Capital One Shells Out $46M for Office Campus Acquisition

By Veronica Grecu

AstraZeneca North Campus in Wilmington

Capital One provided a $46.3 million bridge loan to Brandywine Investment Group, an affiliate of Delaware-based real estate developer Delle Donne & Associates. The loan will be used to finance the recent acquisition of AstraZeneca’s U.S. headquarters located at 1800 Concord Pike in Wilmington.

The transaction was originated by Jeff Wallace, senior vice president of Capital One’s Commercial Real Estate Group. The bridge loan has an initial term of two years and a three-year extension option contingent upon Delle Donne & Associates successfully subdividing two leased buildings from the rest of the property.

Situated on 79 acres of land in suburban Wilmington, the 1.03-million square foot AstraZeneca North Campus was built in three phases between 1975 and 2008 and encompasses four office and amenity buildings, as well as more than 2,200 grade level parking spaces.

Pharma Giant Not Leaving Delaware

Shortly after Brandywine Investment Group acquired AstraZeneca’s 79-acre corporate campus, the pharma company entered a leaseback agreement for two of the main buildings—known as Alapocas and Brandywine—as part of its strategy to occupy lower operational costs by leasing a smaller footprint and use the space more efficiently.

AstraZeneca recently eliminated 700 employees across the U.S. as part of the company’s return to growth strategy, decreasing the total number of jobs in Delaware to 1,500.  AstraZeneca’s pledge to keep its North American headquarters in Delaware includes investing an undisclosed amount to upgrade the two properties, which total around 380,000 square feet. The company is expected to move into the new space in late 2018.

The new ownership is set to invest another $50 million to renovate the other two buildings in the campus, FOC and FOP, which encompass a combined 500,000 square feet of space. Additionally, the office campus is pre-approved for another 842,000 square feet of potential future development. Delle Donne & Associates has plans to break ground on a multi-year redevelopment project that will transform the site into a mixed-use, office, retail and residential center.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix