(Save the Date: RealShare Orange County 2012 comes to the Hyatt Regency, Irvine, August 16.)
NEWPORT BEACH, CA-Dexus Property Group has completed the sale of its US central portfolio to affiliates of New York City-based Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII for $770 million, a deal GlobeSt.com first wrote about in April. The transaction, said to be the largest single industrial real estate portfolio sale in the US in 2012, allows the firm to shift its focus to the west coast.
The central portfolio consisted of 65 industrial properties and included three recently completed large class A distribution facilities leased to Whirlpool Corp. Bruce McDonald, managing director of US investments for Dexus, based in Newport Beach, CA, tells GlobeSt.com that “As it relates to the Southern California marketplace, the transaction is the culmination of the promised strategic approach Dexus revealed in 2010 to concentrate holdings in core West Coast markets.”
McDonald explains that the focus now “shifts solely to the West Coast.” He adds that Dexus US “has lots of things in the works,” including a “renewed focus on development activities in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire as well as Seattle/Tacoma.”
The properties, about 16.6 million square feet, are about 90% leased, Dexus previously said in a statement. The properties are located in the markets of Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis, northern Virginia, Orlando, Phoenix and San Antonio. The Los Angeles office of Eastdil Secured represented Dexus in the transaction.
CEO Darren Steinberg says in a prepared statement that “The settlement of the central portfolio is a good result and allows our US team to focus on the remaining west coast portfolio and to leverage our local industrial real estate management and development expertise going forward. Since being established in June 2010, Dexus’ US team has assumed direct asset management control of the west coast portfolio and taken an active role in leasing and managing the central portfolio. This active approach resulted in the significant improvement in occupancy of the central portfolio from 79% to 90% prior to its sale.”
The firm now owns and manages 24 US industrial properties totaling more than 6.8 million square feet and valued at approximately $550 million. Dexus also manages properties valued at approximately $200 million on behalf of US third party clients.
Law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP represented Dexus Property Group.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
