A Sign of The Times - Real Estate Funds Halting Redemptions

A Sign of The Times:
I have just been informed that Great-West Lifeco has halted the redemptions at 2 of its segregated funds that invest in high-quality commercial real estate. The 2 funds are the Great-West Life Canadian Real Estate Fund and the London Life Real Estate Fund.
Both Funds hold a diversified portfolio of high-quality Canadian commercial real estate.
These assets typically have a stable cash flow that forms the basis of their value.
As investors suffer in the current downturn they are looking to liquidate assets and generate cash to pay off accumulated debt, the so called "deleveraging" effect that the entire economy is going through.
The problem is that real estate is not a liquid investment and that it takes a great deal of time to complete a transaction, especially when it comes to the larger properties, such as those in these portfolios, where the transactions can be quite complex and require a great deal of due diligence.
So the net effect is that the funds would not have the available cash on hand to fund all of the redemptions being requested.
How long will the moratorium on redemptions last? That's a good question.
The problem surfaces from the fact that these funds are not REITs. This means that they are not publicly traded (if they were then an investor who wants to get out simply sells to another investor and the REIT does not have to sell any assets - the investor cashes out and the REIT continues to own the real estate). Instead here we have the situation where the only way to generate cash to an investor wanting out is to sell assets (the fund had 9.5% of the fund in cash, and 1.9% in bonds, but these, I presume, have been wiped out by recent redemptions).
Obviously, the 2 funds would be reluctant to sell any assets in the current environment as the probability of getting high valuations would be minimal.
It really does boggle the mind that such an illiquid asset has been put into such a liquid vehicle.
What does the future hold for these investors?
Depending on the economy's future, there could be a number of different scenarios. If the economy picks up (which is doubtful) the redemption requests would slow and the need to sell assets would be minimal. If the economy stabilizes, or continues to fall (more likely), and redemptions continue to mount, then the management might see what properties they can sell to recoup maximum value and try to attract a sale. One other option would be to convert into a REIT, but then their agents would lose the fees they get for putting clients into such a liquid investment vehicle in the first place.