The price/sf exceeds what the Expedia Tower got, by quite a bit. It appears the market for leased up, Class A property in CBDs continues to strengthen buoyed by deep pocketed investors looking to take advantage of depressed market conditions. Of course, the coup of the decade still belongs to Northwest Mutual's steal of the WAMU Center last year. The lessons of WAMU Center are that it pays to look for a motivated Seller with a low cost basis (JP Morgan got it almost free as part of the Washington Mutual rescue, and, didn't want it) and have tenants waiting in the wings to move in (Northwest Mutual is the parent of Russell Investments who is moving into the tower).
I'd say at 99% leased it would be worth it for the Cole REIT Trust's to have purchased it. Plus Microsoft is a company that I'm sure will be able to make their rent payments on time, which seems to only make it a better investment.
ReplyDeleteI heard that Cole REIT is going to offer a new REIT that will specialize in office and industrial real estate. With acquisitions like the Bing property they seem to already know what a good investment is, I’d think now would be a smart time to invest in a Cole REIT.
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