formats and mixed-use combinations gain traction.

2. (Reuters) U.S. Home Prices Show Signs of Stabilizing

   U.S. home prices showed signs of stabilization in January after months of regional divergence, according to recent housing data. Markets in the Midwest and Southeast saw modest price growth while traditional coastal markets flattened or slowed slightly. Economists say lower mortgage rates and better affordability conditions are beginning to temper downward pressure, though demand remains sensitive to broader economic conditions.

3. (The Real Deal) Downtown LA Hotel Site Sells for $120M With Redevelopment Plans

   A prominent development site in downtown Los Angeles just traded for $120 million, with buyers planning a boutique hotel and mixed-use destination. The transaction highlights continued investor interest in hospitality and urban infill assets, drawing capital toward markets where visitation and corporate travel are rebounding post-pandemic. The buyer group includes seasoned hotel operators and private investors seeking repositioning plays in gateway cities.

Developer of the Week: Housing Trust Group

Housing Trust Group (HTG) continues to scale as among the most active affordable housing developers in the Southeast, now surpassing $4 billion in developments across Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Illinois. 

Its latest project is a partnership with NBA legend Alonzo Mourning: the 96-unit Villa Jordana senior community in Hollywood, Florida. The project secured $47 million in capital anchored by LIHTC equity and agency-backed financing. 

Targeting renters earning 33%–60% of AMI, the project delivers rents roughly 30%–65% below local market averages. With nearly 2,700 units in South Florida alone and multiple Hollywood communities completed or underway, HTG has positioned affordable housing as a growth engine amid softening luxury rental demand.

You can read more about Machine Investment Group on the Thesis Driven GP database here.

Know about a developer doing something cool? Reach out to [email protected] with the tip!

Investor of the Week: Harrison Street

Harrison Street is a Chicago-based institutional alternative investment manager founded in 2005, focused on real assets across real estate, infrastructure, and credit. The firm manages approximately $108 billion in AUM on behalf of more than 1,200 institutional investors and 300+ RIAs, positioning itself as a scaled, process-driven allocator with deep sector specialization. Harrison Street’s platform is centered on demographic-driven investing, targeting essential social infrastructure sectors supported by long-term demand trends rather than cyclical asset plays.

Within real estate, Harrison Street has built one of the largest dedicated platforms in alternative property types across North America and Europe. Since launching its first closed-end alternative fund series in 2006, the firm has raised nine primary funds plus co-investment vehicles, deploying approximately $38 billion across 964 assets and realizing $15.9 billion across 625 assets. Its open-end core strategy, launched in 2011, holds roughly $12.4 billion in stabilized assets across 353 properties, while its European alternative series (launched in 2015) has invested approximately €5.2 billion across ~85 assets. In Canada, Harrison Street operates a core-plus strategy with approximately CAD $1 billion across 21 properties.

The firm’s investment focus centers on demographic-driven sectors including student housing, senior housing, healthcare delivery, life sciences, self-storage, data centers, and build-to-rent housing—segments positioned to benefit from aging populations, enrollment growth, technological demand, and structural housing shortages. Harrison Street deploys capital through a mix of closed-end funds, open-end/core vehicles, and co-investments, combining institutional discipline with sector-specific operating expertise. Its approach emphasizes long-duration income, downside protection, and exposure to essential-use real estate aligned with secular demographic trends.

Get more details on Harrison Street, including team contacts, deal activity, and investment preferences, inside the CapitalStack database.

—Brad and Paul