Nuveen Launches 1031 Exchange Platform, Providing Investors With UPREIT Pathway
Real estate investment manager Nuveen has launched a 1031 real estate exchange platform – providing a potential path for property owners to convert proceeds from real estate sales into a diversified ownership interest in Nuveen Global Cities REIT, Inc.
Nuveen Global Cities REIT, a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust, focuses on investing in commercial real estate and seeks to provide investors with income and growth. It had an aggregate net asset value of approximately $2.17 billion as of April 30, 2025, a nearly .21% increase, month-over-month.
According to the company, its new umbrella partnership real estate investment trust program, or UPREIT, helps investors address various planning objectives, such as capital gains deferral, estate transition and portfolio diversification, all while gaining access to the firm’s institutional-quality global real estate strategy. It also opens a significant new capital raising avenue for Nuveen Global Cities REIT introducing the benefits of investing in a non-traded REIT to high-net-worth property investors who may not have previously considered such structures.
“With global real estate rebounding and property values stabilizing after a challenging post-COVID period, we believe the market environment presents an opportune time and attractive entry point for the asset class,” said Jeff Carlin, head of global wealth advisory services at Nuveen. “Our 1031 UPREIT program addresses the significant number of clients seeking more tax-efficient, diversified real estate allocations. We are providing a very competitive solution that couples together a market-leading real estate platform and expertise with tax-advantaged and tax-managed approaches.”
With more than $105 trillion in generational wealth, including real estate, expected to change hands over the next 20 years – according to Nuveen, citing Cerulli Associates research from January 2025 – advisers are uniquely positioned to help clients optimize those transitions.
The company said that the 1031 UPREIT platform allows advisers to deliver more than just a transaction, demonstrating their ability to integrate tax expertise, investment selection and estate planning into a single, client-centric solution.
Nuveen’s 1031 UPREIT program allows the conversion of proceeds from qualifying property sales into interests in a Delaware statutory trust owning real estate. Over time, the REIT, at its election, may cause the DST interests to be exchanged for operating partnership units, providing the opportunity for full participation in the income potential and future liquidity of a diversified global REIT portfolio – without requiring active property management.
“The structure’s flexibility is a key advantage for legacy management, enabling advisers to engage and guide clients through estate planning and tax-efficient wealth transition,” said Joy Crenshaw, head of adviser development at Nuveen. “The division of assets across family members or heirs on their own timelines enhances the estate planning in ways that go beyond tax minimization.”
Nuveen has more than 750 dedicated employees in 30-plus cities across the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Nuveen Global Cities REIT is diversified across several sectors including industrial, healthcare, multifamily, grocery-anchored retail, single-family housing, office, and self-storage. More than half of its properties are located in the southern United States, although it has assets across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
AltsWire previously reported that the REIT acquired a grocery-anchored retail property located in the Short Pump submarket of Richmond, Va., at the beginning of 2025 for $55 million, which included the assumption of a mortgage of $24 million. At the time, the property was 97% leased.
Formed in May 2017, the company launched its initial offering in January 2018 and raised $394.4 million in investor equity before closing in July 2021. Its $5 billion second offering raised approximately $2.21 billion before terminating. The REIT’s third public offering declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 6, 2024, is offering on a continuous basis up to $5 billion in shares of common stock, consisting of up to $4 billion in shares in its primary offering and up to $1 billion in shares pursuant to its distribution reinvestment plan. As of May 15, 2025, the Nuveen REIT has issued and sold 16,930,320 shares of common stock, resulting in gross offering proceeds of approximately $196.12 million.
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