On Aug. 31, a Cohen & Steers real estate fund and Trademark Property Company bought Oak Hill Plaza, a 92.5%-occupied southwest Austin retail center, as a 10-year road overhaul nears completion. James Corl said construction hurt visibility, parking and access.
Corl leads the firm’s private real estate group and sees scope to upgrade the center. It sits at the junction of US-290 and State Highway 71, with Wells Fargo, Dollar Tree and AutoZone among its tenants. About 60,000 people live within three miles; median household income is $120,000 and typical homes are valued at $688,000. The investment case remains conditional on the tenant mix improving.
At its July 17 second-quarter report, Cohen & Steers posted adjusted earnings of $0.85 per share, versus $0.73 a year earlier, while assets under management rose about 8% to more than $100 billion, helped by $1.3 billion in net inflows. It held $219 million in cash and U.S. Treasuries, about $136 million in liquid seed investments and no long-term debt. The U.S. REIT strategy lagged amid slower cell-tower carrier spending and investor concerns about satellite competition; advisory outflows were modest, and operating expenses rose 3% to $97 million. Japan was also tougher as bond yields rose and investors favored equities.
