Property Types Office
Brandywine to Sell Oakland Portfolio to CIM for $412M
June 30, 2008
By: Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Brandywine Realty Trust has agreed to sell a five-property, 1.7 million-square-foot portfolio in Oakland, Calif., to an affiliate of the CIM Group for a total of $412.5 million.

The price includes assumption of what will be at closing about $95.6 million in debt represented by three existing mortgage loans. Closing is scheduled for August 31.

The five properties are One Kaiser Plaza (The Ordway), 1901 Harrison Street, 1333 Broadway, 2101 Webster Street and 2100 Franklin Street. The first four were 88.7 percent occupied as of May 31, according to a prepared statement, while 2100 Franklin is an unleased, recently completed development. The purchase also includes Brandywine's condominium interest in a parking garage at 2353 Webster Street.

An affiliate of Brandywine will manage and lease the five properties for a one-year period following the closing.

Of the $316.9 million cash proceeds due at closing, $40 million has been deferred as a two-year interest-free loan by Brandywine to CIM secured by 2100 Franklin Street and 2101 Webster Street. The REIT will also grant CIM a 15-year purchase option for Two Kaiser Plaza, a land parcel adjacent to The Ordway, and will lease to CIM 150 parking spaces there for the benefit of The Ordway’s tenants.

Lazard Frères & Co. acted as financial advisor to Brandywine, which also engaged CBRE to assist in marketing the portfolio. Brandywine has indicated that it intends to use the approximately $269.9 million of cash proceeds, and the $40 million loan to be repaid by August 2, 2010, “for the repayment of existing debt and to provide cash balances for general corporate purposes.”

In northern California, Brandywine will retain three office properties totaling 554,500 square feet and two land parcels, and will continue as a property manager and leasing agent under a series of third-party contracts.

Brandywine Realty Trust is one of the United States’ largest publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies. The REIT owns, develops and manages a primarily Class A suburban and urban office portfolio totaling about 40 million square feet.

Last November, Brandywine broke ground on Cira Centre South, a $755 million, 730,000-square-foot joint venture with the University of Pennsylvania. The two-tower mixed-use development includes the first new office high-rise in Philadelphia since 2005 and will also include hotels, restaurants and residential condos.

To Blog and Comment Click Here

 
Recent Office Headlines
AIG 70 pine st smal AIG Headquarters Sale Makes Splash in Quiet Manhattan Investment Market
With rumors circulating of a sale price around $100 per square foot, the sale of the 66-story American International Group headquarters in Lower Manhattan likely set the bar for the biggest sale in the area market thus far in 2009.
Despite Office Market Slump, 1M-SF Connecticut Office Campus Trades in $72M Deal
It's an office trade of such a size that has not been seen in Connecticut, no less challenged by job losses and economic malaise than most other markets, in quite a while. Matrix Connecticut L.L.C. has just taken over ownership of the 1 million-square-foot Danbury Corporate Center in Danbury, Conn., from GERA Danbury L.L.C. in a $72.4 million merger transaction. The deal is a coup for Connecticut, as well as its neighbors, as it marks the largest multi-tenant office transaction in the suburban New York Tri-State area so far this year.
Tokyo is Priciest Market as Climate Favors Office Tenants Worldwide: CBRE
Tenants have the edge in most of the world’s major office markets, concludes an analysis by CB Richard Ellis Inc. Class A rents are sliding dramatically and vacancy is ticking upwards in nearly every region, according to the study published last week.