New York-based mega investment firm Blackstone Group is selling its stake in a Santa Monica office complex to Boston Properties for more than $500 million, marking the real estate investment trust's first purchase in southern California. According to a report from The Real Deal, it is the priciest single-property commercial sale to go down in L.A. County this year. The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), a financial services organization, still controls the other 50% interest in the property.
Blackstone Group is selling the 50% stake in the Colorado Center that it acquired in 2007 from Equity Office Properties Trust as part of a $39 billion buyout of the company, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. Equity Office bought the complex for $443.6 million in 2004 from Tishman Speyer Properties through a joint venture with TIAA-CREF, leaving Equity's net share of the purchase price at approximately $221.8 million. Prior to that, Tishman Speyer acquired the office property for about $353 million in 2000 from Maguire Partners.
"After a decade-plus of Boston Properties angling for a way to buy into the westside L.A. office lifestyle, it seems that the company has finally been able to plant its flag near the Santa Monica beaches," Alexander Goldfarb, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP, wrote in a research note after the Real Deal report. "Boston Properties' fortress balance sheet makes it well-suited for these sorts of purchases."
Colorado Center, formerly known as the Yahoo Center and MGM Plaza, is a six building, 15-acre property in the Silicon Beach area of Santa Monica with over a million square feet of office space. Originally built in the 1980s, the property has undergone several renovations, including a major overhaul prior to Yahoo's arrival by then-owner Tishman Speyer. The property was roughly 63% leased at the time of sale, with major tenants including Hulu, Yahoo! Inc., Riot Games Inc. and eHarmony.
For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.
No comments:
Post a Comment