Real Capital Solutions CEO Marcel Arsenault says now is the time to buy office buildings, and he’s putting up $50M in capital to seed a new fund to do just that. 

RCS Contrarian Office Fund will target Class-A and Class-B properties in prime and secondary markets that are facing financial distress, RCS announced this week. RCS is targeting $350M in commitments to leverage with debt to acquire roughly $850M in assets. 

“We believe the current market presents one of the most compelling office investment opportunities in decades, as forced selling, limited financing availability and historically wide bid-ask spreads continue to create attractive entry points for disciplined investors,” Adam Abeln, RCS’ chief investment officer, said in a statement. 

RCS is targeting high net worth individuals and family office investors to raise capital for the fund, Abeln said. Another investor has committed $50M along with Arsenault, and RCS is targeting a close for the fund early next year, an RCS spokesperson said Tuesday.

The Louisville, Colorado-based investment firm has been an active buyer of office properties in recent years, spending roughly $644M since 2024 across 14 properties in 10 markets that it says were acquired 18% below replacement cost and at prices more than 50% below peak value.

RCS is a value-add and opportunistic investment firm with a total portfolio spanning 80 properties, and it has a combined $2.7B in assets under management. The private firm’s assets are spread across the U.S. and split between industrial, office and retail.

The latest fund is “giving investors access to what we believe is another generational opportunity to acquire institutional-quality office assets at valuations that can create compelling long-term volume,” Arsenault said. 

The office market recovery from the work-from-home era of the pandemic has been uneven by market and mixed by asset class, but the sector is widely seen as improving. Explosive growth in the tech sector from artificial intelligence is fueling leasing in markets like New York and San Francisco, while office-to-residential conversions are helping pull inventory out of oversupplied markets like Washington, D.C. 

Overall U.S. office vacancy has hovered around 20% for years but is declining in more than half of the 92 major markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield. Brokerage executives say corporate decision-makers who began the year waiting for a more accommodating macroeconomic backdrop have capitulated and are instead making major leasing and acquisition decisions despite higher interest rates and broader volatility. 

Office leasing has been defined by a tenant migration into the best-quality buildings, labeled the flight-to-quality trend inside the industry. 

RCS is looking to pick up properties at discounted rates as owners are pressured by loan maturities resetting at significantly higher interest rates. 

It’s one of several players stalking the market for deals as institutional capital, private equity and others stake out a long claim on the office sector’s recovery and the continued pricing power of the best properties in the market.