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Masonic Care Community
The Masonic Hall & Asylum Employees Retirement Fund was established in 1960 as the single-employer pension vehicle for workers at the Masonic Care Community, a...
Masonic Care Community
The Masonic Hall & Asylum Employees Retirement Fund was established in 1960 as the single-employer pension vehicle for workers at the Masonic Care Community, a continuing-care retirement campus spanning over 400 acres in Utica, New York. The plan sponsor, the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, is the legal entity that owns and operates the community under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. Funding flows from the operating revenues of the care community and the income from legacy real estate assets, creating a closed-loop financial structure where the retirement security of the institution's caregivers is linked to the physical plant that houses its residents. The fund allocates across a balanced portfolio spanning public equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternative asset classes including private credit and mezzanine strategies. The real estate exposure benefits from an affiliated relationship with the Trustees' own property holdings, which include the landmark Masonic Hall at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan, the former College of New Rochelle campus, and undeveloped parcels in Henrietta and Woodgate, New York. While the pension fund itself does not publicly disclose individual manager relationships, its broad strategy profile reflects the needs of a mature, pay-out phase plan with a steady beneficiary base drawn from the healthcare and facilities staff of the Utica campus. With total assets estimated at approximately $23 million, the fund is modest by institutional standards but carries an outsize connection to place. The Trustees maintain close operational ties with local philanthropic infrastructure, including the Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties, and belong to professional networks such as LeadingAge New York and the Masonic Communities and Services Association. The connected Masonic Brotherhood Fund and Masonic Medical Research Institute extend the ecosystem into grant-making and biomedical research, though the pension plan operates as a legally distinct ERISA-governed entity. The fund's structural distinctiveness lies in its real-asset adjacency. Unlike a conventional pension plan that must source market-rate returns entirely from third-party managers, the Masonic Care Community plan exists inside an organization that directly controls income-producing hard assets — a hall in Manhattan, developable land upstate, a working farm and horticultural center. This physical endowment provides a non-correlated backstop that most small single-employer plans lack, making the fund a peculiar hybrid of retirement trust and operating-company treasury.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
1960
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Utica
Corporate office
Utica, NY, United States
Additional offices
New York, NY
Principals
Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund
Plan Sponsor / Trustee
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions for the Masonic Care Community pension fund?
Investment decisions are made under the authority of the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, the governing board that holds fiduciary responsibility for the plan. The Trustees are appointed under the bylaws of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. Day-to-day investment management is typically delegated to external advisors and OCIO providers, though the specific delegated mandates are not publicly named.
Where does the underlying wealth of the pension fund come from?
The plan is funded through employer contributions from the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, the 501(c)(3) entity that operates the Masonic Care Community continuing-care retirement campus in Utica, New York, along with employee contributions. The operating entity itself derives revenue from resident fees, the commercial office property at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan, and income from legacy land holdings across New York State.
How is the pension plan related to the Masonic Brotherhood Fund and the Masonic Medical Research Institute?
All three entities fall under the umbrella of the Grand Lodge of New York's charitable and fraternal ecosystem, but they are legally and financially distinct. The pension plan is an ERISA-governed employee benefit plan. The Masonic Brotherhood Fund is a separate charitable grant-making vehicle. The Masonic Medical Research Institute is an independent biomedical research organization. The Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund serve as a common link through their governance role, but plan assets are not commingled with philanthropic endowments.
Does the fund invest directly in the real estate owned by the Trustees, such as the Masonic Hall in Manhattan?
No, the pension plan does not own or directly invest in the operating real estate of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund. Those properties are held by the operating entity on its own balance sheet. The fund's real estate allocation, if any, would be through third-party managers or commingled vehicles. The distinction is structural: the properties support the operating budget that makes employer contributions possible, but they are not plan assets.
What is the fund's relationship with the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York?
The Grand Lodge is the ultimate governing body of the New York State Masonic fraternity and holds authority over the Trustees who administer both the Masonic Care Community operating entity and its affiliated employee pension plan. The plan itself exists to serve the retirement needs of the lay employees who work at the Utica campus, not the fraternity's officers or members, making it a workforce pension rather than a fraternal benefit society.
Is the fund open to investment from outside institutional partners?
No. The Masonic Hall & Asylum Employees Retirement Fund is a single-employer private-sector defined benefit plan, closed to outside participants. It accepts contributions only from its sponsoring employer and covered employees. It does not function as a multi-employer plan, a Taft-Hartley plan, or an investment vehicle for affiliated Masonic bodies.
What is the fund's known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Given the fund's modest estimated scale of roughly $23 million, discretionary co-investment programs alongside general partners are unlikely. Most plans in this size range access alternatives through pooled fund-of-funds vehicles or diversified private credit and mezzanine funds rather than building direct co-investment capabilities. No public record documents any direct co-investment activity by this plan.
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