Private equity firm Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC, which invests in assets including self-storage, off-campus student housing, senior housing and medical office buildings, completed the first closing on its third fund, which it will use to buy about $1.8 billion in real estate. The Chicago-based firm has raised $165 million to date and plans to raise $500 million by the end of the year. That $500 million equates to more than $1.75 billion in purchasing power, according to Christopher Merrill, co-founder and chief executive.
 
Harrison focuses on properties it considers recession-resistant. Through May of this year, the firm had invested more than $250 million in the self-storage, student-housing and senior segments. Investments in 2010 include a joint-venture with Extra Space Storage for the acquisition of a self-storage portfolio, the development of off-campus student housing at Texas Tech, and the acquisition of off-campus student housing at Indiana University.
 
With the investments from its first two funds, Harrison Street now owns and manages  178 real estate assets in 32 states valued at more than $2 billion. Specifically, it consists of 60,990 self-storage units, 13,780 student-housing beds, 3,615 senior-housing living units, 2,859 dry and wet boat storage, and 857,936 square feet of medical-office space. 
 
The Harrison Street board of directors is comprised of Merrill, co-founder and vice chairman Michael Galvin, and chairman and CEO Christopher Galvin, former CEO of Motorola Inc.

Source:Galvin's third realty investment fund raises $165M

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