Thursday, September 03, 2009 - State managers lost $250 million in pension-plan money by investing in a massive, 1940s-era Manhattan apartment complex, reports the Palm Beach Post. The purchase of Peter Cooper Village represents yet another tale of woe from the real estate bubble that burst shortly after that 2007 deal.
The investment has turned into a total loss, State Board of Administration executive director Ash Williams told Gov. Charlie Crist, chief financial officer Alex Sink and attorney general Bill McCollum, who oversee the board. “We think we’re carrying that investment as a zero on our books,” Williams said.
But the sour deal hasn’t turned Crist and Sink off on real estate. They want the board to put money into Florida properties while prices are cheap.
The loss is hardly a sliver of the nearly $100 billion in state pension plan investments, of which about $7.8 billion is in real estate. But it is a lesson in timing affecting many Florida residents in the state’s own real estate boom-turned-bust.
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