San Francisco has been a boom-and-bust market since the Gold Rush. The current intense scrutiny of the yield curve, combined with the stock market’s recent erratic behavior, has sent warnings of the next looming recession. Just how will this affect the office market? Fortunately for the Bay Area, not much. Today, several key factors insulate San Francisco from a severe downturn, unlike past cycles. Among them are Proposition M and a concentration of venture capital, highly skilled talent and some of the world’s largest companies. Since 1986, Proposition M has limited the amount of office development the city will authorize in any given year. The program aims to guard against typical boom-and-bust cycles. The San Francisco office market only includes 85 million square feet, as opposed to Manhattan or Houston, for example, which comprise 400 million and 240 million square feet, respectively. Manhattan currently has 12.4 million square feet of office space under construction, while San Francisco has 3 million square feet in the pipeline. The entitlement limit under Prop M has been reached, meaning no additional new projects can be approved until October when another 950,000 square feet will be allocated for the next year. At first glance, these …
BELLEVUE, WASH. — A new joint venture between Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) and Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. has acquired Sunset North, a 464,000-square-foot, three-building office campus in Bellevue for $227 million. The property’s three buildings, which are certified LEED Silver, were constructed between 1999 and 2000. They were 99 percent leased at the time of sale to 10 long-term tenants with a weighted-average lease term of eight years. Sunset North is located near the intersection of Interstates 405 and 90, three miles southeast of downtown Bellevue and 10 miles east of downtown Seattle. The joint venture acquired the property with $77 million of equity and a $150 million, 10-year acquisition loan with a 3.25 percent fixed interest rate. The lender was not disclosed. The joint venture targets real estate investment opportunities in the Western United States. “Sunset North is an ideal first acquisition for our joint venture,” says Matt Windisch, executive vice president of Kennedy Wilson. Security Benefit is a Kansas-based insurance company that has been in business for more than 127 years. Kennedy Wilson owns, operates and manages multifamily and office properties in the Western U.S., United Kingdom and Ireland. Kennedy Wilson’s stock price closed Wednesday at $22.63 …
Robust employment and population growth are fueling Philadelphia’s renaissance and propelling the region’s office sector to new heights. The lack of new office construction over the past decade has driven rents to record levels and is creating value-add acquisition opportunities throughout the region. With a tight labor market and talent acquisition at a premium, companies want to lease state-of-the-art workspaces that attract future employees. Key features of these spaces include access to public transit and surrounding retail and restaurant options. Limited availabilities within this product type are driving rents for quality space, as well as the development pipeline for new office buildings. However, after years of little construction, several proposed office buildings in both downtown and the suburbs are close to breaking ground and creating the next crop of new office inventory for the region. Record Rents In the second quarter of 2019, average asking rents for office properties in downtown Philadelphia hit a record $31.33 per square foot, a 20 percent increase over the past five years. This growth has been driven by out-of-town investors acquiring buildings and raising rents, as well as by growing demand for downtown office space, both from new in-bound demand and organic growth from …
DALLAS — The 2020 presidential election as well as tariffs, the primary economic weapon of the incumbent candidate, are weighing heavily on the decisions of industrial users and investors in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), according to a panel of experienced leasing and capital markets professionals at the InterFace DFW Industrial conference. Moderated by Coni Hennersdorf, principal of CODA Consulting Group, the event was held Sept. 4 at the Westin Galleria Hotel and attended by more than 200 people in its first year of existence. The panelists agreed that President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which at this point primarily target goods imported from China, have prompted some industrial users to stockpile inventories in advance of the tariffs going into effect. According to the Wall Street Journal, since July 2018, the administration has imposed tariffs on more than $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, not including the additional $150 billion in tariffs set to take effect in mid-December. Other tenants have opted to wait out the election and see if the tariffs will be repealed, effectively delaying key decisions on capital expenditures like labor and materials. The former scenario creates more demand for industrial space, while the latter puts potential expansion deals on hold. …
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP), a healthcare and seniors housing REIT, has agreed to acquire a 224,000-square-foot life sciences building in the Cambridge submarket of Boston for $332.5 million. The Davis Cos. and Invesco Real Estate are selling the LEED Gold-certified property, which is located at 35 CambridgePark Drive. Known as Alewife Research Center, 35 CambridgePark Drive is fully leased to five life sciences firms. The leases have a weighted average term exceeding 10 years. The recently delivered property offers more than 10,000 square feet of amenity space, including a lobby with dedicated collaboration spaces, a full-service restaurant, fitness center, lockers, bike storage and green space with outdoor seating. The transit-oriented property is located two miles from Harvard University and directly across the street from the MBTA Alewife Red Line station and bus terminal. “With the acquisition, we’re pleased to report that in less than two years we have expanded our presence in the Boston life science market to more than 1.3 million square feet and at a very compelling blended yield,” says Scott Brinker, executive vice president and chief investment officer of HCP. HCP expects to close the acquisition in December. The REIT also recently purchased the …
