SAN DIEGO — Stockbridge Capital Group has selected Vestar as the property management firm for Mira Mesa Marketplace, a regional shopping center in San Diego. The Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Ross Dress For Less and CVS/pharmacy occupy the 487,807-square-foot retail center. Vestar is currently managing nearly 2 million square feet of retail space in the San Diego area, including Clairemont Town Center, Marketplace at Windingwalk, Penasquitos Village and Rancho San Diego Towne Center.
LOS ANGELES — Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) has closed on its previously announced $311 million acquisition of 11601 Wilshire Boulevard, formerly known as the Wells Fargo Center, in Los Angeles. 11601 Wilshire was built in 1983 and serves as the gateway to the Brentwood/Westside office market, with its location at the corner of San Vicente and Wilshire boulevards. The building has 25 floors totaling 500,475 square feet. HPP bought the property from funds managed by The Blackstone Group. The building was 83 percent occupied at the time of closing. Blackstone bought the building in 2006 for $164 million, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal. HPP plans to renovate and increase occupancy at the building. “We intend to further elevate this asset within the marketplace, spending capital wisely to facilitate lease-up and create value for our stockholders,” says Victor Coleman, chairman and CEO of HPP. HPP is among the tenants in the building, where the REIT has had its headquarters since the company’s initial public offering in July 2010. To build capital for the acquisition, HPP sold One Bay Plaza, a 195,739-square-foot office tower in Burlingame, for $53.4 million in early June. The company also received $28.5 million in proceeds from …
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) has completed the previously announced acquisition of a 49.8 percent interest in Colorado Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot office campus in Santa Monica. The Boston-based REIT purchased the minority stake from Blackstone (NYSE: BX) for approximately $511.1 million. Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) owns the remaining 50.2 percent interest in Colorado Center. Boston Properties will be the managing partner of the TIAA-Boston Properties joint venture. Situated in Los Angeles County, Colorado Center comprises six office buildings and a three-level, 3,100-space underground parking garage. There is currently no debt on the property, according to Boston Properties. The asset was 68 percent leased at the time of sale. The acquisition marks the entry to metro Los Angeles for Boston Properties, which has previously focused on four other gateway markets: Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. “We are very pleased to enter the Los Angeles market through our acquisition of Colorado Center,” says Owen Thomas, CEO of Boston Properties. “Colorado Center is a proven and premier office campus, which provides us the opportunity to use our real estate skills to enhance and lease the property and realize the substantial upside potential we …
CHICAGO — Giant healthcare REIT Ventas (NYSE: VTR) has agreed to acquire all the life sciences and medical real estate assets of Wexford Science & Technology for $1.5 billion. Wexford will continue to operate the portfolio, which includes 25 Class A properties totaling 4.5 million square feet. Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII LP is the current owner of the properties, which are largely leased to universities, academic medical centers and research companies. Tenants include Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Washington University in St. Louis, Wake Forest University and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Of the 25 properties, 23 are currently in operation and are 97 percent leased. The remaining two properties are currently under development and are nearly 60 percent pre-leased to Duke University and Wake Forest University. Chicago-based Ventas also plans to acquire nine development sites contiguous to the existing assets for $50 million. The purchase will significantly diversify Ventas’ portfolio, as the company’s previous focus was almost exclusively on seniors housing and healthcare properties. Ventas has the second-largest portfolio of seniors housing in the United States with 785 properties totaling 69,708 units, according to the American Seniors Housing Association’s most recent numbers. The transaction includes a long-term management …
AVON, MASS. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has arranged the sale of an office and distribution warehouse facility located at 80 Stockwell Drive in Avon. Hilco Real Estate, a unit of Hilco Global, sold the 241,454-square-foot property for $9.55 million. Situated on 12.7 acres, the property features 35,840 square feet of office space and 205,614 square feet of warehouse space. Additionally, the property features two presentation rooms, private offices, 22-foot ceilings, 17 dock doors and an open floor plate. Peter Whoriskey and Michael Frisoli of NGKF represented the seller, while Joel Miller of Permanser represented the undisclosed buyer in the transaction.
