Éilan Development Sells to Lone Star Funds as Part of $720M Deal

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Netherlands-based Wereldhave recently announced the decision to sell its entire U.S. portfolio to Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based private equity firm.

Back in May 2012, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the owner of the Éilan mixed-use project wanted to focus on development in Western Europe, resulting in its decision to sell its U.S. properties. Wereldhave expects to close the deal with Lone Star Funds in the first quarter of 2013.

According to its Web site, the Dutch company owned 19 developments in the country, in cities like San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Washington and San Diego. About 90 percent of its portfolio consists of office space.

The upscale San Antonio development, appraised at $169.3 million in 2012 by the Bexar Appraisal District, is the largest property owned by the European developer in the U.S. Wereldhave purchased the 120-acre property in 2005 for $18.5 million, according to the San Antonio publication, and began to develop it in 2007.

The first phase of the project, located near Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, includes 500 apartments, a hotel with 165 rooms, two office buildings and a retail component.

Lone Star Funds buys financially distressed assets to restructure and sell for profit. Apart from the deal with the Dutch company, Lone Star agreed to buy commercial properties from the German government valued at about 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), according to Bloomberg.

Photo rendering of the Éilan Hotel Resort and Spa

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