Disciplined Fund Seizes Opportunities Presented by Thawing Deal Market
Philadelphia: January 13, 2010 – In a sign that the commercial real estate investment market is beginning to thaw, Rubenstein Partners, a private equity firm providing leading real estate investment management and advisory services in office markets throughout the Eastern United States (“Rubenstein”), today announced the closing of five separate transactions in the fourth quarter of 2010 by affiliates of Rubenstein Properties Fund, L.P. (“Fund”), the Fund’s first new investments in nearly four years. The investments were consistent with the firm’s strategy of backing strong local real estate partners.
The five transactions located in Charlotte, NC, Whippany, NJ, Alexandria, VA, Springfield, VA and Cleveland, OH represent an initial equity investment of approximately $70,000,000, with anticipated follow-on equity investments in these deals of $40,000,000. After patiently scouring for opportunities over the past few years, these deals reflect Rubenstein’s ability to seize new opportunities in what had been a dislocated office investment market.
Each investment, while unique and distinct, is consistent with the Fund’s focus on value-added office investments in the Eastern United States. Following the execution of these five year-end deals, the Fund still has substantially in excess of $100,000,000 of equity capacity available for future investments.
Rubenstein anticipates this year-end flurry of investment activity to be a harbinger of increased deal flow, given its investment style and current market outlook, as distressed situations and others begin to make their way into a market that was overheated in 2006-2008, largely frozen in 2009 and anemic in 2010. “We have worked very hard sourcing, underwriting and negotiating potential transactions for the better part of the last four years, but have refrained from buying. As the result of the firm’s discipline, the Fund has little legacy asset distraction, available capital, and is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities that we believe will be coming to the market in the 2011 to 2013 timeframe,” said David Rubenstein, senior managing principal of Rubenstein Partners, the Fund manager.
The following is a summary of the five value-added transaction executed in December 2010:
Charlotte, North Carolina – The Fund, in partnership with local operating partner, Trinity Capital Advisors, purchased the debt and equity interest in NASCAR Plaza, a state of the art 390,000 square foot Class A, newly developed LEED Silver certified building located in the central business district of Charlotte. The property was acquired as part of a complex, multi-party note sale. NASCAR Plaza is currently 40% occupied and Rubenstein intends to reintroduce the building to the market and aggressively lease-up the remaining vacancy.
Whippany, New Jersey – The Fund, in partnership with local operating partner, Vision Equities, closed on a former corporate campus of Lucent-Alcatel located in the heart of Morris County. The campus currently contains 15 office, research/lab and support buildings totaling 1,354,751 square feet, situated on 194 acres. The property has two primary office buildings totaling 525,000 square feet, which are prime candidates for renovation and re-use, 500,000 square feet of existing buildings that can be released as R&D/lab space and 300,000 square feet of other mixed-use space and 80 acres of developable land (depending on how much existing office space is re-used) which has received considerable interest from developers and tenants seeking to participate in the future development of office, retail, multi-family and senior living uses.
Alexandria, Virginia – The Fund closed on the acquisition of 2900 Eisenhower Avenue, a 60,000 square foot office building which is located in the Alexandria sub-market of the Washington, DC metro area with frontage on Interstate 495. The property was purchased from a corporate user and is currently 25% occupied. Rubenstein intends to renovate the building, lease up the vacancy and take advantage of a rapidly tightening sub-market.
Springfield, Virginia – The Fund, in partnership with local operating partner, Salmon River Partners, executed a purchase contract for a 24 acre parcel of land in Springfield, VA proximate to Fort Belvoir. The partnership intends to develop approximately 200,000 square feet of Class A office. The site features excellent visibility to Interstate 95, and is expected to benefit from its proximity to the new 2.3 million square foot National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Headquarters which is located less than 2 miles from the property.
Cleveland, Ohio – The Fund originated, to a local operating partner, a $15,000,000 mezzanine loan in the Flats East Bank Development, a mixed-use project which shall contain an 18 story LEED certified office building, a 150 room A-Loft hotel, retail space, a parking garage and 14 acres of park land, all at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The debt investment involved coordination with a myriad of other parties and was emblematic of Rubenstein’s ability to navigate complex structures and capitalize on a quick moving opportunity.
“The closing of these transactions represents the continued successful execution of the Fund’s “value-added” strategy throughout the Fund’s target markets in the Eastern United States, and we are enthusiastic about the rapidly expanding prospects for future investments, while understanding that our continued success will be based on being selective in all parts of the cycle,” Rubenstein added.