John Hancock Buys OC Office Property for $105M

John Hancock Real Estate, also known as Manulife Real Estate and a division of Manulife Financial, announced this week that it had purchased 5000 Birch in Newport Beach, California for $104.5 million. John Hancock purchased the two building, Class A office project from an undisclosed seller, though records reveal that the property previously traded hands in November 2002 to Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers by a joint venture between Aetna and Koll Development. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are excited to grow our global portfolio through continued investment in Orange County -- one of the fastest growing office markets in the U.S.," said Kevin Adolphe, President & Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Real Estate and President & Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Asset Management Private Markets. "Our acquisition of 5000 Birch further strengthens our long-standing investment in California where we now actively manage over 9 million SF."

The 306,000 square foot property, also known as Koll Center Newport, was originally constructed in 1982. 5000 Birch features a highly coveted Newport Beach address and is located at the gateway between Newport Beach and The Irvine Business Complex. The center is nearby The Sutton Place Hotel and The Pacific Club provide retail shops and banking as well as having excellent access to the John Wayne Airport and major freeways.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

Wellesley Office Park Sold to Manulife for $237M

The Wellesley Office Park, a master-planned office park in suburban Boston, traded hands this month as HFF announced that it had closed the sale of the trophy office park for $237 million. The Blackstone Group's Equity Office Properties affiliate sold the 649,184-square-foot office park in Wellesley to John Hancock, of the wholly owned subsidiary of Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Manulife Financial), Toronto. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Wellesley Office Park can easily be considered ‘best in class' and embodies all the long-term criteria standards of institutional investors: irreplaceable setting, convenient access, on-site amenities and marquee tenancy," said Coleman Benedict of HFF. "This distinction is overused in today's environment and only truly applies to those office properties that consistently outperform their peer group, regardless of market conditions."

"This property represents the type of high-quality asset we acquire in key markets as a priority for our strategic plan. The strong tenant roster and superb location make this an excellent addition to our investment portfolio," Ted Willcocks, Global Head of Asset Management for Manulife Real Estate told Commercial Property Executive.

The campus is comprised of eight buildings totaling nearly 650,000 square feet on William Street, off Route 9 and overlooking the Charles River. Blackstone tapped HFF to market the complex in September, according to a Boston Business Journal article. The complex was 90% leased at the time of sale to tenants including AXA Equitable Life Insurance, Northwestern Mutual Life, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Eagle Investment Systems, Stream Global Services, UBS, Benchmark Senior Living, REZ-1, Baystate Financial, and F-Squared Investments.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

10 Exchange Place Sold for $285M

Manulife Real Estate, the global real estate arm of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, acquired 10 Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ for $285 million this month. Manulife picked up the property from a client of Invesco.

"This is kind of unusual," Andrew J. Merin, of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group, which orchestrated the sale, told GlobeSt.com. Merin, David W. Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian J. Whitmer and Kyle B. Schmidt represented the seller, a client of Invesco, in the transaction. "Over $1 billion in bricks and sticks will have traded. [...] There is not a lot of quality out there. In July, the market started to slow down. [But] Manulife did all their homework."

"Manulife is always looking for opportunities to grow our real estate investment portfolio and we're extremely pleased to secure these exceptional assets in what are three very important and diverse real estate investment markets," said Kevin Adolphe, Chief Operating Officer of Manulife's Investment Division and President and CEO of Manulife Real Estate. "We are optimistic about the possibilities in these and other key markets and we continue to look for core office, industrial and multi-family residential property investments throughout Canada, the United States and Asia."

Completed in 1988, the 748,005-square-foot building was the recent recipient of BOMA's 2011 TOBY (The Outstanding Building of the Year) award for buildings over 500,000 square feet. LEED-Gold and Energy Star certified, the iconic tower offers unobstructed views of lower Manhattan from every floor. The property was 100% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including ACE Insurance, Daikin McQuay, Kuehne + Nagel, Rabobank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.