Christiane Hepfer, president of Dallas-based International Capital Inc., tells GlobeSt.com that she managed to secure 10210 N. Central Expressway before it came to market, with talks getting serious in February and running through most of the year's first three quarters. Lead tenant US Risk Insurance Group, which occupies about 70% of the building, was a prime motivator for the purchase since its lease is good through 2012 and includes expansion options that conceivably could make it the only tenant, Hepfer says.
Alan Mann of Dunhill Partners Inc. of Dallas, one of the principals in the selling partnership, handled its side of the talks. The seller bought the property three years ago from Atlanta-based Triad Properties and undertook a significant rehab. Built in 1981, the office building sits on about 1.5 acres at the southeast corner of North Central Expressway and Blair Street. It has a 2002 assessed value of $5.3 million, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.
As for the selling price, Hepfer is locked in one legal battle with the tax office so she won't say how much was paid for this one. The differential between the reality of today's office market and the expectations of the appraisal district creates "a big problem" for building owners, she says. It's a safe bet that a building with the dynamics of 10210 N. Central brought more than the assessment. International Capital now owns 12 office buildings in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
The North Central Expressway office building fits the model that's attractive to German investors: long-term, well-leased office properties. Hepfer believes more of that capital now flowing freely in other US metro markets will find its way to Dallas. Major deals have closed in Chicago, New York City and Atlanta in the wake of a stronger euro and tax law changes in the Federal Republic. Hepfer says the German investors are like US investors, particularly the institutions, and are seeking stable resting places and guaranteed returns for their capital.
J.P. Rachmaninoff, acquisitions director for Chicago-based Henderson Global, tells GlobeSt.com that the German money trail is neither good nor bad. "It helps clear the market for buyers and sellers to get things done," he says, adding it most likely won't be significant enough to "distort the balance between buyers and sellers." Besides, he notes, the German investors are leaning toward single-tenant, net-leased properties that aren't in particularly high demand by US institutions.
Jones Lang LaSalle has predicted as much as $500 million of US commercial real estate could end up in German investors' hands, according to a GlobeSt.com article published Aug. 12. That's not an unlikely scenario since Atlanta-based Wells REIT is fueling its US buys with German capital, according to an industry source. In September alone, the REIT spent $267 million, of which a goodly portion was planted in Texas. Wells REIT executives were not available by press time to discuss the source of the REIT's $1.2-billion allocation for this year's US real estate acquisitions.
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