Steve Cohen Doubling Down On Real Estate For His Private Investments

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Mr. Met, the mascot of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets

Billionaire Steve Cohen’s family office is expanding into real estate, with an initial focus on office, industrial, multifamily and retail assets.

Cohen Private Ventures appointed Todd Kristol to establish and lead a real estate team, Bloomberg reports. Cohen founded the hedge fund Point72 Asset Management and recently bought the New York Mets after successfully outbidding Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez.

“Real estate is a natural extension of our existing portfolio and investment strategies, and Todd has the deep experience and expertise to help us capitalize on the potential in the space,” Cohen Private Ventures Chief Investment Officer Andrew Cohen told Bloomberg in a statement. 

Kristol previously worked for the family office of billionaire Don Marron, who died in 2019. Cohen created Cohen Private Ventures in 2014, and it has previously invested in private equity, venture capital and structured securities.

High net worth investors have shown major interest in real estate, as the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have pushed down prices, interest rates have remained low and the wealth of the world’s richest people has skyrocketed.

Prices and investor appetite have been ticking up across the country in recent months. In the second quarter of the year, commercial property sales in the U.S returned to pre-pandemic levels, but investors have been making plays in areas like the Sun Belt rather than the gateway cities like San Francisco and New York City.