Hines Unit Acquires IBM Campus for $66M

Hines affiliate Hines Global Income Trust Inc. has acquired the IBM 500 Campus. Image courtesy of Hines

Hines affiliate Hines Global Income Trust Inc. has acquired the IBM 500 Campus, a four-building, 774,000-square-foot property at 4205 S. Miami Blvd. in Durham, N.C. The property traded for $66 million, according to Durham County public records.

The four-building asset is fully leased by IBM. Hines highlighted that the 146-acre campus is “in one of the top life science metros in America.”

The location is adjacent to Research Triangle Park, the nation’s largest research park and home to 375 research, technology and ag-bio companies employing more than 60,000 workers, about 4 miles from Raleigh Durham International Airport.

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In a prepared statement, Paul Zarian, managing director at Hines, said that the firm was attracted to the site’s future redevelopment optionality, specifically given its strategic location in the heart of a high demand submarket for life science, residential and industrial uses.

“The long-term plans for the campus are undetermined. They could include redevelopment into a different use, depending on future market conditions,” a Hines spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.

Decisions, decisions

Hines obviously will face major decisions about any redevelopment or expansion at IBM 500.

Right now, the Raleigh-Durham office market is seeing a dip in demand, slower hiring, increased job postings for remote work and total Class A availability at 27.3 percent, as Class A rents have decreased by nearly 2 percent, according to a third-quarter report from Avison Young.

The current market for life science space is noticeably better. Although vacancy is trending up, to 22.8 percent, so are asking rents, to $36.92, Cushman & Wakefield reports. About 2.1 million square feet of space is said to be under construction, though depending on market conditions, some of that might end up as something other than life science space.

In February, RXR Realty acquired Veridea, a 1,000-acre-plus mixed-use development site in Apex, N.C., about 20 miles from Research Triangle Park. The $91 million deal opens the door for RXR to proceed with an estimated total of $3 billion in development at the site, including 1,000 multifamily units, 1,100 single-family homes and more than 750,000 square feet of commercial space, as well as a new 34-acre campus for Wake Technical Community College.