W.P. Carey Grabs Intuit Office

Kathleen Barthmaier

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

W.P. Carey Inc.-managed REIT CPA:18 – Global scored a real coup, acquiring a 166,000-square-foot Plano, Texas, office building leased by Intuit Inc.

W.P. Carey did not disclose the terms of the deal, but the investment firm—which specializes in corporate sale-leaseback financing, build-to-suit financing and acquisition of single-tenant net-lease properties—cited the strength of the tenant and the key Legacy Business Park location in the Dallas area as key reasons for its  interest in the property.

The office building was constructed in 2001 as a build-to-suit for Intuit, the global software development and technology company known for its retail products Quickbooks, TurboTax and Quicken. Intuit, which has grown substantially in recent years, has management, software development and engineering offices there, as well as operations for its professional tax division. The building has a café and fitness center. Other amenities include outdoor basketball and volleyball courts, as well as grilling and picnic areas. The employees also have a vegetable and herb garden on the property.  The lease runs 11 years.

The Legacy Business Park is a 2,700-acre business park with numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Hewlett-Packard, JC Penney, Frito Lay, Bank of America and Ericsson. Toyota North America is in the process of moving its headquarters there from California. Nearby are the Shops at Legacy, thte Marriott at Legacy Town Center hotel and a recently opened Hilton at Granite Park.

“Intuit has made regular capital improvements to the facility and is currently seeking approval for additional work at the site,” Katie Barthmaier, W.P. Carey executive director, said in a news release. “The strong corporate credit, low investment basis and strong real estate fundamentals, as well as Intuit’s demonstrated ongoing investment in the facility, make this an attractive, long-term, income-generating investment for CPA:18 – Global Investors.”

The non-traded REIT’s recent acquisitions have included La Plantation d’Albion Club Med, a 266-room resort hotel in Albion, Mauritius, that is triple-net-leased, for $72 million and a two-building office campus in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in a sale-leaseback transaction with Royal Vopak for $86 million.

W.P. Carey has an enterprise value of about $11.1 billion. In addition to its owned portfolio of global real estate, it manages non-traded REITs with assets under management of approximately $9.2 billion.