SAN DIEGO — BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, under which Blackstone will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of BioMed Realty for $23.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $8 billion. BioMed Realty Trust’s stock price closed Wednesday, Oct. 7 at $21.58 per share. BioMed Realty’s board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction. San Diego-based BioMed Realty Trust owns or has interests in properties comprising approximately 18.8 million rentable square feet. The majority of the company’s holdings are located in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, New York and Maryland. “Demand for high-quality, institutional real estate to support the unprecedented growth of the life science industry is at historic levels as demand is outpacing supply in all of our core innovation districts,” says Alan Gold, chairman, president and CEO of BioMed Realty. “However, we believe that the public markets are not adequately valuing our assets and proven business model. Entering into this transaction with Blackstone fulfills our board of directors’ mission to maximize stockholder value.” The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, is contingent upon the …
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U.S. Office Asking Rents Growing at Fastest Pace in Seven Years, Says Cushman & Wakefield
by John Nelson
NEW YORK — Tenant demand for U.S. office space remained strong in the third quarter of 2015, pushing average asking rental rates up in three-fourths of the country, according to new research by Cushman & Wakefield. Office rents in the U.S. increased 3.1 percent in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis — the strongest quarterly gain since peaking in 2008. Average asking office rents rose in 60 out of the 80 metros tracked, and the construction pipeline continued to expand. In the third quarter of 2015, there was 107.5 million square feet of new office construction, up 25 percent compared to the same quarter one year ago. Kevin Thorpe, Cushman & Wakefield’s chief economist, says the U.S. office sector continues on a strong, steady path despite a number of global economic headwinds. “There were plenty of reasons for the office metrics to slump this quarter: financial market volatility, China’s economic slowdown, the rapid appreciation of the U.S. dollar, uncertainty regarding monetary policy, along with the possibility of a government shutdown,” says Thorpe. “But what we are learning is that the U.S. economy and the property markets are proving, time and time again, to be resilient in the face of …
TEMPE, ARIZ. — Vestar, a privately held retail real estate company, and AEW Capital Management, have partnered to acquire Tempe Marketplace for $367 million. Vestar previously owned the 1.3 million-square-foot, open-air retail center with Rockwood Capital, which is exiting its investment after a five-year hold. AEW acquired the property on behalf of the AEW Core Property Trust. The deal closed Oct. 6. “We have a great long-standing relationship with AEW and are excited that their vision for Tempe Marketplace matches ours,” says Rick Kuhle, Vestar chairman and CEO. “Rockwood has been an exemplary capital partner for us. We look forward to working with them on future ventures.” Vestar opened Tempe Marketplace in 2007 and Rockwood Capital joined as a joint venture partner in 2010. The center offers shopping, dining and entertainment. Tempe Marketplace is fully occupied, with new tenants including F21 red (Forever 21’s new concept store), H&M and Nordstrom Rack. “We are excited about the investment as we believe the center will continue to benefit from the nearby Arizona State University campus as well as State Farm’s move of 7,000 professionals to a property that is adjacent to Tempe Marketplace,” says Dan Bradley, senior portfolio manager for AEW Core …
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT) has closed on the sale of five non-core outlet centers to an undisclosed buyer for a total cash sales price of $150.7 million in two separate transactions. The five properties are located in Barstow, Calif.; Kittery, Maine (two properties); Tuscola, Ill.; and West Branch, Mich. The fully occupied, 171,300-square-foot Tanger Outlet Barstow sold for $106.7 million. The 89 percent-occupied Tuscola, West Branch and Kittery centers traded for $44 million. The Barstow center sold at an estimated capitalization rate of 5.8 percent, while the other four properties traded at a cap rate of 10.4 percent. “These centers have an average age of approximately 24 years compared to our remaining portfolio average of 16 years,” says Steven Tanger, president and CEO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers. “Because of the potential upcoming capital expenditures necessary to enhance these centers, as well as changes within each market, we no longer felt these assets could produce the growth in long-term internal cash flow and tenant sales that we are expecting within our core portfolio.” While the Barstow center is performing at a high level today, Tanger says it was an outlier in its portfolio given …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to delay any increase in short-term interest rates appears to have been the correct call in hindsight based on last Friday’s disappointing news that total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by only 142,000 in September, says economist Robert Bach. But the lackluster September jobs report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also complicates the Fed’s task of communicating its plans to the financial markets, adds Bach, director of research for the Americas at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. “Fed Chairman Janet Yellen recently stated she thought the Fed might still raise interest rates this year, but that is less plausible if the economy remains in a soft patch,” explains Bach. The Federal Reserve’s target for the fed funds rate — the interest rate at which banks and other depository institutions lend to each other on an overnight basis — has been between 0 and 0.25 percent since December 2008. The fed funds rate serves as a baseline for other interest rates. Ryan Severino, senior economist and director of research at New York-based Reis, says that based on the latest jobs data “we are probably looking at December, if not 2016,” …
LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK CITY — HBS Global Properties has purchased the 41-property Galeria Kaufhof portfolio that is valued at $3 billion. The portfolio consists of marquee retail locations across the United States and Germany. The seller was Metro Group. The buy contains flagship department stores in Beverly Hills, Calif.; the greater New York area; as well as Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, Germany. It also contains properties in other metropolitan and suburban centers. Galeria Kaufhof is the leading department store chain in Germany and Belgium. The properties generate annual cash rents of $274 million. This gives the portfolio a value of about $4.8 billion based on a blended cap rate of 5.75 percent. HBS Global Properties is a real estate joint venture between Hudson’s Bay Co. and Simon Property Group. Lee Neibart, CEO of HBS Global Properties, will oversee the newly acquired portfolio, with support from Hudson’s Bay Co. and Simon. “With the close of the acquisition, HBS Global Properties is taking an important step forward in its next chapter of growth,” says Richard Baker, chairman of HBS. “This joint venture will benefit from a strong foundation of HBC properties, now including GALERIA Kaufhof, whose tremendous value has been …
NEW YORK CITY — Meridian Capital Group has arranged a $592 million financing for the purchase of 24 multifamily properties located throughout New York City. The loan was made on behalf of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII and Fairstead Capital. The portfolio consists of 979 units with properties located in the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Midtown West, Midtown South and Murray Hill in Manhattan. The five-year loan, provided by a balance sheet lender, features a LIBOR-based floating rate and interest-only payments for the full term. Drew Anderman of Meridian Capital Group negotiated the transaction.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) has formed joint ventures to which the company will contribute interests in eight regionals malls totaling roughly $2.3 billion. GIC will have a 40 percent interest in five of the assets, and Heitman will have a 49 percent interest in the remaining three assets. The transactions are expected to close in phases starting in October 2015 and concluding in the first quarter of 2016. “We are pleased to have entered into these transactions with two very well-regarded investment partners on this cross-section of assets from the Macerich portfolio,” says Arthur Coppola, chairman and CEO of Macerich. “The expansion of our long-standing relationship with leading real estate investment management specialist Heitman and the beginning of a new one with GIC, one of the world’s premier global investment funds, validates the strength of the Macerich operating platform and demonstrates the demand for high-quality regional mall assets, while also providing the company with significant capital to create additional shareholder value.” Macerich sold a 40 percent interest to GIC for the following five assets: • Arrowhead Town Center in Glendale, Ariz. • Lakewood Center in Lakewood, Calif. • Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Calif. • …
DALLAS — Occupancy at privately owned student housing properties is rising while construction of 2016 deliveries is ramping up, according to a report by Dallas-based Axiometrics. Student housing properties were 96 percent occupied as of September. This rate was a 62-basis-point increase from the 95.3 percent occupancy rate in September 2014. Assets closer to campus had the highest occupancy rates, on average. Throughout the 2015-16 leasing season, leasing velocity has averaged at or above the pace of the 2014-15 leasing season, with a leasing velocity of 95.7 percent as of the end of August. Annual effective rent growth has remained steady at two percent nationally. Effective rent levels for properties less than a half-mile from the university averaged $646 per bed for the 2015-16 leasing season, up 2.4 percent from the average effective rent level for the 2014-15 school year. Effective rent levels for properties located between a half-mile and one mile from campus averaged $542 per bed, up 1.8 percent from 2014. The total new supply for fall 2015 was 47,830 beds, 24 percent fewer than the number of beds delivered for fall 2014. Deliveries for 2016 appear to be tracking at a similar pace with 48,216 beds identified to …
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — HFF has arranged the $370 million sale of a 1.1-acre contiguous city block along Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, an island between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, a partnership between Jonathan Fryd and Michael Comras. The buyer was Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, according to the Miami Herald. Ortega owns global fashion giant Zara. The sale is the second largest ever in Miami-Dade County and the highest value retail property sale in Florida, according to the paper. Lincoln Road has emerged as one of the premier shopping districts in the country, often compared with New York’s Fifth Avenue, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Lincoln Road is a top tourist attraction in Miami and receives more than 6 million visitors annually. The Lincoln Road Flagship Block consists of flagship retail stores for Gap, Apple, Capital One and Nike. The total developed area totals 74,537 square feet, with the potential to develop an additional 57,328 square feet. Manny de Zárraga, Daniel Finkle and Luis Castillo led the HFF capital markets team representing the seller. Fryd Properties is a management and development firm in Miami Beach. The …