WALTHAM, MASS. — Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) has acquired 880 and 890 Winter Street, a two-building, 392,600-square-foot office complex in Waltham, a suburb of Boston. The all-cash deal fetched a sales price of $106 million. The complex was 82 percent leased at the time of sale to 24 tenants in the healthcare, technology and energy sectors. Amenities include a two cafés, an outdoor seating area, a fitness center and a conference center. The 28-acre property is situated adjacent to Bay Colony, Boston Properties’ 1 million-square-foot business park. Following this acquisition, Boston Properties owns more than 4 million square feet of Class A office space in Waltham. The company owns and manages more than 5 million square feet of commercial space along the Route 128/Interstate 95 corridor in the Boston suburbs. “Waltham continues to be one of the region’s most desirable urban edge locations for organizations that want to attract and retain highly educated associates,” says Bryan Koop, executive vice president at Boston Properties. “The 880 and 890 Winter Street campus provides both location and amenities that offer long-term value for current and prospective tenants.” Boston Properties is one of the largest developers and owners of Class A office space, …
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Broadstone Net Lease (BNL) has acquired 23 industrial properties in 14 states and British Columbia, Canada for $735.7 million. The portfolio was fully leased at the time of sale and comprises a mix of warehouse, distribution, cold-storage, manufacturing and flex properties. The 23 buildings total 6.9 million square feet and are leased to 19 tenants. When the sale closes, Rochester-based BNL’s portfolio will consist of 41 percent industrial properties, 27 percent retail and 18 percent healthcare. The company will own 668 net-leased commercial properties totaling approximately 27.2 million rentable square feet of operational space. The seller and a list of the properties were not disclosed. “This portfolio benefits from attractive real estate and tenant fundamentals and represents a diverse and accretive addition to our net lease real estate portfolio,” says Chris Czarnecki, BNL’s chief executive officer. The new portfolio has a weighted average remaining lease term of 11.5 years and weighted average annual rent increases of about 2.2 percent. The acquisition was funded through a combination of proceeds from BNL’s ongoing private offering of shares of common stock; $150 million from BNL’s $450 million, seven-year, unsecured term loan that matures in February 2026; $300 million from a new …
DALLAS — The Dallas industrial market is on fire, as a number of industry professionals repeatedly pointed out during the InterFace DFW Industrial conference. Held on Sept. 4 at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Dallas, the event drew more than 200 people in its inaugural year. Demand for industrial real estate from tenants, investors and lenders is strong enough to insulate the Dallas market from capitulation, even if the U.S. economy enters a recession, which some economists think may still be a ways off. During the event’s lenders and investors panel, speakers credited strong job and population growth in Dallas for this market insulation. Annually, the metroplex has added roughly 100,000 people and 75,000 jobs for the past several years. The market boasts a vacancy rate of 6 percent even with more than 30 million square feet of space under construction, according to CoStar Group. And tenant demand in Dallas continues to surge as well, fueling 12-month rent growth of 5.6 percent. Nikki Gibson, senior counsel at Bell Nunnally, moderated the panel. Market Evolution Central to the panel’s discussion as to why the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) industrial market is likely to weather severe economic storms was the notion that the …
BOSTON — TA Realty, a real estate investor based in Boston, has sold off a national industrial portfolio in two separate deals for a little over $1 billion. The portfolio spans 8.3 million square feet of multi-tenant distribution space in 96 separate properties. Situated across 14 markets, the portfolio was 91 percent leased to more than 325 tenants as of July 1. In one transaction, AEW Capital Management acquired 28 facilities in the state of Texas from TA Realty. In the other transaction, funds managed by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) acquired 68 properties that are situated in 10 separate markets across the United States. Blackstone has a strong appetite for logistics space, having recently agreed to purchase GLP’s 179 million-square-foot industrial portfolio for nearly $19 billion. “Logistics remains our highest conviction investment theme,” says Nadeem Meghji, senior managing director and head of real estate Americas at Blackstone. “The portfolio we are acquiring from TA Realty is another example of last-mile logistics assets that will help meet the growing e-commerce demand.” The TA Realty team members involved in the transactions included Greg Bonomo, Ridgley Provencal and Luke Marchand. CBRE National Partners represented TA Realty in transaction negotiations. Specific properties and markets …
In 2019, Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) once again represents the nation’s top metro for job creation and net migration. These market conditions are occurring at an opportune time as more than 26,000 multifamily units have been completed throughout the market this year, marking a record wave of annual deliveries. This influx of new apartments will increase the metro’s rental inventory by 3.3 percent, yet robust demand for new supply allows net absorption to match delivery volume, lowering overall vacancy by 20 basis points. Prolonged Absorption Over the past three years ending in June, DFW’s apartment stock expanded by 10 percent, or 74,000 units, yet vacancy adjusted moderately during this period. Unit availability hovered in the high-4 to high-5 percent range, with demand supported by the creation of 400,000 jobs, robust in-migration and the widening gap between a monthly mortgage payment and average rent. The extended period of strong leasing velocity was highlighted by the second quarter of 2019, when a record 12,000 apartments were absorbed. Performance during this three-month stretch lowered vacancy by 90 basis points on a quarter-over-quarter basis. With employment growth slated to further improve during the second half of this year — the result of corporate relocations and …