The world headquarters for Weatherford International Inc., an oilfield services firm, fills 95% of the class A building at 515 Post Oak Blvd. The 10-year tenant is working on its second lease, with less than a decade left on the term. The balance of the 12-story building is leased to service-related tenants, including a restaurant.
The seller was a fund of TA Realty Associates of Boston, which acquired the asset in 1999. The seller's broker, Rudy Hubbard, managing director in Houston for Transwestern Commercial Services, says the opportunity fund bought the building to add value. Weatherford's long-term renewal accomplished that goal, says Hubbard, adding the building was on the market less than 30 days and received about a dozen offers for a listing without a minimum ask.
The Wells REIT II fund, which launched Dec. 2, 2003, is projected to raise up to $6 billion in equity in a two-year drive for real estate acquisitions, says David Steinwedell, chief investment officer for the Atlanta-based Wells. The initial offering was up to 600 million shares of common stock at $10 per share and up to another 185 million shares of common stock at $9.55 per share under the dividend reinvestment plan.
"This is a great first acquisition by Wells REIT II since it aligns with the stringent investment criteria we use in making every property purchase for the benefit of our investors," Steinwedell says in a press release. "It speaks to the same conservative, long-term strategy we used in building the first Wells REIT portfolio."
Steinwedell tells GlobeSt.com that the acquisition team's focus is "geographically diverse," but it's highly likely that additional local properties will be placed into the REIT's shopping bag given the purchasing power that's being built. The REIT typically holds properties 10 to 15 years, preferring to buy with a line of credit instead of placing long-term debt. Wells' first fund, in place from 1998 through 2003, raised more than $4 billion in equity from 117,000 investors.
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