SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Equus Capital Partners Ltd. has sold Cityview Plaza, a nine-building, 579,541-square-foot office and retail complex in downtown San Jose. Jay Paul Co., a privately held real estate development firm based in San Francisco, acquired the asset. The 11-acre property sold for $284 million, according to local media reports.
Spanning an entire city block, Cityview Plaza is situated across from the Adobe Worldwide Headquarters, and near the planned 8 million-square-foot Google Village. The complex includes 534,036 square feet of office space and 45,505 square feet of retail. In addition, the property includes more than 1,000 parking stalls situated within both a subterranean and structured parking garage.
Equus’ equity fund, BPG Investment Partnership VIII & VIIIA, originally acquired Cityview Plaza in 2007 and invested $10 million in capital improvements. The renovation included new entrance points to the complex, landscaping, renovated lobby entries and common area improvements. Equus added on-site amenities including a fitness center, conference center, new restaurants and seating/meeting areas within the property’s central plaza.
“We acquired the 67 percent leased Cityview Plaza in 2007 with a particular focus on the rare opportunity to secure a large, well-located mixed-use property in the rapidly evolving downtown San Jose market,” says Chris Locatell, senior vice president and director of dispositions for Equus. “The combination of more than $10 million in common area improvements to the property, market rental rate growth and substantially higher occupancy have resulted in over a 5 percent annual appreciation rate.”
Cityview Plaza was 85 percent leased at the time of sale. The complex has the capacity to serve tenants ranging in size from 5,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet.
Edmund Najera and Steve Golubchik of Newmark Knight Frank Capital Markets represented Equus in the transaction.
Pennsylvania-based Equus Capital Partners Ltd., formerly BPG Properties Ltd., is a real estate private equity fund manager. In its 30-year history, the firm has raised more than $2.5 billion in equity capital and has sponsored 11 value-added investment funds. Equus’ current portfolio includes more than 24 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties and approximately 17,000 apartment units.
Founded in 1975, Jay Paul Co. focuses on the acquisition, development and management of commercial properties in California. To date, the firm has developed more than 11 million square feet of space, and has an additional six million square feet of space in its development pipeline.
— Camren Skelton