HOUSTON — Hines REIT Inc., one of three public non-listed REITs sponsored by investment firm Hines, has approved a liquidation plan in which Hines REIT will sell seven West Coast office assets to an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII — a transaction valued at $1.1 billion. The portfolio totals approximately 3 million square feet, and includes Howard Hughes Center Los Angeles; Daytona Buildings in Redmond, Wash.; Laguna Buildings in Redmond, Wash.; 5th and Bell in Seattle; 2100 Powell in Emeryville, Calif.; 2851 Junction Ave. in San Jose, Calif.; and 1900 and 2000 Alameda in San Mateo, Calif. Hines REIT is currently in the process of liquidating the remaining assets that comprise its portfolio that includes the Chase Tower in Dallas and 321 North Clark in Chicago, along with a grocery-anchored retail portfolio located primarily in the Southeast. “When we first launched Hines REIT in 2003, it was structured as a perpetual life vehicle, much like many institutional funds,” says Sherri Schugart, president and CEO of Hines REIT. “Impacts from the Great Recession caused us to close the fund to new investors in 2009, so we began considering other options that could provide the best opportunities for enhancing stockholder …
CHICAGO — What are the best buying opportunities today for investors in the seniors housing space? The answer begins with an understanding of the deals that are among the least attractive, according to veteran broker Ryan Saul. A property that is 99 percent full that trades at a 6.5 percent cap rate could hardly be called opportunistic because there is no upside, points out Saul, managing director of Chicago-based Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Instead, buying a property that is 75 percent occupied for $100,000 a unit with a broken management team in place presents real opportunity, he believes. “You can go in, turn it around and really add value so that you can sell it stabilized for a much larger premium.” Saul’s insights came during a panel discussion on the state of the investment market at InterFace Seniors Housing Midwest, which took place Tuesday at the Westin Chicago River North Hotel. The conference attracted 265 attendees from a cross-section of the seniors housing industry. Moderated by Ben Firestone, managing director of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, the investment panel discussed who’s buying, who’s selling and what’s driving deal velocity. In addition to Firestone, the panelists included Talya Nevo-Hacohen, chief investment …
LOS ANGELES AND SAN DIEGO — Savills Studley has arranged the sale of a pair of shopping centers in Southern California for a combined sales price of $352 million. In the first transaction, ROIC California purchased North Ranch Shopping Center, a 146,625-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in the Los Angeles submarket of Westlake Village, for $122.8 million. Ralphs Fresh Fare, Rite Aid, Trader Joes and Petco anchor North Ranch. It is located at 3815-3963 Thousand Oaks Blvd., one block from the 101 Freeway. In the second transaction, Stockbridge Capital Group purchased Mira Mesa Marketplace, a 487,807-square-foot regional shopping center in San Diego, for $229 million. Smart & Final Extra, CVS, Home Depot, Edwards Theatre, Ross, Old Navy and Barnes & Noble anchor Mira Mesa. It is located off Interstate 15 on Mira Mesa Boulevard. Bill Bauman and Kyle Miller of Savills Studley’s National Retail Services Group represented the unidentified seller of the two properties. ROIC California is an entity of the Retail Opportunity Investment Corp., a publicly traded REIT. Stockbridge Capital Group is a real estate investment firm headquartered in San Francisco. — Nellie Day
TAMPA, FLA. – The Wilson Co., a Tampa-based affordable housing developer and manager, has sold a 31-property portfolio of affordable housing communities in Florida for $563.5 million. Totaling 8,498 units, the portfolio is heavily concentrated in Orlando and Tampa. Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, purchased the assets, which were developed between 1995 and 2004 using Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). On average, maximum allowable rents across the portfolio are approximately $350 below average rents at nearby market-rate communities. The portfolio was more than 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. “This transaction represents the beginning of a new era for LIHTC investment sales,” says Doug Childers, managing director of HFF’s investment sales team, which represented The Wilson Co. in the transaction. “Traditionally, LIHTC transactions have attracted primarily private, regional capital providers. HFF’s affordable housing experts were able to educate institutional investors regarding the portfolio’s relatively low cash-flow volatility and the regulatory and operational nuances associated with LIHTC communities. As a result, we were able to create a competitive bidding process that included large, institutional investors,” added Childers. Childers led HFF’s investment sales team in the transaction, along with HFF’s senior managing director …
TYLER, TEXAS — Abby Development, a developer, owner and operator of seniors housing and apartment communities, plans to develop The Abby at Tyler, a 234-unit apartment community near the intersection of Grande Boulevard and Old Jacksonville Highway in Tyler. The Abby will include amenities such as a stocked fishing lake, pool with cabana area, dog park, outdoor grilling area, landscaped courtyards and direct access garages. The Abby will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans equipped with stainless steel appliance packages, washers and dryers, granite countertops, nine-foot ceilings and outdoor patios. The Abby at Tyler is scheduled to break ground during the second quarter of 2017 and will open in the third quarter of 2018.