BOSTON—Rockpoint Group LLC said Thursday it had closed its first lower-risk, lower-return core plus investment vehicle, Core Plus Fund I. The fund closed at $950 million in equity commitments, including co-investment commitments, slightly short of the $1-billion ceiling that Boston-based Rockpoint set when fundraising was launched about six months ago.

Historically, Rockpoint has sponsored opportunistic funds, having raised more than $8 billion of equity capital for these funds since the company was launched in 2003. That includes its most recent opportunistic fund, Rockpoint Real Estate Fund IV, which closed in March 2013 and aggregated $2.33 billion of commitments, including $380 million in co-investment capital. PERE reported Wednesday that Real Estate Fund V has been launched, with a $2.5-billion target. In addition, the core-plus fund that closed this week is likely to be the first of a series from Rockpoint.

Core Plus Fund I was not formally marketed and was raised from a small group of primarily existing investors, Rockpoint said. No brokerage commissions or placement fees were paid in connection with the fund.

Rockpoint expects that Core Plus Fund I will be complementary to its opportunity funds and will leverage Rockpoint's sourcing and asset management expertise to target lower-risk, lower-return investments in the United States. Rockpoint expects to focus on high-quality assets in top tier markets, and is seeking 11% to 12% percent gross returns, compared to a reported 16.5% returns for Fund IV, with leverage of no higher than 50%, according to PERE. The fund, which has not yet been deployed, is expected to hold its investment for five to seven years.

PERE reported that Rockpoint entered the core-plus market at the request of several of its existing limited partners, which saw its sourcing and asset management expertise in opportunistic real estate as quantities that could easily transfer to lower-risk, lower-return investments. The Rockpoint team had passed up several core-plus opportunities over the years while sourcing deals for its opportunistic funds.

Rockpoint's entry into the core-plus arena occurs as other major private equity firms have pursued similar initiatives. The Blackstone Group, for example, launched a core-plus vehicle at the start of 2014.