What Makes Curbline Properties (CURB) an Attractive Bet?

Soumya Eswaran

Mon, September 21, 2026 at 7:45 AM PDT 3 min read

Baron Capital, an investment management company, released its Q2 2026 letter for the "Baron Real Estate Income Fund." The Fund gained 12.18% (Institutional Shares) during the quarter, modestly outperforming the MSCI US REIT Index, which increased 11.84%. The letter can be downloaded here. Its long-term performance also remains strong, with Morningstar ranking it the #2 real estate fund since its December 2017 inception. The letter discusses management's current views, portfolio composition, key contributors and detractors, recent activity, and the outlook for real estate and the Fund. Management believes a multi-year recovery in real estate is beginning to emerge, despite elevated interest rates, housing affordability pressures, and AI-related disruption. Its constructive outlook is supported by attractive valuations, accelerating M&A, favorable supply-demand dynamics, healthy balance sheets, improving debt conditions, and increasing recognition of real estate as an AI beneficiary. The Fund remains positioned to benefit from improving growth, rising dividends, and potential valuation normalization. Please review the Fund's top five holdings to gain insights into their key selections for 2026.

In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Baron Real Estate Income Fund highlighted Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB), the owner and manager of convenience shopping centers. On September 18, 2026, Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB) closed at $28.33 per share. The one-month return of Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB) was -4.87%, and its shares gained 25.47% over the past 52 weeks. Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB) has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion with a 52-week trading range between $22.08 and $32.15.

Baron Real Estate Income Fund stated the following regarding Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

"In the second quarter, we acquired shares in Curbline Properties Corp. (NYSE:CURB), a shopping center REIT that owns a portfolio exclusively concentrated on convenience properties located on the curbline of well-tracked intersections and vehicular corridors in highly desirable markets. We believe Curbline checks all the boxes that we seek in our investments: a differentiated strategy, competitive advantages, repeatable double digit annual growth prospects through organic growth and accretive acquisitions, healthy balance sheet (very little debt), and a proven management team with incentives aligned with shareholders."