PS Business Parks Buys $520M NoCal Industrial Portfolio from RREEF

December 22, 2011
By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Bay Center Business Park, in Hayward, Calif.

PS Business Parks Inc. has purchased the Northern California Industrial Portfolio from RREEF America REIT II Corp. and its affiliate Northern California Industrial Portfolio Inc. for an aggregate price of $520 million, the two companies announced Tuesday. The sellers are part of RREEF Real Estate, the real estate investment management business of Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm.

The portfolio purchased by PSB, a Glendale, Calif.-based public REIT, comprises 18 business and industrial parks in the San Francisco Bay Area that total 5.3 million square feet of industrial and flex space. Currently 82.2 percent leased to 216 tenants, the portfolio consists of 55 percent (2.9 million square feet) light industrial space and 45 percent (2.4 million square feet) flex space.

The buyer assumed a $250 million secured interest-only loan that has a fixed interest rate of 5.45 percent and matures in December 2016. PSB also entered into a three-year $250 million unsecured term loan with Wells Fargo Bank; interest is based on LIBOR plus 1.20 percent. The remaining funds for the acquisition came from retained cash and PSB’s credit facility.

With the acquisition, PSB owns 7.2 million square feet of multi-tenant industrial and flex space in 30 business parks in Northern California, accounting for just over a quarter of its total portfolio.

The parks are Concord: Concord Business Park; Fremont: Bayview Business Park, Christy Business Park and Industrial Drive Distribution Center; Hayward: Bay Center Business Park, Cabot Distribution Center, Diablo Business Park, Eden Landing, Hayward Business Park and Huntwood Business Park; Milpitas: Dixon Landing Business Park; Oakland: Port of Oakland; San Leandro: Doolittle Business Park; San Jose: Little Orchard Distribution Center, Charcot Business Park and Montague Industrial Park; Santa Clara: Walsh at Lafayette; and Sunnyvale: Kifer Industrial Park.

A member of the S&P SmallCap 600, PSB wholly owns 27.2 million rentable square feet in eight states, primarily California, Virginia, Florida and Texas.

“The combination of strong demand and limited availability of core real estate assets in the San Francisco Bay Area has resulted in attractive pricing,” said Brian McAuliffe, RREEF Real Estate’s head of Americas Transactions. He added that “the San Francisco Bay area remains at the top of RREEF Real Estate’s target investment markets.”

And a RREEF spokesperson noted that the company remains committed to the Bay Area, retaining 14 million-plus square feet of industrial, office, retail and multifamily space there.

Commenting on the U.S. industrial real estate market, RREEF’s 2011 U.S. Real Estate Investment Outlook and Market Perspective, issued in March, opined: “Multi-tenant warehouse, flex and business park segments did not respond as quickly in 2010, but another year of recovery should enable better balance between landlords and tenants in preferred market locations. Higher finish R&D and office/service facilities should see healthy demand in 2011, especially in the technology hubs in California and Seattle.”