Bain Capital and 11North seal $1.6B raise to back open-air retail

Bain Capital Real Estate and 11North Partners have secured a major equity pool — $1.6 billion — to back a purpose-built platform focused on grocery-anchored, open‑air retail across the United States and Canada. The raise, anchored by two unnamed global institutional investors alongside existing backers, increases the Platform’s firepower to more than $2 billion of deployable equity when combined with participation from Bain Capital Real Estate Fund III.

The partners launched the co-owned operating vehicle in April 2024 to target necessity-based centres that benefit from stable footfall and resilient rents. The strategy prioritises assets with strong demographic tailwinds and high sales productivity — a profile that has attracted institutional capital as investors hunt for cash-flow predictability in the retail sector.

Ryan Cotton, Partner and Head of Bain Capital Real Estate, framed the raise as an extension of Bain’s decades-long consumer and real estate investing thesis, highlighting thematic focus and operational know-how as competitive levers. Brian Harper, Founder and Managing Partner of 11North, said the capital base gives the Platform flexibility to pursue single-asset buys, multi-asset portfolios or company-level deals while maintaining disciplined underwriting.

The Platform has already put that capital to work: recent transactions include a $395 million, 10-asset portfolio of Publix‑anchored centres across Florida and the Charleston, South Carolina market, and a separate acquisition of three open‑air lifestyle centres in Oklahoma City for about $212 million. These buys reflect an emphasis on infill and fast-growing markets where grocery anchors and necessity tenants deliver steady consumer demand.

Martha Kelley, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Real Estate, stressed the structural tailwinds supporting necessity-based retail: omnichannel shopping patterns, strong grocery sales, and the preference for everyday needs to be met close to where people live. Those dynamics, she said, underpin the appeal of well-located open‑air centres for long-term investors.

From a market perspective, institutional interest in grocery‑anchored retail has risen as occupier fundamentals have stabilised post-pandemic and e-commerce has continued to coexist with demand for immediate, everyday purchases. For private capital managers, the combination of predictable cash flow and the ability to drive operational value through leasing, merchandising and asset repositioning makes the sector a natural fit for core-plus and value-add mandates.

Looking ahead, the Platform’s expanded equity base positions Bain Capital Real Estate and 11North Partners to accelerate sourcing in high-conviction corridors and pursue portfolio-scale transactions. With access to over $2 billion of investable equity, the managers can scale selectively while targeting defensive retail formats that historically show lower volatility in downturns.