Joint Venture Purchases Asset from COPT; Partnership Plans to Upgrade and Reposition 152,000 SF Office Property in Tysons Corner, VA Submarket
Tysons Corner, VA (July 29, 2015) – Rubenstein Partners, L.P. (including its affiliates, “Rubenstein”), along with its partner Griffith Properties (“Griffith”), announced the acquisition of 1550 Westbranch Drive, a six-story, Class A office building in the Northern VA submarket of Tysons Corner for $27.75 million. The joint venture purchased the property from Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE: OFC), an office real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in acquiring, developing, owning, leasing and managing high quality office and data center properties.
Also known as The Rappahannock Building, 1550 Westbranch Drive was built in 2001 and totals approximately 152,000 rentable square feet. The property is fully leased to The MITRE Corporation, who is expected to move to its main Tysons campus in 2016. Once MITRE leaves the property, the Rubenstein/Griffith venture plans to reposition and reintroduce 1550 Westbranch Drive to the marketplace, since MITRE has been the building’s only tenant since it was originally developed.
Peter Doherty, Investment Principal with Griffith Properties, sourced the acquisition on behalf of the venture. “We are a strong proponent of the long-term strength of Northern Virginia and particularly the Metro Silver Line,” said Peter. “We teamed with Rubenstein early in the process, since they could move quickly, close all-cash and had transacted with COPT previously.”
“We think this is the ideal time to make selective office investments in Northern Virginia for assets that are locationally and physically superior to the substantial inventory of commodity space,” said Steve Evans, Regional Director of the Washington, D.C. Market. “This a unique opportunity to acquire a high-quality efficient building in a recovering market. We are very pleased Griffith Properties gave us the opportunity to participate in the investment and have other targeted opportunities with them we expect to acquire.”
Rubenstein/Griffith was represented by Malcolm Schweiker with CBRE regarding the purchase of the property and will also handle the leasing efforts.
About Rubenstein Partners
Rubenstein Partners, L.P., founded in September 2005, is a private real estate investment management and advisory firm with operations throughout the Eastern U.S. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein, and a group of senior real estate executives, and is focused on directing and managing value-added office real estate investments, primarily in the Eastern U.S. Rubenstein Partners’ predecessor company, The Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest private owner operators of Class A office real estate in the Mid-Atlantic, owning and operating a portfolio of assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of its disposition in 2004. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 10,000,000 square feet of office real estate assets throughout the Eastern U.S. For more information, visit www.rubensteinpartners.com.
About Griffith Properties
Griffith Properties, LLC is a real estate investment firm that employs extensive operating and investing experience to provide investors an attractive risk-adjusted return. The firm invests in core-plus and value-added office, industrial, R&D and retail assets located in the Boston to Washington DC corridor. Since 1978, principals of Griffith Properties have owned over $2.0 billion of commercial properties in nearly 70 buildings totaling more than 11.0 million square feet. Brad Griffith founded the firm to take advantage of the opportunities created by the post-2001 market correction in commercial real estate, and to provide investors an attractive risk-adjusted return by investing in multiple asset classes. Through Funds I, II and III and a separate account relationship, Griffith Properties has acquired $585 million of assets consisting of 23 office and three industrial buildings, totaling 3.4 million square feet in the Greater Boston, Baltimore, and Washington DC markets.