Home Depot Leases 450,000 SF from KBS in Connecticut

KBS Real Estate Investment Trust I has announced that Home Depot USA Inc., has leased the entire 450,000-square-foot 170 Highland Park Drive building, a Class-A warehouse and distribution facility in Bloomfield, Conn., 12 miles northwest of Hartford. The lease accounts for the entire 170 Highland Park Drive facility. Home Depot will use the space to support retail operations throughout New England. The single-building property is part of the KBS/Hackman Industrial Portfolio, owned by a joint venture between KBS REIT I, Hackman Capital Partners and Calare Properties. In August 2007, KBS REIT I, Hackman and Calare jointly acquired a $516 million portfolio of 24 industrial/warehouse and light manufacturing facilities. The portfolio contains 31 buildings in seven of the country’s largest distribution markets. KBS REIT I is an 80 percent joint venture partner, while Hackman and Calare have a 20 percent stake in the portfolio. KBS REIT I has realized more than 1.2 million square feet of new and renewal leasing activity in the KBS/Hackman Industrial Portfolio so far this year.KBS has had other activity in the New England area recently. In midSeptember, CPN reported that KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II acquired two of the six office buildings at Park Avenue at Morris County, a commercial office complex in Florham Park, N.J., in the Essex/Eastern Morris County submarket.