February 2015 – Briefs/Sales & Development

Hudson Pacific to Buy $3.5B Blackstone Office Portfolio

In a stock and cash transaction valued at $3.5 billion, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. has agreed to acquire Equity Office Properties’ approximately 8.2 million-square-foot San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley office portfolio from Blackstone Real Estate Partners V and VI. The off-market transaction will effectively double Hudson’s size and result in an equity market capitalization of $3.7 billion and total enterprise value of approximately $6.5 billion. It will also nail down the company’s position as the leading West Coast office REIT, expanding Hudson’s portfolio to 53 properties totaling 14.6 million square feet in California and the Pacific Northwest.

World’s Fifth Largest Industrial Park Trades Hands

Cedar Point, the fifth largest industrial park in the world, has traded hands in what is one of the single largest land sales in the history of Houston. Just how big are we talking? Well, 10,897 acres—or about three-fourths the size of Manhattan. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Cedar Crossing L.P., which is a partnership of area investors managed by Charles Lupe. Trans-Global Solutions Inc. is the majority owner of the buyer, TGS Cedar Port Partners L.P. A Cushman & Wakefield team of Kelley Parker, John Littman, Coe Parker and Tim Thomas handled the marketing and sale of the site. Parker’s 24-year experience with marketing the property began in 1990 when C&W represented the site for USX Realty Development and convinced Lupe to purchase the project.

Clarion, MHP Take to Manhattan’s FiDi

Clarion Partners and joint venture partner MHP Real Estate Services (formerly Murray Hill Properties) have become the proud new owners of the 1.2 million-square-foot Manhattan office tower at 180 Maiden Lane, having shelled out approximately $470 million for the privilege. The trade comes just more than three years after sellers, The Moinian Group and SL Green Realty Corp., became partners in ownership of 180 Maiden through a recapitalization, and roughly 10 years after Moinian snapped up the property for $355 million.

TCC, MetLife Ride Dallas’ Tight Office-Market Wave

A joint venture of Trammell Crow Co. and MetLife Inc. will build a 916,000-square-foot Class A mixed-use project, dubbed Park District, in Dallas’ Uptown submarket. Sited on a 3-acre parcel between Pearl Street, Olive Street and Klyde Warren Park, the asset is being designed by HKS Architects and will include a 19-story, 502,000-square-foot office building—the Park District Tower— and a 32-story, approximately 255-unit apartment tower—The Residences at Park District.

Vornado Sells Manhattan’s 1740 Broadway for $605M

New York continues to lead the pack as the city with the biggest big-ticket office transactions in the U.S. The most recent evidence comes in the form of the 600,000-square-foot building at 1740 Broadway fetching $605 million, or roughly $1,000 per square foot. Vornado Realty Trust was the seller. Blackstone Group L.P. is the new owner. Built in 1950 and comprehensively renovated in 2007, 1740 Broadway is a fully occupied high-rise that is fully leased, right down to its 20,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. Vornado walked away from the sale of the 26-story-story tower with a tax gain of $484 million, which the company will defer in a like-kind exchange involving its $700 million joint venture acquisition of the retail condominium of the St. Regis Hotel and the adjacent retail townhouse. CBRE marketed 1740 Broadway on Vornado’s behalf.

Brookdale Revealed as Buyer of 777 Main in Fort Worth

The Brookdale Group acquired 777 Main St., a 980,000-square-foot, Class A office tower in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, from Cousins Properties for $167 million. Although the buyer was not named at the time of the sale, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Brookdale Group was the buyer. HFF represented the seller in the transaction. HFF’s debt placement team also secured acquisition financing on behalf of the new owner through a global financial services firm. The building is a 40-story office tower located near Sundance Square, a 35-block commercial, residential, entertainment and retail district

Manulife, Allianz to Invest Up to $1B in U.S. CRE

Manulife Asset Management Private Markets, an arm of Toronto’s Manulife, has entered into an arrangement with Allianz, a leading Germany-based insurance and asset management company, to co-invest up to $1 billion in U.S. real estate. The partnership will seek out high-quality office properties in U.S. gateway cities. To kick off that process, John Hancock Real Estate, the U.S. CRE unit of Manulife Asset Management Private Markets, has sold Allianz the majority interests in two of its Class A office assets, 1100 New York Ave. N.W. in Washington, D.C., and 191 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago. Manulife retains a partial interest and will continue to manage both assets.

MetLife Acquires Fairmont Hotel in DC

The 415-room Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., has changed hands with MetLife Inc. buying the luxury property from Ivanhoe Cambridge for $180 million. One of the premier hotels in the United States, the Fairmont is located at 2401 M. St. NW in Washington, D.C.’s West End neighborhood adjacent to Georgetown. It was built in 1985 and renovated in 2002. The hotel, which has a four diamond rating from AAA, has 28,000 square feet of meeting space and 4,800 square feet of executive conference space. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel for MetLife.