Douglas Emmett Buying 4 LA Towers for $1.34B

Santa Monica, CA-based Douglas Emmett, a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), released its Fourth Quarter 2015 Earnings Results this week, which included the disclosure that the company has agreed to buy a four building office portfolio for $1.34 billion, or $779 per square foot. The portfolio of four Class A multi-tenant office properties in Westwood are being sold by an unnamed owner and are currently 89% leased.

"As has been our plan, these assets will be purchased by an institutional joint venture that we will manage," Douglas Emmett noted in the earnings report. "We expect the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2016." The properties in the portfolio include:

— 10960 Wilshire Boulevard, a 24-story tower with 543,804 rentable square feet
— 10940 Wilshire Boulevard, a 24-story tower with 222,066 rentable square feet built in 1988
— 10880 Wilshire Boulevard, a 24-story Class A building offering over 580,000 square feet of office space
— 1100 Glendon Avenue , a 22-story tower with 328,514 square feet built in 1965

The deal would be one of the largest office acquisitions in Los Angeles in recent years and give Douglas Emmett a 74% market share in L.A.'s high-profile Wilshire Westwood Corridor, according to a CoStar report. For more news and information visit Blumberg Partners.

SF's 235 Pine Trades Hands

235 Pine Street in San Francisco traded hands this month as a fund managed by CBRE Global Investors purchased the office property for a reported $88.8 million, or $591 per square foot, according to The Registry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Built in 1990, the property features 207,500 square feet on 25 stories, is located in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District between California and Market streets near amenities including restaurants, gyms and public transportation.

235 Pine is currently home to the soon-to-be-vacating GSA Bankruptcy Court, the buyer confirmed. Phil Hench, principal at CBRE Global Investors, said the company saw the Pine Street building as a valuable asset not only because of its proximity to BART, but also because the bankruptcy court will soon give up its more than 50,000 square feet on the top six floors.

"The traditional (finance, insurance and real estate)-type users that went through a difficult period of downsizing – and since then have been status quo and haven't added jobs or space – are in fact expected to recover and accelerate," he said. "We'll see a lot of activity from that sector, and at the same time more and more of these tech companies are not afraid to go into traditional vertical highrise office buildings."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Brookfield Acquires 799 9th Street NW in DC for $106M

Brookfield Office Properties announced this week that it had purchased 799 9th Street, NW on the corner of 9th and H Streets in Washington, DC for $106 million from A-799 9th Street Holdings, LLC. The 10-story class A office building previously traded hands in November 2006 when Cushman & Wakefield negotiated the sale from Blue Capital Investments for $127.5 million. Brookfield said it is funding the acquisition through new property-level financing of $71.5 million and the balance from available cash resources.

Built in 2001, 799 9th Street holds 203,000 rentable square feet and is currently 96% occupied with all leases expiring in December 2012 and January 2013. The property has 156 parking spaces and several street-level eateries, including OYA Restaurant. Brookfield has said that it has planned improvements for the property, including a full lobby and building entry renovation, a tenant fitness center with showers and lockers, and a new roof terrace with views of the DC monuments.

"The East End submarket is thriving, with low office vacancy, new amenities coming online, and an overall 24-7 neighborhood feel," said Dennis Friedrich, president and global chief investment officer at Brookfield Office Properties. "Our investments in several of the premier office buildings in this submarket are consistent with our strategy of owning high-quality assets in the best-located areas of our core U.S. markets."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Springfield Office Building Sold for $15.9M

Gladstone Commercial Corporation, a publicly-traded REIT based in McLean, VA, purchased a 78,421 square foot office building in Springfield, Missouri for $15.9 million this week. The property, built in 2006, was built-to-suit for T-Mobile, which has leased the property through 2021 with three options to renew for five year periods. Gladstone assumed an $11.6 million mortgage as part of the transaction. Stan Johnson Co. represented the buyer, an unnamed private investor, in the transaction.

"We are excited to add this property, and a strong tenant like T-Mobile, to our existing portfolio," said Buzz Cooper, the Gladstone's Managing Director responsible for the transaction. "This acquisition continues our plan for growth in 2011 and we are pleased to add this great property to our substantial list of quality investments," said Chip Stelljes, the Gladstone's President and Chief Investment Officer.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Tishman Speyer Buys DC Metro Office Building

Tishman Speyer Properties purchased 1300 N. 17th St., a 19-story office building in Rosslyn, VA, from Beacon Capital Partners for about $200 million reports a Wall Street Journal article. According to the article, the $500 per square foot price for the property is among the highest on record for an office building purchase in the District's Virginia suburbs.

"They've righted their ship to concentrate on what they do best, which is the office sector," said Ben Thypin, director of market analysis at Real Capital Analytics in Manhattan, regarding Tishman. "That makes sense. It reflects how forgiving the real estate market can be."

Beacon originally purchased the property in 2007 as part of its acquisition of an Equity Office Properties portfolio from Blackstone Group. Blackstone subsequently sold a 9.8 million square foot chunk of that portfolio in Washington DC and Seattle to Beacon.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Phoenix VA Building Sold for $20.3M

Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services brokered the sale of a 95,558-square foot single-tenant office building in Phoenix, Arizon for $20.3 million, or $212 per square foot, a property currently leased to the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs. Located at 3333 North Central Ave. in Phoenix, the three-story office building sits on 4.9 acres within blocks of the VA Medical Center and St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.

The buyer was an overseas investor based in the Netherlands which purchased the property in partnership with a private investor based in Oregon. Marcus & Millichap arranged acquisition financing in the amount of $15.1 million for the buyer; New York City-based CTL Capital originated the loan, which was then sold off to bond investors according to a GlobeSt.com article. "The facility was built-to-suit for the VA in 2003," said Travis Trautvetter, a senior associate with Marcus & Millichap. "The VA occupies the building on an original 20-year lease term. In addition to the strong credit of the tenant, the primary location of this property within Phoenix was a key driver of buyer interest. We received multiple offers on the property, reflecting the strong demand that exists in today's market for investment-grade assets."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Deka Immobilien Investment Picks Up Manhattan Tower for $123M

Germany's Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH has acquired 19 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan for $123.2 million from SL Green Realty. The 292,000 square-foot Class B office building on "Club Row" was previously purchased by SL Green in 2004 for $67 million. Since that purchase, SL Green made building improvements, including lobby and window upgrades and HVAC improvements; the new purchase price reflects a $422 per square foot value.

Commenting in an article about the sale and on current market conditions, Michael Knott, an analyst at real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors told the Wall Street Journal that "office leasing conditions are rolling along the bottom, not bouncing off of the bottom. This cycle is likely to see a very slow improvement … until companies become confident enough to start signing more paychecks."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.