Christopher Merrill

Christopher Merrill helped launch Harrison Street two decades ago on a mission to create a differentiated real asset investment management platform geared toward health care, education and self-storage.

Student housing, senior housing and medical offices have been the firm’s focus, and Harrison Street was among the first commercial real estate investors to make big plays in these asset classes in the U.S., Canada and Europe. 

As the years have passed, Harrison Street hasn’t strayed far from this original thesis, especially as it pertains to senior housing, where Merrill sees a major emerging demand.

“For us, investing is very much demand-driven, not trying to time markets,” Merrill said. “It’s about long-term demand drivers and trying to find where that arbitrage exists between risk and return. … We look at the fundamentals for the next 10 to 20 years, and they’re very exciting. At the same time, supply is very challenged.”

In the last 12 months, Merrill said distributions to limited partners have been taking place thanks to the sale of large portions of its portfolio amounting to $6 billion, and any capital will be recycled into senior housing and assisted living.

“Eighty thousand people are turning 80 every month, and you’ve got such a shortage of senior housing properties,” Merrill said. “As people are living longer and have memory and health issues, we are just not creating enough supply for that growing cohort. So there is just a fantastic opportunity to invest in senior housing.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Harrison Street has become one one of the largest owners of senior housing in North America.

Energy and data centers — strictly those with their own dedicated power supply — also form a major segment of Harrison Street’s $10 billion to $15 billion in investments every year as it has expanded into debt and infrastructure, according to Merrill.