Regions West | Denver
Sept 26, 2007
By: Dees Stribling, Contributing Correspondent
The massive sale of Equity Office Properties Trust last winter continues to reverberate in office markets around the country. In Denver, a five-building downtown portfolio that the Blackstone Group flipped to Callahan Capital Partners has attracted new investors. Callahan has thus completed a $228 million syndication of its partnership interests in the properties.
The CPP Investment Board and an as-yet unnamed U.S. pension fund are now limited partners in the portfolio. The Toronto-based CPP Investment Board is the independent entity that oversees the Canada Pension Plan, the nation’s old-age and disability pension scheme. Currently the CPP Fund has $120.5 billion in assets, including $5.6 billion in real estate holdings.
The five office buildings total about 2.8 million square feet, and the portfolio also includes an undeveloped parcel in downtown Denver. Callahan Capital Partners bought the properties for about $770 million, and the syndication proceeds will go toward reducing debt associated with the portfolio. Morgan Stanley Real Estate partnered with Callahan on the initial deal.
According to Callahan Capital Partners, market conditions in Denver are driving strong investor interest in the local properties. According to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., marketwide Denver office vacancies in the second quarter of this year stood at 14.4 percent, down from 15.8 percent a year earlier, and down from 20.0 percent in the second quarter of 2005.
Investors have been responding to the improving health of the office market and the local economy by buying big. In 2006, a record $6 billion worth of office assets traded hands in Denver, and despite the recent turmoil in real estate finance, the local investment market is on track for another strong year in 2007, though a sizable part of the total is the Blackstone-Callahan deal itself.
By: Dees Stribling, Contributing Correspondent
The massive sale of Equity Office Properties Trust last winter continues to reverberate in office markets around the country. In Denver, a five-building downtown portfolio that the Blackstone Group flipped to Callahan Capital Partners has attracted new investors. Callahan has thus completed a $228 million syndication of its partnership interests in the properties.
The CPP Investment Board and an as-yet unnamed U.S. pension fund are now limited partners in the portfolio. The Toronto-based CPP Investment Board is the independent entity that oversees the Canada Pension Plan, the nation’s old-age and disability pension scheme. Currently the CPP Fund has $120.5 billion in assets, including $5.6 billion in real estate holdings.
The five office buildings total about 2.8 million square feet, and the portfolio also includes an undeveloped parcel in downtown Denver. Callahan Capital Partners bought the properties for about $770 million, and the syndication proceeds will go toward reducing debt associated with the portfolio. Morgan Stanley Real Estate partnered with Callahan on the initial deal.
According to Callahan Capital Partners, market conditions in Denver are driving strong investor interest in the local properties. According to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., marketwide Denver office vacancies in the second quarter of this year stood at 14.4 percent, down from 15.8 percent a year earlier, and down from 20.0 percent in the second quarter of 2005.
Investors have been responding to the improving health of the office market and the local economy by buying big. In 2006, a record $6 billion worth of office assets traded hands in Denver, and despite the recent turmoil in real estate finance, the local investment market is on track for another strong year in 2007, though a sizable part of the total is the Blackstone-Callahan deal itself.
Recent Denver Headlines
July 11, 2008
July 01, 2008
July 01, 2008
June 27, 2008
June 20, 2008