Pennsylvania Outfit Skipped Dot-Com Bubble to Ride a Real Estate Wave.

Byline: Joseph N. DiStefano

Jun. 25--At the start of the Internet bubble in 1997, Ira Lubert quit his job running technology venture funds for Safeguard Scientifics Inc., and went back to his former trade: buying, fixing and selling old buildings.

As dot-com investments have zoomed and crashed since then, the $120 million fund set up by Lubert and partner Dean Adler has prospered -- and spawned two funds that have catapulted total investment in Lubert-Adler real estate funds to more than $1.2 billion, with most of the money coming from public pension plans and university endowments.

Lubert and Adler raised $358 million for a second fund near the peak of the bull market in 1999.

Last month, they closed a third fund for a larger-than-expected $850 million, with the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System …